Ride Quality - 17 vs 19 vs 20 - Feedback

[shortnugly]

Hey all, just picked up our 2016 Touring CX-5.

Has 17" wheels with Toyos.

Want to go to an all black wheel and am considering a taller wheel.

Right now the car rides oh-so-nice and quiet and pretty smooth with the 17's and taller tire sidewall.

How much firmer or harsher will this ride with taller wheels and smaller tires?

19's and 20's look great on these models.

Your thoughts? Pics if you can provide them.

I like this look - TSW Portier 20's

 

[MikeM.]

Right now the car rides oh-so-nice and quiet and pretty smooth with the 17's and taller tire sidewall.

How much firmer or harsher will this ride with taller wheels and smaller tires?

19's and 20's look great on these models.

Smoothness will incrementally decrease with each size larger wheel. The difference between each incrementally larger diameter is small but noticeable. There is also a small acceleration penalty with each larger size due to the weight of the rim being further from the axle (one very important reason Formula 1 cars have such a small tire/wheel diameter). Tire selection is much better (and considerably less expensive) in the 17" size and the taller sidewall is more resistant to rim damage should some debris get kicked in front of you on a busy freeway.

In case you can't tell, I have no love of things that make the car worse and cost a lot of money or headache. A 17" setup with quality tires will have all the corner grip you need (and will actually corner better than lower profile setups over chunky/broken pavement or off-road).

 

[dergibog]

I noticed very little if any difference going from 19's to 20's.

 

[MikeM.]

I noticed very little if any difference going from 19's to 20's.

True, it's like blacktop is considerably softer than concrete (especially on a warm day) but when you smash your head on them they both feel really hard.

Yes, it will hurt.

 

[SayNoToPistons]

Very slight difference in harshness between my GT with 19" versus my girlfriend's Touring with 17". The difference is not noticeable unless you are nit-picking back and forth between the two.

 

[mazdadude]

Hey all, just picked up our 2016 Touring CX-5.

Has 17" wheels with Toyos.

Want to go to an all black wheel and am considering a taller wheel.

Right now the car rides oh-so-nice and quiet and pretty smooth with the 17's and taller tire sidewall.

How much firmer or harsher will this ride with taller wheels and smaller tires?

19's and 20's look great on these models.

Your thoughts? Pics if you can provide them.

Here is a link to a recent article on Car and Driver
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/effects-of-upsized-wheels-and-tires-tested

Here they test a Golf with 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 wheel and tires.

As you go up in size, two things get better, and that is road holding G, and braking distance. All other data points get worse such as mpg, acceleration and price.

But damn those 19's look nice!

 

[leeharvey418]

Here is a link to a recent article on Car and Driver
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/effects-of-upsized-wheels-and-tires-tested

Here they test a Golf with 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 wheel and tires.

As you go up in size, two things get better, and that is road holding G, and braking distance. All other data points get worse such as mpg, acceleration and price.

But damn those 19's look nice!

Actually, all else being equal, braking distance should get worse. As they noted in the C&D piece, the tires went up in speed rating as they got bigger, and apparently a stickier compound helped braking. They even noted that this was an anomaly.

 

[MikeM.]

Here is a link to a recent article on Car and Driver
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/effects-of-upsized-wheels-and-tires-tested

Very informative article!

 

[littlebear]

With the 19" factory OEM rims/tires vs the 17" OEM tires, with tires being equal, the 19" should perform better on corners.

The OEM 19" Toyo's weigh 28lbs per tire (720 REVS PER MILE) and surprisingly the 17" OEM tires are 27lbs per tire (729 REVS PER MILE)

If you go with a 19" ECO-tire like the Continental, that tire weighs 25lbs per tire, which should net better MPG.

 

[MikeM.]

With the 19" factory OEM rims/tires vs the 17" OEM tires, with tires being equal, the 19" should perform better on corners.

The OEM 19" Toyo's weigh 28lbs per tire (720 REVS PER MILE) and surprisingly the 17" OEM tires are 27lbs per tire (729 REVS PER MILE)

If you go with a 19" ECO-tire like the Continental, that tire weighs 25lbs per tire, which should net better MPG.

I wouldn't expect 19" tires to be any heavier than 17" tires because the tread is the same width and diameter but the sidewall is shorter. The difference that causes slower acceleration is three-fold;

a 19" tire carries it's weight further from the axle so has more inertia (assuming similar weight)

a 19" wheel carries it's weight further from the axle so has more inertia (this is the big one because most of a wheels weight is around the rim)

a 19" wheel is heavier because it's a bigger diameter rim (assuming similar construction)

When I switched from the OEM 17" aluminum wheels to lighter 17" aftermarket wheels I felt an immediate increase in performance.

