If you want to make the set up stiffer to improve the handling, replacing the wheels is the wrong way to go about it. Find a quality suspension kit with a stiffer spring set up or replace the anti-roll bars with a stiffer one. In the case of a BMW, you may find the anti-roll bar from the 325i fits the 318i.
Replacing the wheels with larger ones and using lower profile tyres is a backwards way of achieving the benefits and comes with all sorts of potential problems. Many aftermarket alloys are heavier than their original fit items so straightaway you've a firmer ride even before you reach the tyre profile and pressures.
Hmm. On those rare situations where your grip limit is less than your visibility limit, you could go through a corner carrying more speed, thus could potentially benefit from larger brakes, but the argument would be about a gnat's willy in effect...
Idiotic truck driversand I dont mean all of them of course, just a few of them setting a bad example........ Left the ferry at Cairnryan (from Larne) on Thursday night at 10pm ish. The A77 was...
"Clbuttical" i.e. function above asthetics tuning, says that you derive the brake set up you need given the performance of the car, then you wrap the smallest and lightest wheel around it.
That's not to say that the car is the worse for having a larger wheel set up but many aftermarket alloys are heavier than OEM rims. The higher the unsprung mbutt, the less compliant the ride; in an ideal world there should be some suspension adjustments to compensate for the difference.
driving test and brakes 554Heh! :) I don't know of any car where one cannot lock up at least one wheel. But locking up a rear wheel in a Ka without ABS...
I'll still laugh at those cars with diddy ickle brakes and big, big rims with wide open spaces. Think: Clios on 18s.
-- The DervMan www.dervman.com
