Do 18's ride better than 19's?

S

steve_naive

Member
 Northern Ireland
I've had 19 inch csl reps on my Z since I acquired it.

Just refreshed the suspension and it's a lot more stable, but the wheels could use a refurb and two tyres need replacing. I'm thinking of selling them and fitting 4 new tyres to a set of 18's.

I did read a comment on here from someone who said they noticed no difference in comfort between the two sizes.
(3.0 roadster, e85, eibachs).
 
Generally speaking, less wheel diameter = more rubber = better ride, although the tyre make/brand does seem to make a good deal of difference (e.g. many threads about how crashy the OEM runflats are).
 
Within about 3 months of getting my Z4MC I decided to go down from genuine 19" CSLs to 18" 224Ms and couldn't have been happier with the additional comfort.

Just thought the car was very skittish on standard suspension and 19s. Don't know how 19s would fare with the PSS10 kit I've got on now though.

I will add that some makes of tyres have stiffer sidewalls too - so you'd have to keep like-for-like if you wanted to make a true comparison. In my case I went from 19" Michelin PS2 to 18" Michelin PS2 (via a couple of sets of Conti M3 until I realised they were wearing out much faster than the PS2 I had on the 19s) and on to Supersport.
 
think tyre brand does help.. i went from 18 michelin mp4 to 19 Dunlops sportmaxx rt2, actually rides just as well if not better on the 19 dunlops
 
Goodo.

Current setup is all square (offset and tyres), which I believe is recommended for 19's and is a boon for swapping rears to front.

Maybe I'll go for a light refurb and two new tyres, see if I can live with it as the new suspension settles down.
 
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