Hi all,
I have a 2.0tdi 140 sportback sport with standard sport suspension and 17" sport alloys. I like the look of some of the 18" wheels but am in somewhat of a quandry.
I changed wheels before on my previous car (16-17") and the ride comfort suffered a little and the performance suffered due to the extra weight of the larger wheel as unsprung weight.
If I change these bits on the audi I'd want to use standard/oem bits so as not to have to worry about affecting insurance too much. I thought about fitting s-line suspension and the rs6 style s-line wheels but read a lot of people saying the s-line suspension is very crashy at low speed and guessing it'd be worse than the sport as it's a bit lower and wit the lower profile tyres on 18" wheels. I then got into reading about the eibach 30mm kit which gives a better ride and minimal drop over my standard springs but then I'm back to worrying about insurance again.
Can anyone give me suggestions as to what a good solution would be? I enjoy the car as it is but would prefer performance over looks but that said don't want it to looks pants or cost the earth (if insurance and money wasn't an option I'd have ultraleggeras, prorace1.2 or bbs ch I think) and I don't want to ruin the ride comfort, I know the sport stuff isn't great but don't want to make it worse! i also would rather avoid reps as I know they are generally heavier and come back to the loss of performance which I don't want.
I guess ideally I'd be looking for cheap, lightweight (or similar weight to current 17") oem wheels and advice on what to do about the suspension as if I go to 18" I'd be worried about arch gap looking silly.
Another question - do 18" give any performance advantage in terms of grip or tyre stability? I know people run the same width 225 tyres so is there any advantage in that? i don notice any problems with tyres rolling on the rims on my current 17".
Suggestions/comments welcome! From my mind it's all a bit of a compromise and I'm not sure what to do or just leave it as is.
cheers,
Andrew.
I have a 2.0tdi 140 sportback sport with standard sport suspension and 17" sport alloys. I like the look of some of the 18" wheels but am in somewhat of a quandry.
I changed wheels before on my previous car (16-17") and the ride comfort suffered a little and the performance suffered due to the extra weight of the larger wheel as unsprung weight.
If I change these bits on the audi I'd want to use standard/oem bits so as not to have to worry about affecting insurance too much. I thought about fitting s-line suspension and the rs6 style s-line wheels but read a lot of people saying the s-line suspension is very crashy at low speed and guessing it'd be worse than the sport as it's a bit lower and wit the lower profile tyres on 18" wheels. I then got into reading about the eibach 30mm kit which gives a better ride and minimal drop over my standard springs but then I'm back to worrying about insurance again.
Can anyone give me suggestions as to what a good solution would be? I enjoy the car as it is but would prefer performance over looks but that said don't want it to looks pants or cost the earth (if insurance and money wasn't an option I'd have ultraleggeras, prorace1.2 or bbs ch I think) and I don't want to ruin the ride comfort, I know the sport stuff isn't great but don't want to make it worse! i also would rather avoid reps as I know they are generally heavier and come back to the loss of performance which I don't want.
I guess ideally I'd be looking for cheap, lightweight (or similar weight to current 17") oem wheels and advice on what to do about the suspension as if I go to 18" I'd be worried about arch gap looking silly.
Another question - do 18" give any performance advantage in terms of grip or tyre stability? I know people run the same width 225 tyres so is there any advantage in that? i don notice any problems with tyres rolling on the rims on my current 17".
Suggestions/comments welcome! From my mind it's all a bit of a compromise and I'm not sure what to do or just leave it as is.
cheers,
Andrew.
