Alloys Discussion

[Jonny b]

Scott edit: This thread has been split from a 'for sale' thread

Wish these were 16's

[Ed Doe]

Wish these were 16's

Yeah but 17s are better. Everyone knows this

[Jonny b]

As they say!!! bigger dont mean better
Not in this instance anyway ha ha
Car drives sooo much better on 15's!

16 is my limit

[Niall]

Wish these were 16's

Yeah but 17s are better. Everyone knows this

Ed youve even admitted your self scotts car handles worse on the 17s!

[Ed Doe]

No I said it was a harsher ride, bit that's part of the parcel of running larger alloys with less tyre sidewall! The handling is way better though! I hate how it feels on the clones...

[Niall]

No I said it was a harsher ride, bit that's part of the parcel of running larger alloys with less tyre sidewall! The handling is way better though! I hate how it feels on the clones...

probably because youve got shit tyres on the clones? End of the day, peugeot didnt fit it with 15s just because thats what they had left out back....

[Pompey306mark]

Pug fitted them with 15's because its a small car and all those years ago that was mostly the norm.

If you have noticed most new cars come with 16-17 alloys now. Why because it is the norm.

I doubt it has anything to do with handling, performance or economy.

[Niall]

Pug fitted them with 15's because its a small car and all those years ago that was mostly the norm.

If you have noticed most new cars come with 16-17 alloys now. Why because it is the norm.

I doubt it has anything to do with handling, performance or economy.

of course it will. Look at the golf of that time. they come with up to 17s and a golf is about the same size as a 306. there would of been lots of contributing factors as to why they chose 15s.

[Pompey306mark]

I doubt it.

One we are talking about peugeot here.

The 306 came with a mix of 14 and 15 alloys and steel wheels.

All would have been cheap to make and with no real care for weight hence why some are much heavier than others.

If their were working to some kind of scheme why then did the wheel size go up as the years went on?

[devils_fuel]

17's is the norm now, you can get them on a fiesta 1.25 lol

When I bought my 17's a fair few years ago for my cabby (i think they were maserati flat 5 spokes) I paid 1k for 17" alloys with tyres, this was late 90's - they were car jewellery back then and you paid to be different - tyre prices were crazy as well !

Apologies for the spam, I love those rims but bank manager says no!!

[Niall]

I doubt it.

One we are talking about peugeot here.

The 306 came with a mix of 14 and 15 alloys and steel wheels.

All would have been cheap to make and with no real care for weight hence why some are much heavier than others.

If their were working to some kind of scheme why then did the wheel size go up as the years went on?

What do you mean 'were talking about peugeot here'? despite the fact that they are not the best built cars on the road, they still would of invested millions into R&D mark. There not just a back street garage who decided to start making cars in a shed.

Also yes your correct they did do 14s and 15s. Have you noticed the 15s were only on the higher spec/higher powered cars? And despite the fact that they are all pretty heavy wheels, you take a wheel off of a similar price and age car and i bet it will be similar and also, i know everyone says Peugeot could of done this and that to make the 306 handle better. Yes they could but it had to be a mix of handling and easy drivability.

[Pompey306mark]

That's my point. If you go back to 1996 when the 306 was just kind of coming into its own, end of the phase 1, s16's soon to be turning into the gti range.

They like the golfs, and the bmw's and tvr's and other cars all had 15inch alloys, made 16's.

But as time has moved one alloys have got bigger, think 307, 206, 308 all 16-17 alloys.

I am sure pug did think what would be the best size for the 306, but I doubt they have it much thought past the standard 5 spoke design.

[Jonny b]

After doing track days with both 15's and 16's I know I prefer it on 15's

[Pompey306mark]

That's my point, you just wrote it.

"you take a wheel off of a similar price and age car and i bet it will be similar"

It will be similar because at the time, cars as standard came with 14-15 inch alloys. Not because it makes the car handle better to be on smaller alloys.

Remember the alloys are normally made by an alloy wheel company not peugeot. So they most likely had a whole range of designs they could have chosen from.

---

PS. I am not fighting that smaller alloys do tend to feel better,

I am just saying, i doubt peugeot sat down and said, do you know what this car would look amazing on a set of 17's, then a handling engineer went, well 15's would be better like the amazing handling 205.

It was most likely decided it was going to go on 15's as that is what was done at the time.

