Is there a big difference in ride quality between 17 and 19 inch wheels?

[Ziggity]

Hello, I just bought a sport model with MT. I find that the car floats around a bit, the ride is not as firm as I would have preferred. Is that due to the break in period, anything I can do to make a bit more firm?

If you want a firmer ride, you'll need 19 or 20 inch wheels, spring and damper upgrades and braces

 

[Alan444]

I recently bought a late 2014 pre-facelift Sports Nav with stock 19 inch Toyo Proxes. I also bought a set of nearly new 17 inch alloys with Yokohama Geolanders. These are the factory setup for the lower spec models. I ran the 19's for the first 2 months (2k miles), and only last week swapped to the 17's. The ride is a bit softer, maybe 10% at most, and the road noise seems about the same. The car feels sharper with the 19's, and a little sloppier on the 17's. There's not that much in it tho, a little heavier on the steering but no deal breaker. If you're quite happy with your current ride quality leave it stock.

Just an update now that I've been running the 17's for a bit over a month, or around 1300 miles.

The ride is definitely softer, I'd now estimate about 15-20% softer. I used to appreciate the more cushioned ride of my partner's 2015 Mazda 3 (with the factory small wheels), but it now feels about the same as my CX-5. It soaks up the bumps much better overall, especially the sharp pothole-type bumps. The road noise seems about the same as before the wheel swap. The handling feels just fine too, but maybe if you were the type to push it to extremes on windy country roads you'd disagree. Fuel economy seems about the same too, maybe a little better (but it could also be the slightly warmer weather).