MkV Golf GTI 17 vs 18" inch wheels
 

My wife's 2006 Golf GTI has 18" wheels with the original Conti Sportcontact 3 225/40R18 wheels (I think the profile is 40 IIRC).

They look pretty but the ride quality is rubbish.

Anyone know if they are much better on 17s? The car isn't that sporty, 18" tyres seem overkill to me, and will just make it worse in the wet and in winter.

Anyone know the going rate for pristine 17s or 18s second hand to work out if it is worth swapping?

Tried to post on UK Mk IVs but it can't seem to email me a password.

as long as the inside diameter of the wheel is large enough to fit over your brakes then going for a smaller wheel with more tyre will always help improve the ride. I don't know by how much though.

I did have a 106 GTi that was hard as nails. I took that from 14s to 15s and I noticed some degradation in ride quality, but it was not an earth shattering change.

I think the GTi looks weedy without the 18" wheels. I'm also amazed how many of the wheels I see are badly kerbed!

By the way, I would call a Golf Gti sporty! Not compared to a 500bhp EVO maybe, but to 95% of other road cars, it goes quite well!

Steve

The 18's are very easy to kerb apparantly...mine is on kerbed, weedy 17s :)

John seems to have a thing about the Golf - most rate it up there with the best of the current hot hatches, but for whatever reason it doesn't float his boat.

John: I've not driven a mk5 on 18s so can't compare with mine but Idon't imagine there is too much difference.