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which handles better?? GTI STOCK 17's or 18's

leakslikasieve

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
ny
title says it all.. i have seen some people saying the 18's actually hamper handling.. whats the weight difference between the two rims? i like both the 17's and 18's and for 750 for 18 inch rims and tires you cant really go wrong, even if they are factory. just wanted some insight. i drove the car with 18's and it handles great.
i tend to believe that 17's are the perfect size rims and weight for factory, but those 18's look really good and with the suspension lowered 1-1.5 in it would look amazing.

opinions please?
 

YenPxxx

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Toronto Canada
Stock 17's are about 24 pounds and the 18's are about 29 pounds so 5 pounds difference. 5 pounds unsprung weight at each wheel is actually a lot so handling should be affected somewhat. 30 pound wheels is generally considered heavy so the stock 18's are not what I'd call performance wheels though they do look nice. Best option if you got the money for it is to buy aftermarket 18's wheels like BBS forged wheels.. they look great and are much lighter! You know what though, if you drove on the 18's and it felt great, then that's perfect.. just don't try another GTI with much lighter wheels cause then you'll notice the difference.

I totally agree about the lowering. The U.S. GTI is raised half inch higher than the european ones so it definitely needs a drop bad. Anyone know if the GTI for Canada is also half inch higher?
 

35NYR

Ready to race!
Location
NYC
Are you gonna be tracking your car? If not then you probably won't even notice one bit. Go for it!
 

leakslikasieve

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
ny
YenPxxx said:
. Anyone know if the GTI for Canada is also half inch higher?
as far as i know its a U.S. thing to pass bumper height regulations.

thanks for the info on the weight. good to know.. i think i would rather spend money on performance then looks.. maybe
 

Dude123

Oval Champion
Location
Loves Park, IL
I believe the 18inch wheels+tires handle better. They are wider and have better stick to the road, also..they are called summer performance tires. :p
 

leakslikasieve

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
ny
Dude123 said:
I believe the 18inch wheels+tires handle better. They are wider and have better stick to the road, also..they are called summer performance tires. :p

yeah but the 17's have summer tires also.. and the 18's much wider. its 225/45/17 or 225/45/18. i believe the 18's are just taller.
 

AJChenMPH

Lt. Commander, USPHS
Location
Old Bridge, NJ
The only thing you might really notice is the relative lack of sidewall flex on the 18's vs. the 17's. Even then, with summer performance tires, there will be very little sidewall flex with the 17's. From a pure performance standpoint, I'd stick with the 17's.

Then again, I'm seriously planning on carrying over my 16's from my Passat for snow tires, and then getting really lightweight 17's (~18 lbs) with really good summer tires.
 

Sauceboy01

Touring Car Newbie
Location
Irvine, CA
Although yes, 18's have the lack of sidewall flex, I think 17's or even 16's would handle better with the proper tire pressures, it also does give you the freedom to play a bit with a variety of tire pressure settings..

But then again if you have 15" Breaks and Rotors, you're going to need at least an 18" wheel!
 

Brandon

Oval Newbie
Location
Perth, Australia
The way I see it...most, if not all high performance cars come with big wheels (18"+)...the GTI is a high performance car and so deserves to have big wheels. The performance difference I think would be negligible during normal everyday spirited driving. You would probably only notice the diff on the track and even then I don't think it would be too great a diff. If you're getting a good looking high performance car then get the "right" wheels too...go with the 18s.
 

Dude123

Oval Champion
Location
Loves Park, IL
18's I think are slower than 17's due to their extra weight.
 

bigdyno

FIA World Rally Car Newbie
Location
Toronto, Ontario
The info I have is to meet the famous "five star crash rating" the cars here in Canada have also been lifted, basically to raise the bumpers to meet crash specs.
 

Fast Eddie GTI

Autocross Newbie
Location
WA
Are you really going to notice it? I think not.

I'm going to roll some 19s for summer (28lbs...fairly light for a full faced 19x8), and then switch back to the stock 17s for track days and winter driving.

Yes I expect a small difference in performance with my 19s...but the results justify the means:thumbsup:
 

RallyVWDan

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Central Ohio
Depends on what you want to do.

If you want the ricer look and don't care how it drives go with some 20"s yo.

If you want to dive it like you stole it go as small and light as you can and still clear the binders.

If you want to take a happy medium and are smart, you'll get the get the stock rims to keep for winter wheels and then add some light forged 17"s with the best rubber you can afford for summer wheels.
 

herrstreet

Touring Car Newbie
Location
Pittsburgh, Pa
RallyVWDan said:
Depends on what you want to do.

If you want the ricer look and don't care how it drives go with some 20"s yo.

If you want to dive it like you stole it go as small and light as you can and still clear the binders.

If you want to take a happy medium and are smart, you'll get the get the stock rims to keep for winter wheels and then add some light forged 17"s with the best rubber you can afford for summer wheels.


I think that's probably the most reasonable thing to do. It's a pitty that the stock 17's are so bland looking. It's also kind of striking to me just how small the 17's look on the car. On the Mk4 the 17's looked HUGE. But keeping the wheels for winter is a practical alternative for someone who wants fancy.

From what I understand, you can't mix 17's and 18's because the alignment has to be redone and there are bump stops that the suspension needs with the 18's that are factory installed. Is there an easy way around this that I don't know???
 
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