Thinking of going to 16" tires with taller rubber but the 17"s look so good.[/QUOTE]
RE: changing for 16" wheels (just from my personal experience).
When I bought mine 1.6FSI it had 185 50 16.
It was fine in general, steering responsiveness was OK. Yet, on a motorway, when doing 80 miles the front of the car felt like becoming very light
and kind of losing connection/contact with the surface.
If I moved steering a bit the car started to move in a moment, not immediately.
So, I tried 195 45 16. I liked very much the responsiveness, the car was like glued to the surface and it felt as if it did not have the wheels
and was on the surface with all its bottom.
BUT, and really a very BIG BUT. If I drove on motorways I would have stayed with this set up of 195 45 16.
Driving in London, with the potholes and all possible uneven spots on the road - the whole car was permanently shaked with constant shiver.
It was not about comfort to myself - it was about stopping the impact of this permanent shaking into wheel bearings and other mechanisms.
When a wheel hits a pothole, a tyre did not absorb the impact even for one iota - all the force of the impact went to a wheel bearing.
I reduced the tyre pressure but not much improvement, even if any.
So, I just changed the tyres for 195 50 16 and almost happy. If I had not lost the sense of responsiveness I would have been 100% happy.
The tyres are 195 50 16 Cinturato P1 84H, they are on a softer side as to my liking but I went from the recommended 29psi in front and 28psi
on rear to 35psi in front and 34psi in rear.
with 195 50 16 the car is lifted 1cm up in comparison with 195 45 16 which is also a better thing on uneven surface.
I hope it helps you to work out what changes you are after with 16" rims.
RE: changing for 16" wheels (just from my personal experience).
When I bought mine 1.6FSI it had 185 50 16.
It was fine in general, steering responsiveness was OK. Yet, on a motorway, when doing 80 miles the front of the car felt like becoming very light
and kind of losing connection/contact with the surface.
If I moved steering a bit the car started to move in a moment, not immediately.
So, I tried 195 45 16. I liked very much the responsiveness, the car was like glued to the surface and it felt as if it did not have the wheels
and was on the surface with all its bottom.
BUT, and really a very BIG BUT. If I drove on motorways I would have stayed with this set up of 195 45 16.
Driving in London, with the potholes and all possible uneven spots on the road - the whole car was permanently shaked with constant shiver.
It was not about comfort to myself - it was about stopping the impact of this permanent shaking into wheel bearings and other mechanisms.
When a wheel hits a pothole, a tyre did not absorb the impact even for one iota - all the force of the impact went to a wheel bearing.
I reduced the tyre pressure but not much improvement, even if any.
So, I just changed the tyres for 195 50 16 and almost happy. If I had not lost the sense of responsiveness I would have been 100% happy.
The tyres are 195 50 16 Cinturato P1 84H, they are on a softer side as to my liking but I went from the recommended 29psi in front and 28psi
on rear to 35psi in front and 34psi in rear.
with 195 50 16 the car is lifted 1cm up in comparison with 195 45 16 which is also a better thing on uneven surface.
I hope it helps you to work out what changes you are after with 16" rims.