Alloys and Fuel Consumpton

Catscar

I have been offered a set of second hand alloys 17inch for MkV Golf, its a 1.4. Does anyone know how much it will effect fuel consumption, will i notice much of a difference??

astraboy

Depends on what wheels and tyres are on it now. You should'nt notice any difference unless the wheels are real cheap and therefore heavy.

JHMEG

If overall dieameter is the same, then there should be no difference.. If the new tyres are wider there will be a marginal decrease in economy.

Catscar

Its just standard VW wheels that are on it now u know the ****ty ones with hubcaps!! I'd imagine new tyres will be a bit wider.

Henry Ford III

Alloy wheels are much lighter. All other things being the same they will reduce fuel consumption, very very slightly.

projectgtr

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Alloy wheels are much lighter. All other things being the same they will reduce fuel consumption, very very slightly.

i wouldnt be so sure , you should feel the weight of some of the cheaper alloys,I had a set on my old civic i didnt realise how heavy they were till i weighed them against my current alloys volk ce28n`s these are stupidily light. even the standard steelies were lighter than the the cheap alloys (wolfrace :mad: )

HJL

OP you will also notice a decrease in power too. I assume your car has probably 14" or 15" wheels so 17" is a bit of a jump, and will most likely be slighly wider so with the an increase in rolling resistance it will make the car a bit heavier on fuel as it has to work a bit harder to make the larger wheel move.

You wont find a huge difference though, 17" on a golf are quite common. Being lower profile as well you will notice that they are more expensive when it come time to buying new tyres.

But that said they will make your car look a whole lot better, even the most standard car with a nice set of alloys can really improve the look of it.

Senna

Catscar wrote: »

I have been offered a set of second hand alloys 17inch for MkV Golf, its a 1.4. Does anyone know how much it will effect fuel consumption, will i notice much of a difference??

17's on a 1.4 are for looks only. they will reduce handling, performance and fuel efficiently.

Catscar

Bit of conflicting information here, I'm more confused now than before. Will it effect handling and performance??

Seth Brundle

To an extent.
Having tyres of a wider diameter usually means that you end up wth wider tyres. In doing so, you are placing a greater surface area of rubber on the road which provides more resistance to movement (it takes a bit more effort to move). However, with a wider surface area, you may find stopping a bit better, assumng brakes, etc. are good.
Wider tyres can also cause tramlining whereby the car follows the direction of road ruts. Unusual feeling when it first happens but nothing really to worry about.
Going for a wider rim means that the height of your tyrewall is lower (to match the overall diameter expected by the speedo), i.e. low profile tyres. You will notice a large diffrence in the feel of the car by moving from 14" or 15" to 17". Bumps, potholes, etc. will become so much more noticable that you will be more concious of driving over these (for fear of wrecking the rims).
Your brake disks & drums will look much smaller!
As for power and fuel, I think it is so negligible that I wouldn't waste time worrying about it.

Catscar

kbannon wrote: »

To an extent.
Having tyres of a wider diameter usually means that you end up wth wider tyres. In doing so, you are placing a greater surface area of rubber on the road which provides more resistance to movement (it takes a bit more effort to move). However, with a wider surface area, you may find stopping a bit better, assumng brakes, etc. are good.
Wider tyres can also cause tramlining whereby the car follows the direction of road ruts. Unusual feeling when it first happens but nothing really to worry about.
Going for a wider rim means that the height of your tyrewall is lower (to match the overall diameter expected by the speedo), i.e. low profile tyres. You will notice a large diffrence in the feel of the car by moving from 14" or 15" to 17". Bumps, potholes, etc. will become so much more noticable that you will be more concious of driving over these (for fear of wrecking the rims).
Your brake disks & drums will look much smaller!
As for power and fuel, I think it is so negligible that I wouldn't waste time worrying about it.

Thanks for that advice, much appreciated, I think i will get them, one needs repairing, but only slight so should be easy enough. Do you know if tyres are much more expensive. I think i pay 80 at the minute for 15".

voxpop

Any suggestions on alloy manufacturers - been looking at moving to 17s myself. Did someone say wolfrace are rubbish ? BBS I suppose are top rated, but expensive

Sandwich

kbannon wrote: »

To an extent.
Having tyres of a wider diameter usually means that you end up wth wider tyres. In doing so, you are placing a greater surface area of rubber on the road which provides more resistance to movement (it takes a bit more effort to move). However, with a wider surface area, you may find stopping a bit better, assumng brakes, etc. are good.

Only kinda true, but its a complicated area with many contributing factors.

Wider tyres do not necessarily place more rubber on the road, it depends on the tyre design and pressure. Changing the tyres on a car to wider ones normally has the effect of compressing the new tyres less (in front to back direction) and so the front to back contact length decreases (the load being borne by the tyres is constant since the weight of the car has not been changed)The contact area remaining more or less unchanged. As for stopping: in the dry there will not really be much difference since its proportional to the contact area(unchanged). In the wet wider tyres are more likely to increase stopping distance as they are less efficient at clearing the water through the grooves.Narrower tyres benefit from a 'cutting' through the water effect wheras wider tyres are more prone to aquaplaning the water.

pburns

Catscar wrote: »

Bit of conflicting information here, I'm more confused now than before. Will it effect handling and performance??

Performance? If you are even remotly concerned about performance I dunno what the hell you are doing with a 1.4 Golf. Slow as a wet week...

My hunch is that 17''s are going to have a negligable effect on economy. Biggest disadvantage might be the ride but 17s shouldn't screw it up too much. Some guys put MUCH bigger and less practical alloys on Golfs.

The Real B-man

Somebody write into Mythbusters

HJL

voxpop wrote: »

Any suggestions on alloy manufacturers - been looking at moving to 17s myself. Did someone say wolfrace are rubbish ? BBS I suppose are top rated, but expensive

I have a set of ICE [RV282 is the model number] and have 195/50/15 so they arent even they low of a profile, but i had a bent rim after 4000 miles. And i dont drive quick. Donegal roads though so i guess that had a major part to play but 4k isnt much driving before one was unround!

I just put it on the back, not worth €50 to get fixed when my €560 per year raod tax isnt filling in the potholes. It would just get knocked out of shape again.

Dont think id buy ICE again though, they are a budget alloy and i regret not spending a little extra.

Catscar

pburns wrote: »

Performance? If you are even remotly concerned about performance I dunno what the hell you are doing with a 1.4 Golf. Slow as a wet week...

My hunch is that 17''s are going to have a negligable effect on economy. Biggest disadvantage might be the ride but 17s shouldn't screw it up too much. Some guys put MUCH bigger and less practical alloys on Golfs.

Ha Ha, suppose you have a point!!! But with all the speed checks I'm not intending to be doing any rallying in it.:p