Hi Guys,

Looking for some specific advice on what size alloy wheel I could fit to my TH magna. I am looking at either 17's, 18's or 19's but am not sure which ones would look best and work best. Also wondering what width of wheel I should go for, and again which one would fit and look best. Really dont want to roll my guards either so this has to be a consideration. :?

Currently I have the car lowered on pedders sports ryder springs and I am quite happy with the ride height, but I would like the wheels to sit a bit closer to the guards. Thought that if I did fit a larger diameter wheel to the car then this would acheive this, but it would also make the car sit higher off the ground I would think (i.e. a larger distance from hub to outside of wheel). Anybody got opinions on what this would look like with just standard bumpers etc. I have seen cars with huge wheels and standard everything else, and I reckon it looks a bit unbalanced. Also, this would throw my speedo out etc too which might not be a good move but I think its possible to get them re-calibrated. :?

Advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Mark.

Mark, I had 17 inch rims on my TE Advance. Looked really good too i might add. I never had the chance to lower it before it got stolen, but i looked at Sports Ryder Suspension from Pedders as well. A few things to consider and a few things to explain.
Firstly check with your car insurance company: many have no limit on diameter but may state that you cannot exceed a certain width, i know NRMA in NSW will not allow my TJ to have rims wider than 7.5 inches.
Secondly, you seem concerned about altering the ride height and throwing out the speedo by going up in size. This is what 'Low Profile' tyres were invented for. Basically, the rolling circumference of the tyre remains the same. The larger the actual wheel the shorter the sidewall of the tyre will be. Herein lies another thing to think about. With your lower, and slightly harder suspension, if you moved up to an 18 or 19 inch wheel with the relevant low profile tyre you would feel every bump in the road, hell if you ran over a flat washer it would feel like a bloody speed hump. This is because the sidewall of a tyre is where a lot of the shock is taken away. This same reason is why you will always see the manufacturers recommended tyre pressures are about 10 psi lower than what a tyre joint like Bob Jane would recommend, the manufacturer is looking at comfort and Bob Jane is looking out for the life of your tyres.

At the end of the day it comes down to personal preference. In an ideal world we'd all be 20 inch rimmin, but this is affected by ride comfort, cost, insurance and a whole host of other things. I hope i've given you some info you can use.

don't get 17s!

minimum 18's and ideally 19's Look how much nicer 19's are on booyas car and wtchme's both cars used to have 17's.

http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~wtchme/images/17sfront.jpg
http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~wtchme/images/19sfront.jpg
http://www.booyamotorsport.com/misc/photoshop/colouring/stocker_small.jpg
http://www.booyamotorsport.com/unleashed/pages/DSC00321_JPG.htm <-- of booyas car with 19's and kit
http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~wtchme/images/side2.jpg

also insurance wise you can go any size you want so long as its no wider than 7" Can always go wider though and just take the rims off incase of an accident.

also insurance wise you can go any size you want so long as its no wider than 7" Can always go wider though and just take the rims off incase of an accident.

Incorrect.

You arent allowed to go more than 2 inchs more in diameter than the mag profile that comes standard with the car.. (you can be defected for this!)

For instance. The VRX comes with 17inch plaquards on the door and are allowed to goto 19inch where as the Exec's arent.. (You can always try and get a replacement plaque though)

As for getting larger rims, it still wont bring the tyres any closer to the guards. Your rims may change in size, but the overall diameter of the tyre doesnt.

19's do look sweet as. But for practical reasons i wouldnt go above 18's

HOOOLY CRAP!
i just nearly blew my load over that last pic of watchme's car!
that is by far and away the best looking pic of a magna i have even seen :shock:

18" seems to be the best compromise for both looks and practicality!

i don't suggest 19" since aussie roads are not particularly smooth and as flava pts out... u will feel most bumps on the road

and i just want to pt out though that NRMA will only allow 7" rims/tyres, no matter wat the diameter is

:D good luck finding ur rims!

Don't forget to account for the cost of tyres which increases exponentially when you go further up in wheel size... Don't make the mistake of buying huge expensive wheels and cheap tyres, as it will only send your wheels to die a sparkly death when your car slides into the kerb.

