miff13

Hi, I've just registered and hope you can help me. I've had a my2000 classic turbo for 2 years and have recently upgraded to 18" P1 alloys, which look great. Question is do these affect the handling as the car feels slightly different and I'm not so confident in it's handling anymore. There is nothing in particular I can put my finger on, just feels a bit twitchy. Could it be the tyres? Pirelli pzero rosso's? I've always used Eagle F1's before just came with the pirellis and they're nearly new so I'm reluctant to spend £400 on new tyres. Any help appreciated. Cheers Matt

JohnS

iTrader: (1)

Yes, larger wheels and lower profile tyres will have an impact on the handling and feel of the car.

In particular, the car will be more prone to tramlining (ie following the cambers and bumps in the road), which could account for the twitchy feeling you have.

Also with the bigger wheels and tyres, making sure that the tracking and camber settings are spot on will be more critical.

There's also a potential for the unsprung weight to increase due to the larger mass of the wheel/tyre combo, and this can have an impact on ride quality as will the lower sidewalls of the tyres having less give. However, many Prodrive wheels use a flowforming technique which mean they can in fact be lighter than many 17 inch wheels.

The big advantage though will be on smooth dry roads, and the ability to fit much bigger brakes under the wheels (think you can get 350 - 360mm discs up front under 18 inch wheels).

John

miff13

John, thanks for the info.

Matt