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Saab 900C's are designed for 14 and 15 inch rims. The circumference of the tires however does not change after that.
What do I mean? A 16 or 17 inch tire has more stability NOT because it is making your tire's diameter larger, but because it eats up tire diameter that would otherwise be taken up by sidewall. As we go up in rim size and the tire circumference stays the same, something needs to "give", and that is sidewall. By eliminating sidewall, the remaining sidewall is more resistant to deformation, hence it handles better and more rapidly in turns. The draw backs are more road bumpiness coming through to your butt, and less sidewall to prevent ripping up your rims on bumps.
When we use a 16 inch rim on what was a 15 incher without changing the diameter/circumference of the tire, we call that going +1. When we go 17 inches, we call that +2, and 18 +3, etc...
In areas with clean smoothe roads, going +1 and +2 is easy. In areas like New York where there are potholes and rocks everywhere, you will bend the new rims constantly and need to spend $$$$ straightenning them weekly.
As far as tire width, that allows more rubber on the pavement to increase traction. The wider the footprint the better the traction WHEN IT IS DRY. When very wide tires get wet, they act like skiis and hydroplane. That is bad. Optimimum tire width for all weather is debateable, but lots here will say 205 and 215 mm.
As far as Saab, there is another problem. When you read this BB, you will see people complain that 215 mm wide tires will hit the sides of the wheel wells and "scrape". Some do not mind this, others (like me) do. I will only go 205 mm wide on my cars, but like flavors of ice cream, everyone likes something different. That means there are others who will violently disagree with me.
Hope this helps.
posted by 172.171.19...
, Sun, 8 Dec 2002 22:00:00
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