Should I go 19s or 20s on a 2011 Sedan?
Larger wheels will not necessarily drop your MPG or performance. If going from a 17" OEM wheel to a 19" OEM wheel dropped MPG by 6, then the Sport models would have a different EPA MPG rating because they come with them standard. That's simply not true.
There's always a lot of misinformation about this topic. I'll address a few of them briefly.
"20" wheels are heavy!" - Cheap cast 20" wheels are heavy. Quality forged 20" wheels are often lighter than the OEM 19" wheels. My 20" are lighter than my OEM 19" wheels.
"20" wheels will decrease your MPG!" - if they are significantly heavier, then yes they can. Certainly not by 6 MPG though.
"20" tires are very expensive!" - Many 20" tires are less expensive than the same tire in 19" size.
"If you put 20" wheels on your car the speedometer will be way off!" - If you maintain the same overall wheel circumference, the speedometer will not be affected. A car running 255/35/20 in place of 225/45/19 in front and 285/30/20 in place of the OEM 245/40/19 in back will not have any significant variation to the speedometer because the overall circumference is almost exactly the same (negligible difference).
"Larger wheels hurt the car's performance!" - Possibly but not always. The bulk of the weight is pushed further away from the axis on a larger wheel . However if the wheel is significantly lighter in weight this can be overcome. That's often not the case though. If there is a loss of acceleration, it is often minimal depending on how much the wheel diameter is increased and the increase in weight.
At the end of the day its about making a choice of what's most important to you. Look, performance, fuel economy, cost. Choose what's most important to you in making your decision and factor everything in. But realize that you will not get all of those factors in any one choice.
Good luck!
There's always a lot of misinformation about this topic. I'll address a few of them briefly.
"20" wheels are heavy!" - Cheap cast 20" wheels are heavy. Quality forged 20" wheels are often lighter than the OEM 19" wheels. My 20" are lighter than my OEM 19" wheels.
"20" wheels will decrease your MPG!" - if they are significantly heavier, then yes they can. Certainly not by 6 MPG though.
"20" tires are very expensive!" - Many 20" tires are less expensive than the same tire in 19" size.
"If you put 20" wheels on your car the speedometer will be way off!" - If you maintain the same overall wheel circumference, the speedometer will not be affected. A car running 255/35/20 in place of 225/45/19 in front and 285/30/20 in place of the OEM 245/40/19 in back will not have any significant variation to the speedometer because the overall circumference is almost exactly the same (negligible difference).
"Larger wheels hurt the car's performance!" - Possibly but not always. The bulk of the weight is pushed further away from the axis on a larger wheel . However if the wheel is significantly lighter in weight this can be overcome. That's often not the case though. If there is a loss of acceleration, it is often minimal depending on how much the wheel diameter is increased and the increase in weight.
At the end of the day its about making a choice of what's most important to you. Look, performance, fuel economy, cost. Choose what's most important to you in making your decision and factor everything in. But realize that you will not get all of those factors in any one choice.
Good luck!
^^ Thank BB. Well put!
Saturday I will be switching from my staggered OEM 18" with X-ice tires to my 20x 8.5" & 10" forged DPE's. My DPE's are each about 4lbs heavier.
The 20" Hankook V12's are about 4lbs heavier than the X-Ice tires.
So in total I'm up about 8lbs per corner.
I will post back with my mileage from my 65 mile trip home the same day. I'm betting it's not much different than what I get now.
Saturday I will be switching from my staggered OEM 18" with X-ice tires to my 20x 8.5" & 10" forged DPE's. My DPE's are each about 4lbs heavier.
The 20" Hankook V12's are about 4lbs heavier than the X-Ice tires.
So in total I'm up about 8lbs per corner.
I will post back with my mileage from my 65 mile trip home the same day. I'm betting it's not much different than what I get now.
personally I prefer 20" even though you add SOME weight, with certain tires you will get more grip for cornering, etc. plus I think they look a bit nicer by filling out more of the fender gap esp if you're lowered; it's true that tires maybe heavier though but as stated above it's trivial and up to you what you want in terms of balance between performance and looks and grip and cost and fender gaps and suspension drops
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