A Dilemma: 15" Stock vs. 17" Sweeeeet

GoalsGoneWild

Howdy all,

Need a bit of advice. Just confirmed purchase of a 99 206Gti with a set of Momo 17” Alloys. They look incredible – but I’m wondering whether I’d be better off opting for the stock 15” that come on the 206 Gti. A lot of my driving will be in and around Dublin – although I’d do a bit of ‘proper’ driving at the weekends.

Question is: do I go with the 17’s which look amazing but will cost more to keep in the future (in terms of tyre costs etc.) or do I play safe with the 15’s which don’t look anywhere near as good in comparison, but are clearly the more sensible option?

Are there any other things I’m leaving out here? Effects on Economy (mpg)? Effects on suspension? Effects on speedometer? Anything else?

Would appreciate any help on this. Have to make my mind up pretty soon…

Cheers…

Mailman

Lower profile tyres =
Lowered MPG.
Often lowered Top Speed
Increased Road Noise
Increased Suspension wear
Reduced wheel bearing life
More electrical and mechical problems due to all the components being shook.
The lower the profile tyre the more likely the wheel will get buckled which leads to steering shake.

prospect

My dad had beautiful alloys with low pros on his last car.
Looked stunning, but after tearing about 5 tyres* between us on potholes, we both swore we would never again buy a car with low pros.

* I actually did in two tyres on one journey, within approx 5 miles!

Mailman

Low Pros are only for Countrys with first-world infrastructure.

GoalsGoneWild

Cheers for that lads,

Was a classic heart v. head battle - but at this stage, it's looking a bit foolish to go with the 17" option. Thing is, if I had never seen the 17"s on the car, I would have been more than happy with the 15"s...

Decision made then...gotta be they 15"s

But the Momos look so damn good...!!!

kevodaly

Did you buy this car ? I had my eye on it.

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=267551

Wheels look great I think, I wouldn't change them. New 206 gti's come with 17's I think - the 180bhp, so the car can definately cope.

mpg isn't going to be great anyway, and 138 bhp is plenty of power in a small car regardless of the size of the wheels.

if you really must change - try get the 16's that come on the gt model - they are lovely

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=236050

fletch

kevodaly wrote:

Did you buy this car ? I had my eye on it.

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=267551

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=236050

Am I missing something but why is there a €3.5k difference in price there? And the cheaper car has covered 31,000kms less! The dearer one is the GT model and not a GTI but surely it doesn't command such a premium

ciarsd

GT has different body and full leather, not sure what else...but yeah there seems to be quite a difference!

VeVeX

I had 17's on a corsa I owned for 3+ years, probably in or around 35000mls and all I had was one incident where a pothole actualy caused damage to the tyre and rim. I did alot of country road driving aswell. The thing about having low profile tyres on a car is you have to be aware that there maybe a pothole or object on the road etc rather then ploughing up back roads not giving a toss.

If you "Do in two tyres on one journey, within approx 5 miles!" your either extremely unlucky or extremely careless.

unkel

GoalsGoneWide, you have a very valid point

If you'll be driving on badly potholed roads regularly, best not use low profile tyres

When I bought my car off the serious and honest previous owner he mentioned he contemplated at times to replace the 245/45 18" wheels with the standard ones

I didn't know what to make of that statement at the time. I do know now. I've only had one tyre burst in 18 months but I don't do much driving on country (3rd world class) roads. According to the economic statistics we seem to be the richest country in Europe. According to my driving experiences in Europe, we are about the poorest

prospect

VeVeX wrote:

If you "Do in two tyres on one journey, within approx 5 miles!" your either extremely unlucky or extremely careless.

Or the roads are extreemly SH!T, and potholes are very hard to pick out after a fall of rain, and you can't drive around them because there is oncoming traffic on a narrow road.

There are shades of grey in this world of ours you know.

Also, the car in question was a 2.5L Alfa 166, so probably weighed three times as much as your corsa, and thusly had much more momentum behind it, therefore makeing an impact at lower speed more damaging..

See, shades of grey.

>RANT<
over €800 per year tax. About €20,000 in VRT and VAT when the car was bought, and about €25-€35 euro per week in tax on fuel since it was bought. And these are the staandard of roads that I have to deal with. It is a fupping disgrace.
>END RANT<

GoalsGoneWild

That's the car alright (link from Carzone above)

Have decided to switch to the 15"s. Have also barred myself from looking at pictures of it in full 17" state!

Took it for a drive last Saturday. Car looks stunning. Mint inside and (mostly) outside. To be honest though, I was making excuses to myself for the tramlining while driving around Cork for half an hour. Driving around Dublin for an hour or 2 at a time could have gotten to be a bit of a dose pretty quickly.

It's definitely the right decision from a €€€ point of view - but I know I'm gonna wake up in a cold sweat at some stage because I didn't get them...

That said - I've got until 5pm today to change my mind again!!!

kevodaly

nice buy - i may look elsewhere.
best of luck with it

GoalsGoneWild

Just to leave ye all know...

Caved into the demons and got him to switch back to the 17"s. Couldn't resist it! Fingers x'd that I won't regret it too much...

btw...Any ideas of ways around the Spare Wheel issue? Can't fit a 17" spacesaver under the boot!!!

Cheers...

prospect

Congrats on your purchase.

I go through a moral dilema every day, do I buy the alfa I always wanted or not.
Pros:
Look fantastic
Sound Fantastic
Perform Fantastic
Drive Fantastic
Cons:
Re-Sale value
Less than average build quality

Regardsless of that, I hope it goes as well as it looks :cool: