18" Wheels. Pro's / Con's?

[my98GST]

Like the title states above. What are the pro's and con's of goign with 18's?

I'm looking to go with 18's on my car for a daily driver with some track time with a lot of spirited driving. How much will they hurt my straight line performance and handling?

Any input welcome.

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

Pro's - They look cool and are wider usually
Con's - Speedo is off...get more tickets.
Littler tire's=rougher ride.
Bigger and heavier so take's away horsepower. (depending on rim)

Overall they will help with handling on smooth road's. More surface area to grip because they will more than likely be wider. Won't hardly affect your straight line at all.

 

[99gst_racer]

pros - They look bad-ass.
cons - The could potentially be heavier.

If you get the correct profile of tire you're speedo will only be off by about 1-2 mph at the most if any.....

 

[TJGoSurf]

If you arent concerned about weight(like seriously concerned, the guy with a diegrinder taking off extra metal everywhere). I wouldnt worry about it. You could fit bigger brakes though.

 

[turbotsi92]

If you find a light set of 18s I don't really see any downfalls, they look great, and the 18s I bought are much lighter than the 17s I had on there before.

 

[drewvr4]

if you run an 18" tire you will have to run a low-pro tire...so you will have wheel hop due to not enough tire to absorb the ride...other then a little worse ride quality(who cares) its good

 

[wret]

I think all the key points have been made, but I’ll reiterate.

Weight: 18 inch wheels will be heavier than the same design in 17 inch. Not a lot, but if you are serious about performance, and handling especially, you will not compromise it with 18 wheels. If you’re not shopping for light weight wheels this won't matter much to you.

Grip: Suspension performance is affected by unsprung weight. The lighter wheel with the same tire will perform better.

Looks: I have 18 wheels and I like the looks.

Tire profile height: You will not have much height with 18's. This affects ride and the wheel's ability to take a hit from a pothole or steel plate unscathed.

Speedometer reading: Change is nil. Disregard any stories you read about so-and-so getting a ticket because of his bigger wheels. It's BS.

Brake clearance: Unless you plan on 14 inch rotors, you won’t need an 18 inch wheel for caliper clearance.

Cost: 18 inch wheels and tires cost more.

Bottom line: If looks are more important than performance and cost, get the 18’s. If performance is of any importance, or you can’t afford two sets of wheels, stay with 17’s.

 

[IMPORTIMAGE]

Yeah, for the best performance/looks combo 17's are the way to go. Don't forget you may have a lighter wheel in the 18inch form, but I bet the tire is a bit heavier than the tire that you'd install on a 17inch wheel. For a 4cyl car that is known to break transmissions, I'd definately go with a light set of 17's and than you can lower the car to make up for the wheel gap.

 

[speed127]

lots of good tips on this topic but hear is my 2c... I had 18s at one point on a previous car I owned and HATED it. Not that it didn't look sweet but the drivability went down the crapper. I live in Philly and just a drive to the Jersey shore was too long of a drive and I would take my stock neon. Pretty much because the tire was too small and since the car was lowered it was just a terrible ride. And then that winter I hit a small pothole and bent the $250 rim which of course was just discontinued. I have not gone bigger than 17s on any of my cars since then since I do drive them on a daily basis.

 

[my98GST]

I'm getting ready to put my coilovers and agx shocks on my 2g and lower it roughly 1.5" but the thing is on the stock wheels there are still a few places that i actually drag. So im kind of wanting to go bigger to compensate the actual ride height to still be realitively high but still have that sick performance look and to take out the fender gap.

So all in all 17's will probably be better? They will still raise the car a little but give a little more performance and give a little more options in the tire area choices of the series?

 

[notsafeFWD]

Another thing to consider is the fact that it won't have as much side wall on the tire. Depending on the tire, you might see a little more tire spin through the lower gears due to the fact that it won't flex as much. 35-40(18's) series tire vs 40-50(17-16's) series tire.

Ofcourse 18 inch wheel and tire combo will run you some more money, espically when you go to replace the tire after XX miles.

 

[my98GST]

will 17's throw off the speedo? How about some pics of 17's on an eclipse? I havent seen any. I'd like to see some of a eclipse lowerd roughly 1.5" to see how much of a difference 1" will make over the stock wheels.