As we know from people with challengers, vortex and more modern alloys they do look good on bigger alloys, but it's a trade off In some people's eyes between looks and handling.

[Tallguy_2]

Boys boys boys, wheels just go round and round! Lol

[cwspellowe]

Yes but for the ride height of a GTI6/top end 306, 17's look ridiculous. Do you really think Peugeot would redesign the whole car to the extent they lowered the front to make 17's look better?

Fact of the matter is Peugeot fitted 15's. You can get much nicer wheels in 16" and 17", but it wasn't the kind of car to have money spent on lightweight 16"+ wheels. The cyclones do a job just fine. They were originally a GTI-only standard wheel with the '96 phase 1 and later moved on to higher spec Meridians etc, much like almost all car manufacturers do now.

Some 17's do look good on a 306. Some look crazy. The 306 was always understated so why would Peugeot fit a 17" wheel to a car as standard to appeal to the odd boy racer? And iirc.. aren't the SP's 16"?

[Toms306]

Meridians never came with cyclones btw, always shitty swallows, unless you have a 1.4 meridian then its 14" steels.

Have to rob some 'clones off a HDi Dturbo/XS/GTi6 lol.

[cwspellowe]

Whatever, point still stands, they designed the Cyclone for the GTi6 and passed it on to other models.

[Scott]

Cleaned and moved to a new thread

[Jonny b]

???

Looking for rims and just said wish they were 16's

Don't matter now just got compo th's ha ha

[Oil-burner]

You'll actually find you're closer to oem rolling radius on 17's than 16's.
I really don't understand where people are coming from with the "they handle better on 15's" malarkey, as said the rolling radius is the same just less sidewall flex.
I agree they are a harsher ride for a daily but I wouldn't say I've compromised handling at all.
How can you say floating around on 55 profile balloon tyres is better than solid wall 40's?

[Piggy]

hmmm....interesting thoughts...

sidewall height and firmness should be always be offset with the relevant suspension adjustment according to your needs...

touring cars have quite low profile tyres but more give in the suspension than say a F1 car where 75% of travel is in the tyre itself...they got massive profiles

[Jonny b]

I ran 195 45 16 on mine and now 195 50 15, tbh it defo feels better on the 15's than it did on the 16's, never said it handled better but it felt better, driven a similar 306 on 17's and it just didn't feel right, bare in mind Iam going track orientated

[Curt]

Well for one, it depends what profile tyres you're running as to rolling radius.

The rest is down to opinion. For me, 17's are too big for the 306. 15's suit the car better, the increase in comfort and decrease in tramlining and tyre price are positives too.

[Oil-burner]

But running 50/15 profiles are smaller than oem profile and rolling radius which is surely doing more to the characteristics than 40/17's.
as I've said before I don't really drive in such a manner (read as like a 18yr old boy racer) to warrant worrying about going round a corner 1/10th of a second quicker.
I like a 'spirited' drive now and again but I've had too many speeding fines to drive around like I'm on fire all the time!
That's what forza is for IMO.

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Circumference
195/55/15 = 1870.8mm
195/50/15 = 1809.6mm
195/45/16 = 1828.1mm
205/40/17 = 1871.8mm

Only 1mm in circumference between oem and 205/40/17

[Jonny b]

Well maybe it's more to do with the rotating mass then? I don't know but I know it feels better

[cwspellowe]

Rotating mass and unsprung weight, have you felt how heavy oem 17" wheels are?!

[Pompey306mark]

Ah yes, but this started out talking about light weight 17' alloys.

---

Also cyclones are 8kgs each.

Not the lightest wheel out there.

[Toms306]

It is the weight and the spacers (if you need them) that make 16s+ feel 'worse'.

I've had 2 sets of 16s on 306s, swapped to 'clones again within a week lol, hated them that much! The spacers seem to push the wheels out just a bit too far to the point where they tramlined badly on country roads with lorry ruts. And they dont give the same road feel when you push through corners, too weighty. Plus the lack of flex in the sidewall joined with stiffer shocks made the rear end horribly jumpy over rough ground. On a smooth track I'm sure they'd be great, but not here on real roads.

Oh and heavy 16s on a 1.4 is a definite no, it doesnt move!

Depends entirely on the car though, 15s were far too small on the Golf, 18s were too heavy and ruined the already poor handling, so 16s were ideal on there.

[Ben]

What do you mean by tramlining?