 

[shortnugly]

I think probably the 19's are what i'll be shooting for. best compromise between looks and ride quality.

I'll keep the 17's and mount some snow/ice tires on them.

thanks to all for the feedback

 

[CX-5um]

Very informative article!

This part is interesting:

"The 19-inch package came with the widest tires (235/35R-19) mounted to the widest wheels (8.5 inches), but this setup had less grip around the skidpad than the narrower 225/40R-18s on 8.0-inch-wide wheels. We asked the folks at Goodyear why that might be, and they postulated that the added width may have given the outside tire more grip, which would increase body roll and could therefore decrease the load on the inside tire enough to lose 0.01 g on the skidpad."

So according tot he article, an increase in wheel size may not only effect speed/mpgs negatively but also decrease lateral grip.

But then...

"Surprisingly, the 225/40R-18s showed a big skidpad advantage compared with the 225/45R-17s (0.89 g versus 0.85 g). We *suspect the difference is due to the grippier compound (lower wear rating) of the W-rated 18s. Goodyear does offer a W-rated GT in the 225/45R-17 size, which is what we intended to use, but Goodyear sent us the V-rated version for our test."

So basically if going bigger (assuming you want better performance) then there's a threshold on how big to go before you start to see decreased performance. Stay within that threshold. That and get stickier tires if possible.

 

[Srad600]

This part is interesting: <snip> So basically if going bigger (assuming you want better performance) then there's a threshold on how big to go before you start to see decreased performance. Stay within that threshold. That and get stickier tires if possible.

Or, add a sway bar to reduce body roll, and thus take advantage of the added contact patch for cornering.

I liked the article as well, seemed very impartial (which is getting rare). I'd be interested in seeing an article on the effects of up-sizing the wheels with lighter aftermarket wheels and tires. That should yield some interesting numbers...

 

[erhayes]

My experience with tires, suggest that ride quality gets worse as the tires wear. In addition, the apparent difference between 17 & 19 inchers, will become MUCH more apparent as the tires wear. I prefer the 17 inchers because of this. Ed

 

[MikeM.]

I liked the article as well, seemed very impartial (which is getting rare). I'd be interested in seeing an article on the effects of up-sizing the wheels with lighter aftermarket wheels and tires. That should yield some interesting numbers...

That's a losing game if you're going for max acceleration because any reduction in total weight would be counter-acted by the fact that the bulk of the weight is carried farther from the axle, hence more inertia.

 

[Srad600]

That's a losing game if you're going for max acceleration because any reduction in total weight would be counter-acted by the fact that the bulk of the weight is carried farther from the axle, hence more inertia.

I'm not interested in only max acceleration numbers, but maximum performance overall.

Larger tires yield better braking (to a point), and better road holding (again to a point before suspension modifications are required), combine that with very light weight wheels and tires. That overall performance package should be a very good one compared to stock. Finding the threshold where the increased size & reduced weight yield the best package (acceleration/braking/cornering) would interest me greatly.

 

[MikeM.]

I'm not interested in only max acceleration numbers, but maximum performance overall.

Larger tires yield better braking (to a point), and better road holding (again to a point before suspension modifications are required), combine that with very light weight wheels and tires. That overall performance package should be a very good one compared to stock. Finding the threshold where the increased size & reduced weight yield the best package (acceleration/braking/cornering) would interest me greatly.

Good enough but the tire you choose will have a much bigger impact than the exact size of that tire.

 

[mnm]

My experience with tires, suggest that ride quality gets worse as the tires wear. In addition, the apparent difference between 17 & 19 inchers, will become MUCH more apparent as the tires wear. I prefer the 17 inchers because of this. Ed

The other issue with the 19 tires is that when it comes time to replace them there currently are not many options in that tire size where with the 17 the options are plentiful.

 

[starmagic]

I just recently bought a TSW 19's warp with nitto tires. Ride quality, well you can feel a bit of ride bump, but very tolerable. But in the end of the day, very sexy and tight looking wheels. Bought mine from 4 Wheel Online with 25% discount .

 

[Ride92]

a 19" tire carries it's weight further from the axle so has more inertia (assuming similar weight)

I don't know if I totally agree with this. Wouldn't the tires be carrying their weight in roughly the same distance from the axel since the goal is to not change overall diameter? The 15 tires tread is just as far from the center as the 19" tires if the overall diameter remains the same, and it should.

I'd like to see the results with that test throwing in a very lightweight wheel in the mix with a larger size like the 18". It would answer how much of a difference wheel weights matter. I'd think a 17lb 18" wheel would yield much different results then the heavier wheels they used