For those who have 18 inch wheels and especially those who have upgraded from 17 inch wheels, how is the ride and handling?

Has the handling improved and by how much? Did the 18 inch tires reduce the lean in turns? How is the ride, how much worse is it then 17 inch wheels?

Thanks in advance. This would help me greatly in deciding whether to go for 18 inch wheels.

 

I upgraded my wheels to 18x8" SSR GT-1 with 245/40/18 Goodyear F1-GS-D3. These are amazing, they corner superbly. I don't think tires are that much of a factor in leaning over the curves. I think that is the springs and sway bars.
I also changed the springs to the eibach prokit for that very reason.

The ride is stiffer with the springs and wheels but amazing during hard driving. Very comfortable in 5+ hour rides (SoCal to Phoenix).

The biggest complaint I had about the Turanzas aside from flatspotting vibrations, they woudl trip over themselves on hard conrering and increased the understeer.
With the springs and new tires, I can actually feels a slight understeer or even a neutral steer when pushing corners.
No more severe understeer.
Oh by the way, torque steer is also seriously reduced with the 18" wheels.

 

http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showt...threadid=72013

 

Rkillian,

Did you feel any changes in the acceleration with your switch? I just put my 18's on with the same size tires and it now feels like acceleration is slower.

 

Today I switched back to the 17" to take the car in for it's first service.
Here's the conclusions:
Acceleration: Didn't feel faster/slower
Torque Steer: Significant, almost anoying at WOT
Handling: Not nearly as crisp as with the 18" you can feel some sidewall sway in hard turning
Understeer is back.
I will go back to the 18" as soon as I get the car back.

 

but... rkilian .. do you have a 6-spd manual or the auto --

the difference in acceleration will be almost unoticeable w/ the manual b/c of more torque to the wheels, Bartman.

 

rkilian -- do you know how much each of your 18'' rims weight ? i thought the SSR Gt-1's were an ultra-lightweight rims.

 

I have the AT, The SSR GT-1 are 18 lbs ea. really a lightweight wheel. At 18" with the tires they weigh about 6-7 lbs less than the stock. According to the bathroom scale.

 

Exactly, so that's why your 18's didn't feel any different than stock. Our OEM 18's are 25lbs a piece, and though they're marketed as "light-weight forged..etc" they're still relatively overweight for peak performance times, etc, on the strip.

 

How much difference in performance (bith handling and acceleration) would be gained by the reducing the weight of each wheel by 5-6 lbs??? Would it be noticeable?

 

acura_04: It would be very noticeable, almost like the difference of having one passenger get out of your car. It's like the car feels more agile and "lighter" on its feet. The effect of less weight being rotated about an axle is pretty significant after 5lbs difference.