Wheel change 16" to 15" what's best?

Basho · Postby **Basho** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:02 pm

Where you will gain with a 15 compaired to a 16 is wieght , round about 3 kg a corner at a guess , depending on the rim .

Just thought

Helps the ride quality suprisingly.

:beer:

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:04 pm

Wtf! did you read the price I got for 15? How is that 50 % more?

I don't care what your opinion is in the end, I care about time wasted by repeatedly ignoring the suggestions of the people you ask for help.

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Guran · Postby **Guran** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:14 pm

This thread is so amusing. You're spending hours of your time (and ours!) anxiously worrying about how you can save $100 on a set of tyres. :roll:

If you're that desperate, there are plenty of cheap rubbish tyres out there ... like these:

Rotalla F105 205/45R16 87W $400 for a set of four fitted (they even reckon they're good as "cheap track car tyres" :shock:

)

Hi-Fly HF201 195/55R15 85V $72 each

Postby **NitroDann** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 6:38 pm

SHHHHHH!.

Dann

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 1:54 am

High Maintenance.

Silvia · Postby **Silvia** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:28 am

Been asked to clarify as there is clearly some dissent ....here's some no.crunching.
Note I am happy to stay on 16" but would switch if beneficial
OBJECT; To get new tyres (KU31) onto car with 16" wheels ... 15" v 16"

Replace 16's with 15" wheels say $400
Best size match 205/50 15 (4x120 +freight+fit) $625 (all EBay prices used)
195/50 (15mm smaller diam. than stock16") 4x85 +f&f $485
Comes to $1025 or $885 depending on size (I prefer best size match)

Use own wheels (which are fine)
205/45 16 (4x $104 + f&f) $561
205/50 16 (I prefer, tho' 5mm big for legal maybe) $561 also

My Conclusion ; same tyre on car , end result $464 or $324 better off on 16" . With minimal hassles (and I prefer 16" original look .)

Hope this clarifies MY reasoning why 16" is better to stay with if you have it.
You could try to sell the 16" wheels....even more hassle and then have non-stock car.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:39 pm

All well and good reasoning IF flea bay was the best place to shop for tires..........which it isn't.....cause one phone call to option 1 garage got a cheaper price for the 15" 205 option, LOTS CHEAPER.

If you like the 16, good for you, stick with it, I agree is the best option based on your desires.

but encase anyone actually searches / reads this thread thinking about the swap I'd hate them to get the wrong idea about tyre prices. :-)

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Silvia · Postby **Silvia** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 8:53 am

...and the four 15" wheels you'd need? How much did you allow for that?
I factored in $400 extra. Could be a bit cheaper maybe.....or you could go through the hassle of selling the stock 16" wheels?

CoachOz · Postby **CoachOz** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 9:45 am

I went through a similar process with my NB8B. Bought some really good NB8A 15" wheels, bought new 205x55 Bridgestone Supercats and sold my old 16" wheels and tyres. Net cost $450 including freight, fitting, balancing and disposal.

The ride is much better, the wheels are stronger, the handling is much the same and the speedo is dead accurate when measured using my gps.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:35 am

How does rim price influence the Tyre price at all?

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Postby **NitroDann** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 11:31 am

it affects the totall cost of the process of changing tyre size?

Dann

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 11:53 am

True but so does using inflated Ebay pricing rather than pricing from a Tyre store, so it is beside the point.

My point was the quoted Tyre prices are high, too which rim costs has no direct effect on the same size Tyre.....

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93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:26 pm

OP should & I'm sure will do what he likes, but $400 for NB8A rims is also too high & no hassle selling NB8B rims as someone wants a set on the NSW MX5 site, so zero cost to change over rims.

Silvia · Postby **Silvia** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:49 pm

Just weighing in with some comments from Miata.net forum on the subject....

There's nothing wrong with the 15lb, stock 16" wheels. If you can find tires that you're happy with for the wheels and you're happy with the handling, then by all means, keep those wheels. 15lb.is not heavy, but it's also not terribly light weight either. To find a VERY light weight wheel (forged) would be quite expensive. You could probably get down into the 11.5-12.5# range for a reasonable price. Would you be able to tell the difference between a 15lb.wheel and a 12lb. wheel, who knows?.
and...
I agree. 15lb. is a good weight for 16" wheels. Besides, your lower aspect ratio tires have better steering response compared to 15" higher ratio tires of equal speed rating and manufacturer, so why change?

I went with 205/45 16 KU31's from KMart :oops:

$165 ea. all up.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:56 pm

Sounds like a reasonable outcome.

I'd like to see the data on lower profile being better than higher profile though.

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