Re: Why 18's? posted by SeekingZ on May 24, 2005 at 03:17 PM
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and disagree with Guapo.
There are technical advantages to having both more and less sidewall (IE 16, 17, or 18 inch wheels).
There IS something to be said for having the "rim" of your wheel further inside the circle that is your tire, but that advantge in rotational inertia is small IMO (esp on higher end wheels where the "rim" is exceptionally light).
The truth is, at one time 16" and 17" tires were all much cheaper than 18" and 19" tires and it was a good, solid decision for technical and budget reasons to use 16 or 17" wheels. Slowly this is becoming less and less true. Today, I can buy 18" CompR tires for 130 bucks (265/35-18) and I have 6 of them stacked up in my garage now. You can also get <20 lbs 18" wheels (some closer to 17-18lbs - I believe stock is in the neighbor hood of 16lbs, for reference).
People are very used to the old ways. The tire market is changing - and IMO people's opinions need to start changing too.