 

[miteclgst]

Something that I didn't see mentioned previously is the cost of the 18" tire over a 17" tire. I have been searching for some tires to replace mine this winter and it appears to me that you can get a much better performance tire in 17" form for the money compared to what you can get in 18" form. I know it only makes sense and seems elementary, but you will spend a bunch more money over the years replacing tires if you go with 18s over 17s. Just think about it, you can get a set of 17 inch tires for maybe $80/ per tire, whereas 18's will be around 100, that is $40 extra you can save every time you replace tires that you can either spend on a better quality tire or other modifications. This may end up being a mute point as the trend seems to be that everything seems to be getting cheaper since more companies are offering more choices.
I have 18's they are heavy, I didn't really care about that because I wanted the look of the 18 when I got them. Also the extra ground clearance allowed me to lower the car a bit more without having any issues, they also fill up the wheel well quite nice.

 

[RWKustoms]

Something that I didn't see mentioned previously is the cost of the 18" tire over a 17" tire. I have been searching for some tires to replace mine this winter and it appears to me that you can get a much better performance tire in 17" form for the money compared to what you can get in 18" form. I know it only makes sense and seems elementary, but you will spend a bunch more money over the years replacing tires if you go with 18s over 17s. Just think about it, you can get a set of 17 inch tires for maybe $80/ per tire, whereas 18's will be around 100, that is $40 extra you can save every time you replace tires that you can either spend on a better quality tire or other modifications. This may end up being a mute point as the trend seems to be that everything seems to be getting cheaper since more companies are offering more choices.
I have 18's they are heavy, I didn't really care about that because I wanted the look of the 18 when I got them. Also the extra ground clearance allowed me to lower the car a bit more without having any issues, they also fill up the wheel well quite nice.

Yep, this guy ^^^^ is 100% correct. Depending on if you're a low baller or not it will really hurt your pockets to replace tires. In South FL prices are a lot different but I replaced all 4 tires for $89 a piece and saw 17" tires for $40 a piece at the same shop. This pissed me off so that's why my wheels are for sale right now in the classifieds.

 

[my98GST]

all the points on here that have been mentioned make excellent points. I really like the look of 18's for it really fills out the wheel well. I havent really seen any eclipses on 17's so that was why i was curious about seing some pics of what you guys have. I've searched hte gallery and most look like their 18's...

 

[SergioM]

yea, i planning next summer hook up some better wheels i got "15 and thats just....tooooo small!! and still cant make up my mind..."17 or "18 and yea..what tires size should be for eclipse? for "17 and "18? (40-45?)

 

[gsxeclipse97]

^^^ All very true but the stock gsx rims are heavy and you could get away with 18's that do weigh less. So if you can find them i would go with the 18's becuase they look great on our cars

 

[munguiaoh]

-lighter and smaller wheel and tire= more power to the ground

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[miteclgst]

yea, i planning next summer hook up some better wheels i got "15 and thats just....tooooo small!! and still cant make up my mind..."17 or "18 and yea..what tires size should be for eclipse? for "17 and "18? (40-45?)

When I had 17's over 2 years ago my tire size was 225/45 17
Now with the 18's I have been running 225/40 18

 

[gsxeclipsed]

Bottom line: If looks are more important than performance and cost, get the 18’s. If performance is of any importance, or you can’t afford two sets of wheels, stay with 17’s.

Wret do you have 2 sets of rims then? because in your profile it says you have 18's?

 

[brn2race96]

keep the smaller rims for the track, and get 18's for the everyday drive and the looks.

good luck

 

[greytalon26]

I got a set of 17's on my Talon (see picture) they still have much more flash then my old 16's and they saved about 2 lbs. per rim, not to mention they cost less and ride better than 18's, but its all up to you. My friend has a set of flashy 18's by BSA from http://www.wheelguyz.com with cheap Chinese tires that he got for less than my 17's. So good deals are out there for cheap 18's.

 

[deeperthanscarl]

I agree with almost everyone here! They always look bad ass! However most of the time they are heavier and my last set made my speedometer off which got me in some trouble because I had forgot about that. Other than that they make a little rougher ride but nothing a good set of shocks and springs won't help out with. I would not hesitate to buy 18's again and probably will with my next DSM. They just give your car a meaner look and that makes the few cons pale in comparison.

 

[wret]

Wret do you have 2 sets of rims then? because in your profile it says you have 18's?

Yes, I have two sets. Soon to be three.

 

[CYIMSOFAST]

I have 18's with 225/40's and the ride isnt bad at all.The pothole thing isnt an issue because when I have the factory 16's on I avoid potholes.Take off the fronts and go smaller at the track. My speedo was only off by 2mph...my 18's are for sale too!!!!!