Anyone upgraded to 16" instead of 17" wheels

If I ever upgrade, I would go with lightweight 16s for the fuel economy.

SCH-I535

 

IMO 16" will not a noticeable upgrade from 15", so may not be worth it.

 

And you're welcome to have that opinion.

Looks aren't the highest priority for me. Of course looks are important, but not if I have to sacrifice mpg.

Also, most people say a 17 or 18 inch rim with the accompanying low profile tire looks funny due to the accentuated wheel gap. So the car then needs to be lowered. And so on and so on... It never ends.

A 16 inch wheel can probably get by without being lowered.

SCH-I535

 

well if looks are not important that whats the use of upgrading to 16". will they improve the performance/economy or handling ?

 

I didn't say looks aren't important. I said it's not the most important thing.

Reason for changing? Different style, something other than OEM look. Same as anyone else.

SCH-I535

 

OP, the gen2 touring edition OEM wheels are pretty light 16s.

SCH-I535

 

so it comes down to a different "look"

I might also be going the 16" way someday

 

i got 16" 2010 COROLLAS

 

I have 17" for sale that came off my wife's 2012 Prius, it made the ride much more controllable meaning there was less roll ......email me [email protected]

 

I've seen some 16s that look no bigger than 15s and some 16s that had me fooled and thought they were 17s so it's all in the wheel design. It helps if the spokes extend all the way to the edge in order not to look as small as 15s. Really no point in getting something in 16s if they look no bigger.

Oh yeah, don't put fat sidewall tires on them. That's a dead giveaway that you have small wheels.

 

I am actually looking to buy some 16", I doesn't like the 17...

If I find, I will post some pictures

 

Thanks! TSW Mallory wheels are not that bad to clean. The hardest, for me, is a rim that has some kind of protrusion on the rim between the spokes.

The difficult part is finding 16" wheels with a good width and offset. Mallory's offset is 35mm and with a 7" rim and tire offset of a 205 X 55 it comes further from the wells. A 7.5" rim would be too much.

The nice thing about 16" is that the speedo is very close. The original tire is 25" and a 16" is 24.9". I put on 422 Ecopia's and the ride, to me, is very comfortable. The 422 is noted as being a good riding tire. MPG hit, in my very subjective opinion, is minimal.

 

This wheel style is the way to go if you're shopping for 16". It looks larger because the spokes go all the way to the edge. If you get any other styles, you might as well stick with 15" as it won't look any bigger. From FranklinS's photo, you can hardly tell they're any smaller than the 17" Prius v wagon wheels or 10-spoke CT250h wheels.

 

SuperchargedMR2's Weds wheels look great and they're 16s.