I'm really having a hard time with stock 17" rims... The sad thing is that the wheel wells are so big that anything smaller might not look right...

I can really save some money by getting some 16"s and get better acceleration with smaller rims... I really don't think anyone will be tossing this thing around since it's FWD and the extra grip wouldn't really be appreciated when time comes to change the tires...

Who else feels they MIGHT swap out the 17" on ebay and get a decent quality set of 16"s?

Also how does a 17" temporary spare look like?

 

I dunno 17 inch looks rather good for the car.....for this type of car if you go 16 inch go with somethng that has a deep lip around lets say 1 or 2 inchs.....this will help offset of the look of a smaller rim I think IMO

 

I know i'm happy the tC's coming with 17's. I live on the curviest street around here. (palos verdes drive east if anyone if familior with the area) 17's are the best for turns, so I'll be beatin the hell out of this poor car...even though its fwd. But if you do have to pay for your own tires, then yeah, it can get a little expencive, just dont drive it so hard.

 

Dude, give it up. The acceleration difference you get with 16s will be negligible. The only concern may be tire cost, but don't drive like a manic and it won't be too much of a problem. And the car is going to look like ___ with 16s. They could have chose a better spoke design with the 17s, but at least they're 17s and alloys. Not to mention they're 7 inches wide, unlike Mazda's poser 6.5-inch wide 17s on the Mazda3.

 

See, the thing is, grip difference is also very small...

I'm pretty sure I can buy a quality set of 16"s (by quality I mean very very light) which will save me money on tires, and reduce a lot of unwanted weight...

Still this is just a theory, but the price difference can be 200 / tire change for 4 tires... And with 45s, those tires look like they'll be comming off faster than you'd expect...

As for not driving it hard, that would deprive the whole point of me buying a new car when my 90 Integra LS can run for another 400K on the odo...

 

bigger 17 also means teh tire will turn less thout its life wearing down less, i think 17 was a greta idead, and making them wide 215 (as opposed to 205 on mazda) was ecen a better idead, and even though this car is fwd, I think it will still be pretty balanced.

 

Hmmm, I wonder how the tC's rims would look on my Celica?
Prolly wouldn't handle the width. *think'n*

I wonder how the Celica 16s alloys would look on a tC?

 

the tC's wheels on the celica would look good. But anything smaller than 17's on the tC would look silly.

 

I have never liked haveing big rims/tires on a FWD car. It just eats through tread far to fast as the front wheels handles acceleration and turning. Don't get me started on the expense of low profiles.

I may well go with nice 16s IF I get a tC. I always preferred a RWD car for it's beter tire ware, among other things.

 

I've seen several xBs rolling on the 16" TRD wheels (from the 98-02 Corolla package) and I think they look very, very sharp.



I don't think you'll save money on tires though -- 16" seem to cost the same or even more than 17".

 

I got 16 inch rims on my scion and it looks fine if your worried about the gap just lower it a little bit, that would solve your problem.

 

if you get a 16" wheel, get a bigger side wall. that will help with some of the gap.