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Saw this mentioned on another forum, thought it was an interesting read:

Car and Driver: Effects of Upsized Wheels and Tires Tested

Plus-Size Models: Testing the performance effects of upsizing wheels and tires (April 2010)

They tested near-identical tyres on different wheel sizes in 15",16",17",18" and 19" on a 2010 Golf. Here's the summary graphic:

effects-of-upsized-wheels-and-tires-tested-chart-photo-341448-s-original.jpg

Obviously it's a fairly sedate front-wheel drive car but it's interesting that 17" and 18" seem to be in the sweet spot from a performance perspective. Going 19" resulted in slower acceleration, lateral grip, lower economy and more noise.

Edited by V28VX37

test is useless without 22s :P

Nah its kind of interesting but not really anything new to most of us...

I remember when top gear aus tested the walkinshaw VE...it was faster with 20s than it was on "up-spec"22s. that you pay extra for...everyone knows big wheels are a joke and used only in "Bling" applications or on "pimp my ride"..

i think V8 supercars are still running 17s but they look almost silly with 17s on the street..

Test is useless without using the same tread pattern on each tyre and the same type of wheel in each size (e.g TE37 etc.)

How can you compare a 16" steel wheel with a Pirelli P6 tyre against an 17" cast alloy with a Pirelli P7 tyre?

But yeah in general, the more unsprung weight, the worse the results. Pretty basic stuff.

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