My 01" has 16x8 wheels and I'm thinking about swapping them for the 17" SS wheel. Will this stiffen the ride considerably? I live in Michigan and the roads here are not perfect to say the least. I'd go with the 275/40/17 tires(since I got them free from a relative!)

 

your just getting everything for fre arent you lucky.....


no they do not make a consedirable difference at all.....i have a set of 16 by 8 for the winter or whenever i wanna do a few burnouts and cant even tell the difference......well to some extent i can tell but you would really have to be looking for it.....

anyways....GO FOR IT

 

My friend has a set of 4 18" rims on his '96 T/A, and compared to my car with the stock 16's, sure it's a little rougher, but it's not bad IMO, and it feels like it handles a little better. I think he has 265/35/18's for tires. Eventually I'd like the Z06 rims, which are 17's in front, 18's out back. Also, roads in my area aren't all that great either, but I can steer around the odd pot-hole!

 

michigan is a pothole (and hell hole )

anyway, its more the sidewall thats an issue. bigger wheel usually = less sidewall

 

when i went from the stock 16x8 to 17x9 SS rims i could feel a difference. Grey Davis has squandered all the money in the "Road Maintinence Program" and our roads are really starting to suffer ( at least in my small corner ). It did get rougher, but I'm not complaining about the ride because of the tires, it's cuz of the idiot we have in the Governor's seat.

 

just did this with my z went from 16x8 w/ 245/50r16 to

17x9's w/ 285/40r17 bfg's
rougher ride ? yea a bit but steering/handling has gone up dramatically

just do it you wont look back

 

when I swapped out my 16s for 17s I was sure I would notice a difference but I never did.

 

Well, I wouldn't say that the 17's will give you a rougher ride, but the wider tire will make you notice the grooves and ridges in the road a lot more.

My 17" rims are wearing 275/40's ... that's a lot of meat. I notice that on some roads, the car will try to pull to one side or the other as it hits the crown in a lane.

It's nothing major, just something that will take a little getting used to at first.

 

go for the 17's. i noticed no difference in ride quality going from 16's to 17's. the only thing you may want to consider is that if you're ever going to drop the car, there is a chance that the 275 tires will rub on the rear fenderwells. although, my wheels have a +38mm offset, most 17" SS wheels have a +53mm or +56mm offset so you won't have to worry about it with a greater offset. the +38mm offset rubbed, but was easily fixed with jounce bumper spacers.

 

Well, the ride is a little rougher but not too bad. It pulls to the left/right - seems to be normal... I'll go with 255/45 front and 285/40 rear soon because my 275/40s don't look wide enough in the rear and it's too wide for the front IMO (they're worn out as well)

 

I switched for 16's to 17's and did not notice an harsher of a ride