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16 or 18 in wheels?

2.7K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  WhiteSpyder  
#1 ·
So I recently bought a 2009 Lancer SE, 5 spd manual with 100,000km. Love the car. It came with decent all season tires 205/60/16 obviously on 16 inch wheels. These tires will be fine for the short amount of winter we have left here (Vancouver, BC, Canada) but I want to run snow tires next winter. Searching marketplace there are several sets of factory 16 inch wheels for sale, as well as 18 inch wheels from the Ralliart.
I'm having trouble deciding if I should:
1- Buy some 18 inch Ralliart wheels, run all-season tires on them, and use these for spring/summer/fall. Take the all season tires of the 16 inch OEM wheels, sell them, and run winter tires on these wheels.
2- Buy a 2nd set of 16 inch OEM wheels and run winter tires on them. Keep the current all season tires on the current wheels.

I see that the Ralliart wheels are meant to take a 10mm wider tire (215/45/18). Does anyone know if I will run into any issues with these wheels? Fit? Rubbing? I am assuming they will fit fine and not rub as they are a factory size tire and wheel and I doubt Mitsubishi modified anything on the models that came stock with 18s.
18 inch tires are also a fair bit more expensive than 16s, and I'm guessing they will ride a bit harder/rougher with that short sidewall. Buuuuuuuut, they DO look a lot sharper!
Doubt the extra 10mm of rolling resistance would contribute to an increase in gas milage?

Hoping to hear from someone who went from 205/60/16 to 215/45/18 and what there experience was. I'm leaning towards just getting another set of OEM 16 inch wheels as they still look decent (a lot better than steelies for winter use) and I there will be no surprises /disappointments with fit/rubbing, fuel milage, rougher ride, and when I go to buy new all season tires they will be a lot cheaper than buying new 18 inch rubber.