mattdowling
Members
Hi guys
I've had various problems with my 16" original alloy wheels that came with the car - whether winter tyres or summer tyres, new tyres or refitting the other sets, they vibrated and needed rebalancing after 500 miles. A couple of garages mentioned two of the wheels needed a lot of weights, so I thought I'd change the alloys to see these were at fault.
After a little searching, I found some Honda Sigma 18" alloys, brand new boxed at a very keen clearance price. A little shopping around and research resulted in spending a few quid with Camskill on Falken ZE914 (225 x 40 R18). My thoughts on the size increase below...
Pro's for 16"
A fraction quieter, but they were still noisy on the rough motorway surfaces
Less jarring over rough London potholes and speed bumps
Pro's for 18"
Corner and high speed stability significantly improved (must be the stiffer and smaller sidewall)
Looks took me a little while to get used to, but much happier now!
Fuel economy not greatly affected (if I want to use less fuel, I just slow down a touch)
17" may have been a better compromise, but I'm happy with the 18". As a bonus they haven't needed rebalancing after 2k miles so I'm guessing the weights weren't sticking on the old wheels, or the old wheels are made of cheese. It was confirmed the driveshafts were fine and the Hunter tracker at my local (Seat) dealer confirmed nearly all alignments were spot on after 65k.
I'll upload a pic once the car has a much needed wash!
I've had various problems with my 16" original alloy wheels that came with the car - whether winter tyres or summer tyres, new tyres or refitting the other sets, they vibrated and needed rebalancing after 500 miles. A couple of garages mentioned two of the wheels needed a lot of weights, so I thought I'd change the alloys to see these were at fault.
After a little searching, I found some Honda Sigma 18" alloys, brand new boxed at a very keen clearance price. A little shopping around and research resulted in spending a few quid with Camskill on Falken ZE914 (225 x 40 R18). My thoughts on the size increase below...
Pro's for 16"
A fraction quieter, but they were still noisy on the rough motorway surfaces
Less jarring over rough London potholes and speed bumps
Pro's for 18"
Corner and high speed stability significantly improved (must be the stiffer and smaller sidewall)
Looks took me a little while to get used to, but much happier now!
Fuel economy not greatly affected (if I want to use less fuel, I just slow down a touch)
17" may have been a better compromise, but I'm happy with the 18". As a bonus they haven't needed rebalancing after 2k miles so I'm guessing the weights weren't sticking on the old wheels, or the old wheels are made of cheese. It was confirmed the driveshafts were fine and the Hunter tracker at my local (Seat) dealer confirmed nearly all alignments were spot on after 65k.
I'll upload a pic once the car has a much needed wash!
lol
