Acceleration Loss 15 to 17 inch
 

I have searched and read the previous threads. But, new members join, opinions change, or new data is available. Basically, thread police please leave me alone!

Ok, question is for anyone who went from 15 inch to 16 or 17 inch wheels and if you noticed a loss in acceleration? If so, was this a matter of seconds, or tenths of a second? Did you have enough loss to where driving felt a little less fun? I know weight, width, working the engine harder, and the other factors in play. Just looking for some real-life opinions with the 318ti and how it felt after the switch.

As far as my use. If I got a bigger wheel it would most likely be a stock BMW wheel. I've looked at a 235/45/17 tire. I will not be putting this car on a track, but I do enjoy zip on the roads. I also put it on dirt roads on weekends and working on my tradeoff between better grip and acceleration. Top speed doesn't matter as usually can't get above 60 with the twists.

Thanks.

i have 15 inch rim, 16 inch rims, and 17 inch rims all factory BMW rims form different cars. no change in acceleration that i can feel. there will be a weight difference if you go from lighter to heaver but nothing that you would feel or be worried about. i mean, we are talking a few pounds, not alot of weight. having more than 1 person in the car would cause it to be slower then different rims.

anyway, on an unrelated note: i have noticed that when i went to 17 inch rims from the 15's, the car pulls to the left and right while driving. probably the combination of a stiffer then normal suspension parts and heavy wheels. nothing you should be worried about thought. you can change size without any problems or loss of speed.

Cool, thanks for the reply. I'll continue my search for new wheels...

Any time you increase the weight of your tire/wheel combination you'll lose some performance including braking.
The lightest 17 in. reasonably priced wheel I've found so far is about 15 lbs...
Tire weights vary a bit too; all things to think about

On my protege I could notice the difference between the aftermarket 17's and the stock wheel/tire combo... Same HP/tq as the ti.... Nothing horrible, but noticeable.

the tramlining hotmilk mentioned is common, where the wider tires follow grooves in the road, pulling the car side to side.

Great, thanks all for the info. Located some 17s, for $150. At that price I may just buy them to test it out for myself and see how it feels.

17s for 150, wow, that is an amazing deal. does it come with tires and rims? hard to believe, most rims sell for more then $150 each without tires. good job man, let us know. take care -

2 90% 2 on their way out. Getting dinan software right now and guys here offered double if I don't like them. Been sitting awhile for a deal, hope this works out. Heading over in a couple hours. Just hoping wheels in as good a shape as he claims.:smile:

While that may be true, the laws of physics change rarely if ever. :biggrin:

Just disproved or changed by someone else in time as we learn more...or less. Regardless, that's why I was asking more about how the change felt to people, not the actuals behind it.

As far as picking up the wheels last night...no show. I've been buying/selling on craigslist since its inception and never had a no show. I've been involved with cancels, but never a no show with no call/text to let me know deal is off. Hour roundtrip for nothing!

I don't know about that, I just watched Fast Five this weekend ;)

Not that anyone cares, not sure I even do, but I finally got a tire deal through. $225 for 5 style 45s, 4 with tires 70% tread. 16 inch. Can now test things out for myself.

Not sure what is up next for replacement.

I'm trying a set of 17's (no idea what they are) and there's a bit of tramlining happening but nothing crazy; offset is quite a bit less too maybe that's it.

The 17's are about 3/4 in taller and a lot heavier than the 15in OE's but the power loss is less than I expected

they are suppose to be the same size....

be aware that the increase in size will mean your odometer will be off (might be a lot, you need the tire size to tell you the % of how much it will be off) for example, bigger tires mean you are going faster then you think. if you are going 60mph, you might really be doing 65mph or 70mphm or the reverse is true, you might only be doing 50 - 55 mph when your car says 60.


it would be a good idea to look up the difference so you can calc the speed in your head while driving to prevent tickets.