18" or 19"s Can't Decide

[mitch2575]

Considering getting some RS4 phase 2's but not sure if I should go for 18 or 19"'s
It's 1.8T QS B6 Cab I use the car daily to commute to work on the Motorway! approx 50miles a day and where i live are loads of speed bumps and i pick up my daughter from the nannies!!

What would be better? what would the ride comfort compare to each other??

 

[CHRIS555]

19's for sure - the newer Audi's have them fitted as standard sometimes! if you opted for 18's you would always be loking at 19's 100% but never the other way around.

 

[Az]

Totally agree with Chris, I've just sold my 18's and I only had them on the car for about 5 weeks! Regretted not going for 19's as they look so much better, mine is a daily commuter as well, also on KW coilovers, but I'm confident the ride quality will be fine on 19's as it's so good on 18's.

 

[C17LJR]

i'd say 19s, I've got 18s the now but as i'm so low i'm wanting to change to 19s to get an extra bit ground clearance

 

[silversurfer]

Same as above comments

 

[CMD]

The only way is 19's

 

[paul20v]

Well im the other way i had 19s and was fed up of the price of tyres and worse the lack of comfort
theres no way i would ever go back to 19s on an a4 you just cant get a decent profile for comfort
so here at least 18s all the way .

 

[vorsprung dork]

depends on your suspension! ive got 19x235x35 i had these on my 1.9 quattro se with normal suspension first, and i could really tell the differance in ride comfort! but not so much as it was a problem! i then chucked these on my 2.5 tdi sport with stiffer sports suspension and to be totaly honist the ride is that stiff on the sport i could feel no diffrence over the standard 17x205x60! 19" do fill the arches better tho! lol!

 

[mitch2575]

Would I just have to plug and play:
19 INCH AUDI RS4 ALLOY WHEELS & TYRES
TYRES ACCELERA 235/35/19
19/8.5 J

 

[mitch2575]

depends on your suspension! ive got 19x235x35 i had these on my 1.9 quattro se with normal suspension first, and i could really tell the differance in ride comfort! but not so much as it was a problem! i then chucked these on my 2.5 tdi sport with stiffer sports suspension and to be totaly honist the ride is that stiff on the sport i could feel no diffrence over the standard 17x205x60! 19" do fill the arches better tho! lol!

Would mine be the sport suspension?

 

[CHRIS555]

Yes your car is approx 20mm lower than standard if its the same as mine - the log book will have it down at a A4 T Sport Cabrio Quattro

Im putting 19's on mine very soon

 

[BahnStormer77]

If the reason you're going for 19's is "extra ground clearance".... then you're going for something with the wrong tyres!

The rolling radius should stay the same, which means the overall tyre height stays exactly the same: so the ride height stays the same.

19's are very pretty if you're doing lots of show 'n shine or want to impress the kids in the local McDonalds car park, but not for a daily driver that is being used on anything other than German quality motorways.

Things to bear in mind: pot holes and kerbs. Those two are enough to mean I'd never go for 19's - Audi NEVER fitted 19's to a B6 and there a reason for it.

I've gone for oversized alloys before and never again - I couldn't park outside most of my friends' houses (against high kerbs or one-wheel up on the kerb) and it felt like the rims were hitting the ground on some of the ridges in the M25, let alone the one time I split a tyre on a pot hole.

I'm very happy with the S4 18's and wouldn't change them over on a free swap for any set of 19's (and a free set of the tyres I'd invariably split with the amount of country A and B-road driving I do).

But then I am risk averse: I prefer to spend money on good tyres and then protect them - 18's for summer and then I use 16's in winter with proper winter tyres, which saves the extra wear you get on non-winter tyres*.

*Below 7deg C, non-winter tyres wear out 40% faster than winter tyres - but I only used those because theyre the OEM sport alloys, I'd recommend 17's as a decent compromise of being smart and pot-hole proof for winter tyres, but only if u have a set of 18's for your summer tyres

 

[mitch2575]

LostBok - Valid points and I agree with you! I'm going to have to re-evaluate now based on you're agrument.

 

[CHRIS555]

Or maybe 20'S??!!!??!!

Have you checked out Deckedm's? http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a4-a4-...chassis/111140-cabby-slammed-20-rs6-pics.html

All I would say is this - if you get 19's i don't think you'll ever be saying to yourself "oh, I wish I had 18's" but if you get 18's you may find yourself "wishing i'd gone for 19's"..........

Your choice though - if you wait a month or so mine will have 19's fitted so if you want to meet up and take a look feel free mate

 

[BahnStormer77]

19's aren't "silly size"... but definitely not for me and I would STRONGLY recommend a set of 17's with winter tyres on them if you do go for 19's.

