This has been the norm for a while now, but what the hell is going on with factory wheel sizes? Why do they keep getting bigger? Is it because of larger brakes? Just a trend? I know low-pro tires are not cheap so it's kind of a turn off when it comes to new(er) cars.
Bling, yo. I still think that 16'' is big, and the 17'' that I'm considering for my Miata to fix the gearing is enormous.
mtn wrote: I still think that 16'' is big
Yeah I do too. When my old boss bought the Soul for his wife, the dealer had 18" mags on it. He had them switch em out with a set of 15" Steelies off another one.
Maybe the giant wheels are a by product of the giant cars they are making these days. Cars all have to be as tall as SUVs were a handful of years ago. If you take a car like the new Camaro think of how funny it would look with 'tiny' 15" wheels. The car is so big and oversized that it really needs 20" wheels just to look like it has the right proportions.
Maybe these giant cars make people who drive them feel smaller and thus better about themselves?
I think it may go with the high beltlines for side impact standards. You raise the beltline and the hood, and the fenderwells look small in proportion to the rest of the car. So stylists decide the way to fix that, visually, is huge wheel openings filled with huge wheels.
MadScientistMatt wrote: I think it may go with the high beltlines for side impact standards. You raise the beltline and the hood, and the fenderwells look small in proportion to the rest of the car. So stylists decide the way to fix that, visually, is huge wheel openings filled with huge wheels.
Yup. And it doesn't hurt that the current fad is giant wheels, yo!
It's a fad - hopefully not here to stay. A buddy at the old job, who is not a car guy, bought a new Civic with some absurd wheels on it, like 18" or something OEM.
Him: "The Civic has 18" wheels too"
me: "Why?"
Him: "Better handling"
Seriously. I could not talk him out of this.
It just makes replacement tires more expensive. On some cars, the wheels look too big for the car. I remember when a Corvette or a 911 looked just fine with 15" wheels.
the 17s look perfect on my TI.. as do the 16s on my 900. as will 15s on my Fiat. All of those are a +2 setup from factory.
You are right about new cars being HUGE. I was looking at the Challenger at work parked next to a car and an SUV.. it was closer in height to the SUV than the 4 door sedan it was parked next to
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