Also be aware of offset for the new wheels in that if you decrease offset too much it will cause the wheel to hang out of the guard and quite possibly rub. Also wheels outside of the guard (at the center point) are unroadworthy. This problem is exacerbated by wider wheels AND reducing offset.

I went for 17s purely due to cost of tyres, and also I wanted that extra bit of sidewall to protect against bending a rim along our shitty roads.

bain actually when i was with racv they said any size rim you want so long as its no wider than 7" However yes big rims do cause troubles with your state road authority.

swapping your plackard is illegal but it does save you from your state road authority unless they look further into it.

I would go a 17inch rim for practicality, 18 and 19 inch rims look real nice but are really only for showing etc, you want to be able to drive your car etc on real roads dont you, and you dont want to spend a fortune on tyres either, so go a 17 inch rim.

Thankyou for the advice guys, has given me something to look into. Will be contacting a couple of insurance companies in the next few days to see what they say about rims and tyres in my state. Going by all advice I've seen, I reckon 18's are probably the go, but will have to look into it a bit further. ;)

Don't forget to account for the cost of tyres which increases exponentially when you go further up in wheel size... Don't make the mistake of buying huge expensive wheels and cheap tyres, as it will only send your wheels to die a sparkly death when your car slides into the kerb.

Also be aware of offset for the new wheels in that if you decrease offset too much it will cause the wheel to hang out of the guard and quite possibly rub. Also wheels outside of the guard (at the center point) are unroadworthy. This problem is exacerbated by wider wheels AND reducing offset.

I went for 17s purely due to cost of tyres, and also I wanted that extra bit of sidewall to protect against bending a rim along our shitty roads.

Tek how did you got racv to allow you to get 7.5" wide wheels??? please explain.

as most of the 18" (that i like are 7.5" or 8" wide)

i thought id add some comments as besides Witchme, and that ralliart im the only other guy running 19's as the everyday choice.

[quote:d6cf474478]As for getting larger rims, it still wont bring the tyres any closer to the guards. Your rims may change in size, but the overall diameter of the tyre doesnt. [/quote:d6cf474478]

actually, myself and witchme did notice that we Increased our ride height by approx 1inch. proof of this is where i showed an image of my kit with 17" rims, which was 52mm clearance from the front bar, now with 79mm clearance with the 19" rims. Rolling Diameter is ment to be the same "in theory" but in the real world, it isnt, and is reflected by almost 1" higher profile, even tho fitted with 35series profile tyres.

[quote:d6cf474478]i don't suggest 19" since aussie roads are not particularly smooth and as flava pts out... u will feel most bumps on the road [/quote:d6cf474478]

after now running around with my tyres for more then a month, travelled more than 4000km with em (return trip to adel and back) i can say that ride quality + comfort has not been compromised. i say this honestly. i assumed myself, that with a 19" rim the ride would be shit house, but can honestly say that they are just as comfortable, if not better than my 17's as
a) i feel the road in a more proformance type of way
b) having tested my 19's in a 'high speed' inviroment, i believe they outhandle my 17" rims by far.
c) road noise has been reduced by at least 50%

[quote:d6cf474478]Don't forget to account for the cost of tyres which increases exponentially when you go further up in wheel size[/quote:d6cf474478]

very true, and prolly the single most reason that 19's arent looked at as seriously as 18/17" rims.

comparison,
DUNLOP FM901 in 235/45/17 = $320 per tyre
DUNLOP FM901 in 245/35/19 = $680 per tyre

so yes, costs are very high compairing a 17 to a 19, which under everyday driving conditions the 17" rim will outlast a 19" anywhere from 5,000 km onwards.

[quote:d6cf474478]Also, with 18's and 19's inparticular, they will look poxy with the small brakes, especially if you paint them red or similar. [/quote:d6cf474478]

put Xdrilled and Slotted disks behind em, and they look sexy as ;)

Tek how did you got racv to allow you to get 7.5" wide wheels??? please explain.

as most of the 18" (that i like are 7.5" or 8" wide)

Where did I say 7.5" wide? I bought 17x7s... I actually wanted the 17x8s because then the tyres would sit better.