Friday, December 28, 2007 - 09:53 am, by: Wess McManus(Bar)
G'Day all, It's time for new tyres. I'm after opinion's on which tyre size would suit best from those with practical experience.
My soarer is running the factory 16x7 alloys with large profile 225/60/16 tyres. Most of the 225 tyres I see on soarers are 55's. Would moving to 50 or 55 profile make considerable difference to ride quality? I should add my front left shock is bit soft,would lower profile exacerbate rebound. Could it be confirmed that supra 16&17in alloys are a straight swap. Anyone gone to 245 or 255 on factory alloys? Thanks in advance...
Friday, December 28, 2007 - 05:42 pm, by: Brian Kelly(Whereswaldo583)
Wess, I ran 55 profile on my stock wheels and it was a really great ride. Now I have 35 profile on a set of 18's and the ride is MUCH harsher. I think you can fit up to about a 245 on the stock wheel, but a 255 may be a bit of a stretch. And yes, the supra wheels are interchangeable.
Saturday, December 29, 2007 - 07:58 am, by: Matthew Sharpe(Madmatt)
Yes, supra wheels are a straight swap. I am running Supra 16"s I'd recommend using the Supra wheel nuts if you can get them too, as they are much better than the Soarer ones (may be different on your model wheels though)
Saturday, December 29, 2007 - 09:15 am, by: David Vaughan(Davidv)
The gist of the answers is that, yes, lower profile will increase ride harshness. If you are on 60 profile now then moving to a 55 or 50 profile will not destroy anything but will allow a slightly wider tyre with a slightly firmer grip. Profiles around 40 give or take a bit will introduce ride harshness. Whether you "get used to it" depends on what you are trying to buy. If you intend your car for cruising then the inferior ride will just be irritating all the time. However, if you are already irritated by pillowy handling and care less about the ride then low profile will be just what you are after. This is a car on which there is a direct trade-off.
I note that none of the previous respondents drives a V8 as you do, so none of them has the same current ride experience of air suspension. Lower profile will make negligible difference to the air suspension's capacity to absorb large bumps but will exacerbate its tendency to transmit fine bumps and ripples. The latter are better absorbed with a tyre.
For the record, I have high profile (55) tyres on my V8 and the ride is fabulous and handling barge-like. I know from driving another V8 that I could swap around those characteristics with different wheels and tyres. I have low-profile tyres on my IS in which I feel every bump but the handling (already far better than a Soarer anyway) is superb.
Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 01:12 pm, by: Steve Millward(Mallard)
My car had 225/50-16 tyres on when I bought it and I considered moving to 225/60-16 when it was time to replace them purely to go for the best ride quality. In the end I was put off by the marginal risk that 225/60-16 make the total wheel and tyre diameter slightly illegal and opted for 225/55-16 which I believe was an option on the 31s when they were new. (I have the same wheels as you which took me ages to find but I think they are better looking than the Supra wheels.) I know it is a miniscule risk but if you have a crash and it's discovered that the wheels were of an illegal size you could be in a pickle. Why give insurers an excuse?
It made a very, very slight improvement to the ride by going from 50 to 55 profile, but that could be due to having new tyres or by having a different make (from Pirelli P Zero Nero to Bridgestone E30), or just the psychology of having new tyres.
My conclusion would be that you probably won't feel much difference in ride by going to 55 profile tyres from 60. The quality of the ride will be more due to the pressure you run, the brand of tyre you buy and the quality of your bushes and struts than 11.25 millimetres of side wall.
I would advise against going to 225/50-16 as the wheel looks too small in the arches. You would get a shock going from 60 profile to 50 as the wheels will look like they have come from a skateboard. That extra 45mm makes a big difference visually.
If you are sticking to 16" wheels but are considering the Supras, which I also considered and are wider, then there are some good tyre size calculators around that will help you work out overall diameter and tyre wall size (if you haven't found these already). The trick for me was to get the maximum sidewall for the ride quality whilst keeping them legal.
I also looked at increasing the width of tyres on the 16" wheels but I found it hard to find suitable tyres (e.g. 235/50-16)
Friday, January 18, 2008 - 06:30 am, by: Matthew Sharpe(Madmatt)
I always found 17" wheels to be a good compromise between handling, looks and ride - plus tyres can still be had at good prices (since they are a standard fitment size to so many new vehicles now days, unlike 18+, which very few new cars come with).
If I'd been able to find a set of 17" supra wheels at a resonable price I would have got them instead of the 16".