Do wide wheels affect handling??

[Lokiel]

:OK Simon, am I to assume I will see 'Miss Gina' on track at Lakeside 28 July?

Possibly NOT

My company has been bought by a large international and they've decided to pare my division right down to maintenance levels since they don't wish to pursue new contracts in this area (Emergency Services) - unfortunately I'm one of the cuts. We've seen this coming for a while so it's not as bad as it sounds and I've been holding out for the retrenchment package for over a year now. It's one of the reasons I wanted to do as much as possible to the car before this happened since I'll need it if I can't find work in the city so wont be able to have it off the road for any extended periods - all the big $$$ jobs have now been done.

Whilst I can afford to take about 6-8 months off, I plan on looking for work immediately so doubt I can get the Monday off so early into a new job.

[22Silver]

I went from 5.9kg 6"x15" stockies to 5.3kkg 6.5"x15" Rims and barely noticed any difference. Although I swapped the tyres across without increasing tyre width, I could probably stick the next width up on when I replace my tyres.

edit*

There is a limit, as there is with everything. People think wider means a bigger contact patch, but it doesn't. Same weight on the tyres, the patch is wider side to side but narrower front to back (assuming same tyre pressures).

While you're correct in saying that the patch is wider side to side but narrower front to back, the patch IS larger overall. The best way to describe it is in chemistry terms.. The system will attempt to oppose the change, and will to an extent (Le Chatelier's principle) but cannot completely oppose the change.
The further apart the sidewalls are, the more maleable the rubber at the center of the tire is. For example, a 2 inch wide tire will have a very stiff rolling circumference, and will have little to no give in the patch touching the ground. A 15 inch wide tire will have a very large patch of unsupported rubber about the center line of the tire, along the circumference, and will have a lot more "give" in the middle of the patch.

That means that a wider tire is theoretically going to give you more grip and less inclination for the tire to have 'give' in a sidewards direction (the wider the tire, the more closely it resembles an extremely low profile tire in terms of aspect ratios.
The negatives should theoretically be increased rolling resistance, and increased force required to turn the wheels using the steering wheel (feels like weaker power steering, debatable whether this is a pro or a con), and increased price of each tire!

Imagine if tires had a third bead about the center line circumferentially, in essence creating another central "sidewall" to increase stiffness? That would be weird as hell

[NickgG]

Thanks for all the help fellas i finally got the wheels sorted and they look mint!
Went with a set of black 15x7 king wheels with 195/50 goodyear tires (was on a bit of a budget) that are perfect and i didnt notice any change in the steering weight at all (if anything it's now easier...). Handles like shes on rails now!

[WASP]

YES!
On my NA, supercharged, I had 15x7's. When they were off to be painted I fitted the original light weight factory wheels. It was a far nicer car to drive with the smaller wheels and tyres. Turned in better, felt more balanced and responsive and rode better. Remember this was a road car.
Cheers
Steven