 

[mattyboyc]

18's for me, i want a decent set of rs6 i8's and then put winter tyres on my original 17's

 

[swarcup]

horses for courses. If your contemplating 19'S now and go for 18'S you will probably not be happy. I think 18 and 19 both look equally fetching

 

[Jine]

19's definately. I use mine daily and i have no worries about anything mentioned above. If your worried about hitting the kerb when parking then i suggest you use the electric mirrors after all thats what they are there for. I can't comment on pot holes though as the roads round my area are all spot.

 

[CMD]

Have a set of 19s for the spring and summer and 18's for the winter months.

 

[mitch2575]

Thanks for all you're comments!! All valid points made by all.
i'm still undecided but i have a little time to get it right first time. Ideally I would like the rear wheels to look bigger than the front! would i have to have a different tyre size?? I'm a hater of Bimmers but I was a M3 parked up near my work and had some big wheels but the rear wheels looked bigger/deeper than the front! How can I do that??

 

[Az]

If you want wider wheels at the back then you want a staggered set of alloys where the front wheels would be 8-8.5" wide and the rears would be 9-9.5" wide. You can get away with 9.5" on the rear as long as the offset is right, for instance I have 9.5" at the rear with an ET38 offset with no problems at all. The fronts you can run 8.5" wide with an offset no lower than ET35. I'm running 9.5" all round with the 38 offset and so far, even nice and low on coilovers, ive had no trouble at all.

 

[Az]

Oh and if you do run a staggered fitment then you will be running with different size tyres front to rear. Probably something like 225's on the front and 235 or 245's on the rear.

 

[CHRIS555]

Staggered fitment - norm for beemers as its RWD. Wouldnt do it on yours though, you'd be better with some spacers - i bought some the other day, these will help push your wheels away from the car giving you that wide track look

 

[Az]

Staggered fitment - norm for beemers as its RWD. Wouldnt do it on yours though, you'd be better with some spacers - i bought some the other day, these will help push your wheels away from the car giving you that wide track look

Staggered fitment would be fine, not always for RWD cars, there a quite a few people on here running staggered fitment on their audi's. The only thing with spacers is you won't get the same effect as a staggered set of wheels, spacers will literally do what they say on the tin and space the wheel outwards, but they don't really make the wheel look wider in my opinion as the wheel itself is exactly the same as the front. You need a split rim alloy to get a proper staggered look. (I.e the dish is deeper on the rear to the front)

 

[quattrojames]

Staggered fitment would be fine, not always for RWD cars, there a quite a few people on here running staggered fitment on their audi's.

You'd need to be careful to keep the rolling radius within 5% on a quattro car.

EDIT in fact for a quattro car you'd need to keep the rolling radius as close as physically possible.

 

[Az]

You'd need to be careful to keep the rolling radius within 5% on a quattro car.

Well the chances are the rolling radius will be virtually the same with a staggered size tyre anyway. Eg- a 40 profile on the front and a 35 profile on the rear.

 

[BahnStormer77]

18's for me, i want a decent set of rs6 i8's and then put winter tyres on my original 17's

Ideal combo: I only went with 16's for winter 'cos I had the original 16" Trapeze that came with the car.... 17's are spot on and there's good availability of Winter tyres for 17" alloys now... not sure what 40 profile winter tyres you'll get to go with 18's...

James: do they really allow as much as 5%? I thought it was fine* for FWD, but I was told it was to be avoided at all costs on a quattro due to the extra strain on the Torsen diff?

*"fine" as it it won't damage the car, but it'll make it understeer badly. Some of the hotter hatchbacks like the 1.4TFSI A1 actually have NARROWER rear tyres to get the car less understeer.

 

[quattrojames]

James: do they really allow as much as 5%? I thought it was fine* for FWD, but I was told it was to be avoided at all costs on a quattro due to the extra strain on the Torsen diff?

You're probably right, that "5%" figure stuck in my head from a tyre size calculator website, and having just checked it's 2.5% anyway and that wouldn't be designed for quattro cars. I don't know what the exact figure would be, maybe 1 or 2 %?

 

[BahnStormer77]

I know you can get away with more of a difference on Haldex systems, but I thought the magic Torsen wormery started doing it's stuff with ANY difference in rotation (which is why it's a more effective quattro system), so there would be a lot more heat and wear on the centre dif.

I've heard Audi recommend no more than 4mm tyre tread difference between axles, so on nearly 300mm radius, that's more like 1% (VERY approximtely).

 

[mitch2575]

Finally decided and ordered 18's 235/45/18 RS4's for my ride... weighed up my options mileage, wear & tear and most of all my daughter will be in the car (£4-500 difference if I got 19's).
Did want to go for the staggered look but couldn't do it with the RS4's without buying to set's so once i've put them on see how they ride then drop it a little to smarten it up.

Keep my 17's for winter wheels.... Will post up pic's before and after the install...

Hopefully see everyone at AIP in aug and possible GTI International in June.....