OK, they may think they look good
You've answered your own question. I do not claim any significant engineering knowledge whatsoever (and compared to you I know an absolutely minuscule amount) but I still think I stand head and shoulders above the average person who would put 18" wheels on a Corsa. (And no doubt compound the handling problems with Wanlis, Nankangs or the like).
For them, looking good is exactly the same as being good.
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In reply to the OP. Racing tyres are usually slick (or grooved) so that there is more contact with the ground. Wet racing tyres have tread pattern to try and remove as much water as possible.
If slicks were legal, you would get excellent grip in the dry but terrible grip in the wet.
For me and my commuting car the main consideration is wear rate, so I go for Michelins on my Avensis. On my Volvo T5 I go for P Zero's.
Tyres are a difficult thing to guage as it is impossible to try before you buy and other peoples opinions are exactly that, opinions. Tyres on one car will perform differently to the exact tyre on another car.
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I think you're right A. Back along I saw an otherwise lovely Series 3 XJ6 that was completely ruined by giant alloys and tyres like rubber bands.
I'm lucky enough not to see very many Rolls Royce Phantoms but they, too, are spoiled by giant alloys like garden rollers.
Now I don't want to wake MTC here, but the other day I got the chance for a good look at a Chrysler 300C - over here they sell Chrysler, Merc and Smart out of the same showroom - and I still think it's a motor with terrific presence. But it's very definitely over-wheeled as a fashion statement, making it look like a take-off of an impressive car rather than the reality. Maybe, after that retro-looking hatchback thing and the Plymouth Prowler, that's what they intended...
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Now I don't want to wake MTC here, but the other day I got the chance for a good look at a Chrysler 300C -
OK, I won't contribute then ! (now where's my cat balnket).
p.s. I like the standard 18" wheels with the very unfashionable high profile tyres, but the cars that I've seen with 22" or 24" wheels aren't my cup of tea at all.
MTC
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One thing that does bug me is the stupid fashion for big alloys. Why do people spec an 18" wheel on a normal hatchback?
Especially when the delicate thin spokes show up the standard 9 inch brakes!
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>>the stupid fashion for big alloys.
Name me one fashion that is not essentially stupid to those who do not follow it.
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Name me one fashion that is not essentially stupid to those who do not follow it.
I think there can be fashions in car design that don't detract from performance (e.g. body mods, normal size alloys etc), but then there are fashion items that detract from the performance of the car from an 'engineering' standpoint - e.g. BIG alloys that don't work properly with the suspension.
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I am sure that you are correct, but I would still say that people look down upon fashions they do not follow even where there is no performance impact - reg numbers for example.
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If we're talking fashion, whatever happened to the coloured tyres that were in the car mags a few years ago. I seem to remember there being one with a union jack pattern.
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Agree that some of the world has gone mad for ultra-low profile tyres. IMO a decent alloy and wheel combo improves a car, as long as it's all in harmony. Otherwise big wheels look daft. But 20 or 21 inchers with ribbon tyres look naff on anything except Italian exotica. (I was surprised to learn that you can have 19" wheels on a Vectra SRi; I thought that sort of stuff was reserved for Porsche 997s.)
But while even 17 inchers may look good, they can be impractical for some. My MCS has 17s and SWMBO has kerbed three of them in the space of a year and not many miles. OK, the damage isn't easy to spot but I know it's there... And the 320d has 17s too. How long...?
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I just rented a Mondeo ST spec with 18" alloys, 225/40 (late Saturday, I'd asked for a Ford Focus ;-)
Road noise was awful, ride was poor.
Very low profile tyres add *nothing* to a car
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I have 18" wheels on low profiles on my BMW Touring. It tramlines terribly but I can live with that. And other half kerbed one within 2 weeks. Big wheels and low profile tyres do go hand-in-hand as standard profile tyres will obviously foul the wheel arches so it's one or the other.
There must be some logic to low profile tyres on sporty cars apart from aesthetics. Improved road holding being lower to the ground? You never see a BTCC car with fat sidewalls.
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>There must be some logic to low profile tyres on sporty cars apart from aesthetics.
