17” wheel education pls.

This is my car

gcb1966 said:

1. Beside the look of the wheel/tire in the wheel well is there any benefit to a 17"?
2. I assume a 17" has a larger inside diameter, does this allow the wheel to tuck in more?
3. Is a 17" beneficial in clearing the front brakes, control arms, steering linkage?
4. While running a 17” rim are you using tires that are the same height as a 15” (if I stood the mounted tires next to each other would they match up)?
5. Assuming stock spring locations in a non mini tub car and stock suspension up front (except for zero offset disc brakes) what are the biggest size rims/tires you guys are running

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1. The main performance benefit of 17" wheels over 15" wheels is the availability of many choices in modern tires and tire compounds. This is diminishing somewhat as 18"+ wheels are taking over, but still the tire selection for 17" offers many performance benefits if you are doing autocross or track. On the street they will improve braking and steering performance too due to added traction; this will usually not be noticeable, but will make a difference in an emergency braking or steering maneuver. On the other hand, if you are drag racing, there are better tires on 15" wheels for that application. Also, compared to 15s, 17s will often have an increase in noise and ride harshness due to the shorter tire sidewall. With 17" wheels, the lower profile tires will have a small improvement in gas mileage over the energy-sapping taller sidewalls on 15s.
2. I don't know the early Novas well enough to comment on that application specifically, but larger diameter wheels can sometimes allow a wider wheel where the smaller diameter wheel would interfere with steering linkage, shocks or other items.
3. Larger wheels can fit larger brake rotors, which are better at dealing with heat than smaller rotors. This is not so much an issue for street driving, but becomes important if you autocross or, especially if you track the car.
4. Typically the overall diameter shouldn't be too different whether you are running 15s or 17s. Rear tire diameter will affect gearing.
5. My info would not be useful for your early Nova, so I will not comment.

railroaderman said:

Not to highjack thread but I have the same size tires that Brooksey listed in his response on my 67. They are Hankook (tires on the rims when bought). They are pretty rough. Is there another brand that might be softer?

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You might want to try some other tires. We’ve been running a set of Dunlop tires on our WRX in a handful of autocross events and went to a new set of Michelin Pilot Sport All Season tires. The ride and handling characteristics are significantly better from the Dunlops. We’ve run them both at the same pressure and the Michelins are smother running and hold better in the corners..

Tire size is the same for both sets.
235/45/17 on 17x7 wheels.

You might want to check your tire pressures. Be sure you actually have an accurate tire gage. I’ve found that tire pressure readings can be off quite a bit from different types of gages. If your tire pressures are too high this can make the tires ride quality very harsh.