17" s have completly ruined my car?

[corradogang* 0]

ive recently changed my raddos stock wheels for some 17 s wich has totaly ruined the handling .is their any solutions to this problem ive got damper adjustment on my shocks but they are not ride height adjustable. Are 16 s ok on a raddo?

[MrBen 0]

17's are generally fitted for looks - they never handle as nicely as smaller rims IMHO. What size tyres are you running?

[acf8181 0]

yeah, 17"s are awful....16"s are ok, but 15" are best.

[badboyV6 4]

Dont think 17" rims are that bad (on my golf VR6 anyway) steering is a little more woolly and the suspension is still quite compliant.... but admittedly it is definitely a compromise more for looks. I had 17" rims on my old corrado and it was awful!!! The backend used to like jumping out with no warning as well.... It think it depends to some extent on what suspension setup you are running.

[MK2R32 0]

I'd say to combat the woolly handling on 17's you need to uprate your antiroll bars.

[Eat this 2]

i love the handlin on mine never driven a vr with anythin other than 17s though the arse end isvery er lively whitch is great imho

[antera309 3]

It's a tricky one:

17" = Looks great but can give a crashy ride and suspension has to be set up very carefully to maintain handling.

18" = As for 17", except with expensive body mods.

16" = Good balance between looks, ride & handling, but tyres for rare 16" wheel size can be very pricey.

15" = Best ride quality and handling, but at the expense of looks

[ Edited Mon Feb 28 2005, 12:58AM ]

[FishWick 21]

Tricky one 17s.....

I've tried 15s, 16s and 17s on my Corrado and to be honest, I find it rides better on the 17s! I was running 215x40x17s originally (nice ride) but got a smidgen of rear arch foulage. I then dropped to 205x40x17s (Avon ZZ3s - great tyres for the money!) and my fears of a crashy ride were unfounded.

The thing is, I've got a Neuspeed rear ARB, Koni TAs all round (half turn rear, 1.5 turns front) and H&R springs, entire chassis rebushed, VT mounts and poweflex cross member bushes, new rack, new tie rods, new BJs, new wheel bearings etc etc and that is why it can take the 17s no problem. They're also lightweight RH ZW1s and that's important. You need to keep unsprung weight to a minimum.

I found the 15s had too much sidewall flex. The 16s felt barely any different to the 15s and it's not worth going up 1" in my opinion. The 17s are a little firmer than the 15s and is perfectly acceptable for me.

Remember Corradogang, the Rado was a stiffly setup car to begin with, even on the 15s. It will only get worse if you fit bigger wheels and haven't made sure the chassis is tip top.

[MarkGolf 6]

I recently had design 90's (8"s all round) on my car for a week as a trial thing, and I want 16"s permanently now! The car handled so much better, looked meaner and was just better in everyway, even with 195's streeetched across them! After summer, I'm definetly going for 16" wheels..

I'd personally say 16" wheels are the best comprimise

[acf8181 0]

is worth remembering that the quality of the tyres, and even the wuality of the alloys, will make a huge difference. though from my experience its far too easy to bend 17"s over potholes.

as a general rule a car will be more progressive on the limit the higher the sidewall of the tyre.

i haven't had 17"s on the vr6, but when i went to 17"s on my previous car it was very nervous. when i went back to the o.e. 15"s before i sold it i absolutely loved it, was much nicer to drive and noticeably quicker.

[Eat this 2]

i may well try 15s (i have the solitudes) purely to lower the gearing a touch and increase the acceleration but imho the golf handles fantastically on 17"s very progressive and chuckable and my name aint mcrea lol andy next time ur up keel/stoke gimme a shout