36 replies to this topic

[robin]

I'd still like to know what the story is with that young lady's kneecaps.

 

 

Wooden leg / legs put a parrot and a eye patch on and she would look just like a pirate.

[Asheey]

I've done about 500 miles on my 18s now.

[Paulus H]

Looks mean!

 

Do you have a different front valance too, can't quite tell from your picture.

 

I live near Derby would have thought I would have seen your car.

 

Paul

[redvts]

This car doesn't look like this anymore....

[redvts]

http://www.vx220.org...ide-arch-vx220/

[Gedi]

Holy thread resurrection batman. 

[Rufatiwe]

Just installed these on my speedster.

 

They look perfect to me. What do you guys think?

 

 20250108_170714.jpg   225.58KB   5 downloads

Edited by Rufatiwe, Yesterday, 04:52 PM.

[hairy]

Yes, very nice :thumbup:

[KurtVerbose]

Personally, I do like a bit of sidewall and find the current fad for seeking ever bigger wheels and ever smaller rubber a bit silly, but each to their own.

 

I think mine looks nicer on its 15' winter wheels.

 

Rides nicer too.

[oblomov]

Personally, I do like a bit of sidewall and find the current fad for seeking ever bigger wheels and ever smaller rubber a bit silly, but each to their own.

 

I think mine looks nicer on its 15' winter wheels.

 

Rides nicer too.

 

Tend to agree.
 

[Rufatiwe]

Personally, I do like a bit of sidewall and find the current fad for seeking ever bigger wheels and ever smaller rubber a bit silly, but each to their own.

 

I think mine looks nicer on its 15' winter wheels.

 

Rides nicer too.

 

Looks are subjective, however vast majority of people would find lower profile tires and bigger wheels (within reason) more attractive. Pretty much everyone I asked said these looked better.

 

In terms of vehicle dynamics, it is indeed an interesting topic.

 

• Comfort. Obviously lower tire has got less absorption capability which in my opinion is not a priority for a a lotus or a speedster. Anyone seeking for comfort with beefy tires in a speedster has probably got a wrong car to start with..
• External diameter and hence torque. This also affects acceleration, but can be negated with proper tire selection. In my case with 205 40 on the front and 225 35 rears, the 18" wheels are actually smaller than 17" factory.
• Road feedback and handling. This may be subjective, but it is general consensus that handling is improved with lower profile tires, within reason of course such as when you switch from 17" to 18". I definitely had much better handling and feedback on e36 m3 when I switched from 17 to 18" wheels.
• Weight. This is actually controversial topic. Most people assume that bigger wheels will weigh more than smaller wheels. That is if you look at the wheel weight only. Combined weight of wheel and tire is usually very similar. Bad thing about the higher profile tire is that more of rotating mass is further from the center. Another benefit of bigger wheels is that you can get lighter wheel such as forged (I am guessing mine are forged as they are from OPC and felt lighter), magnesium etc. however, you can not get much of weight saving on a tire. In Alfa rome 4C, there is couple of kilos of weight saving from wheel tire combo when you go from 18 to 19 forged with the same model tire.

 

I will update once I get some mileage with 18"

 

Stay safe

Rufat

[KurtVerbose]

Well, looks wise it is subjective. In the 70's almost everyone thought massive flares looked better. Same with platform shoes and big lapels. So I don't care what the vast majority think as in a few years they will have changed their mind while mine will have remained the same. In any case I'm not so bothered about aesthetics, but I definitely don't want big shiny 'look at me' wheels.

 

I went the other way to you. I have a set of 17 ATS DTC's on mine with 205/45 front 235/40 rear. There's a lot of grip, but so much you can't really explore the handling on a public road. It's just more fun at road speeds on the 15's and less crashy. I recently acquired a second set of 15's with summer tyres having driven a friends car with them and it was more fun still. I didn't buy the car for its comfort.

 

If you look at Lotus cars they rarely have big rubber on and they're known as top chassis engineers. In fact most chassis engineers find it a challenge to get big wheels to work and they only have them because the marketing guys want them.

 

Anyway, if you're happy that's all that matters. I hope you enjoy them. They do look quite nice, but just wouldn't be my choice, but celebrate the difference!

[Ivor]

F1 cars don't run low profile tyres for a reason

[stevieturbo]

F1 cars don't run low profile tyres for a reason

 

 

Because they were forced to use silly 13" wheels for decades and the only way they could get a sensible circumference/overall diameter is with those large sidewalls. Large and very very very rigid  sidewalls.

 

They were not like that by free choice

 

Although it was a couple of years ago they switched to 18" wheels and tyres, which now do appear more normal.

 

As for anyone saying a very low profile tyre "handles" better....in most cases I would disagree. But handling totally subjective to each and every user.

 

Handling is not speed, or fast etc etc. It is purely, how it feels to the user

 

Even this was very informative where the change was wheel width.

 

[oblomov]

"vast majority of people would find lower profile tires and bigger wheels (within reason) more attractive."

 

Whilst wheel size is subjective, I think we should stick to the realms of reality.  I was just wondering, how many people did you canvass out of the world population of 82 billion to be able to assert that rather sweeping statement ?

[Ivor]

F1 cars don't run low profile tyres for a reason

Because they were forced to use silly 13" wheels for decades and the only way they could get a sensible circumference/overall diameter is with those large sidewalls. Large and very very very rigid sidewalls.

They were not like that by free choice

Although it was a couple of years ago they switched to 18" wheels and tyres, which now do appear more normal.

As for anyone saying a very low profile tyre "handles" better....in most cases I would disagree. But handling totally subjective to each and every user.

Handling is not speed, or fast etc etc. It is purely, how it feels to the user

Even this was very informative where the change was wheel width.

Ken Tyrrell used even smaller than 13" on the front of his 6 wheeler....

[hairy]

Ken Tyrrell used even smaller than 13" on the front of his 6 wheeler....

 

 

Was he a relative?