I imagine the reason is something to do with a flatter-profile tyre having less scope to heel over under cornering forces, so more of the tread will stay in contact with the road. Not sure why anyone would feel the benefit of that on a public road, though - and I wouldn't want to ride with anyone who felt he did!
There's also the point that bigger wheels allow for bigger brake discs - but that doesn't really apply to the engineering-by-the-marketing-department wheels we're discussing here.
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Bigger wheels - bigger brakes. Alloys - lower unsprung weight, lower vehicle weight .
Low-profile tyres - less sidewall flexing, more of tread in contact with road, sharper steering and handling overall, more 'immediacy' of the drive.
Personally, I like the sharper feel - and of course the tyre/wheel combo may well look good, which is largely, for most people in their everyday lives, what it's all about (but see my post above). Each one to his own.
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I lowered the Brachetta and fitted 17" wheels with skinny tyres, rendered it practically undriveable on anything other than smooth tarmac. Oops. Never again.
Didn´t seem to bother the guy who bought it, who was impressed with the ´look´.
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There are two reasons to go for large dia wheels and ultra-low-profile tyres:
1. To clear large discs and (particularly) multi-pot caliper assemblies - not usually encountered on road-going cars.
2. Reduction of sidewall. This means less sidewall to flex and hence somewhat sharper steering (reduction of slip angle). Also less sidewall roll-under under high lateral force.
The snag is, when the car is designed the chassis designers usually factor-in a certain amount of sidewall. Its actually part of 'suspension' and useful in ironing out high-frequency input. Not only that but some sidewall flex is useful to the driver in cornering situations since as the slip angle increases the driver can 'feel' that the limit of adhesion is being approached as the steering goes 'mushy'. With a short, stiff, sidewall the steering is sharper but the loss of adhesion comes more abruptly and the grip is more likely to be upset by small imperfections of the road surface.
Anyone with a bit of sense will avoid.
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There was a time when if you wanted a decent , quiet ride you had to buy a mid-sized car. Then small cars with a big(ger) car feel and ride started to appear.
Now the situation is in danger of reversing with big saloons acquiring wide, low profile tyres and with them a joggly and noisy ride. Our Panda has such high profile tyres at 155/80/13 that they are quite hard to find - but the ride is better than acceptable and it still goes round corners.
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"Name me one fashion that is not essentially stupid to those who do not follow it."
Flares. I always loved them, even though I only ever wore drainpipes thanks to a mother's prejudice. Not that I resented it. Oh no.
V
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Can I make an effort to re-direct the thread a bit?
What I meant originally was 'is there a fashion element in tyre tread patterns'? That is, do some people pick tyres because they have the latest assymetric, complicated looking tread pattern, rather than a pattern (for example, the p6000) that seems perfectly capable of doing the job but has been around for a few years?.
I know this is an impossibility but, personally, if I still had my Rover P6 3500 I would be quite happy to run it on original Dunlop SP Sports (which I believe are now re-available) or Avon Turbospeeds because they worked well, rather than something with this this year's tread pattern just because it is the latest thing.
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MH, you shouldn't have said 'fashion accessories'. That got us all going.
Tread patterns? Personally, I couldn't give a monkey's as long as the tyre does what i want it to. I don't even know what the tread patterns on my cars' tyres look like.
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Not sure if I'd buy a tyre *because* it has a nice tread but it's a bonus when it has. As I said above, I think it can make a car look better.
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Can I make an effort to re-direct the thread a bit? What I meant originally was 'is there a fashion element in tyre tread patterns'? That is, do some people pick tyres because they have the latest assymetric, complicated looking tread pattern, rather than a pattern (for example, the p6000) that seems perfectly capable of doing the job but has been around for a few years?. I know this is an impossibility but, personally, if I still had my Rover P6 3500 I would be quite happy to run it on original Dunlop SP Sports (which I believe are now re-available) or Avon Turbospeeds because they worked well, rather than something with this this year's tread pattern just because it is the latest thing.
Not bothered what the tread pattern looks like, its the overall performance of the tyre im interested in.
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