The A5 with 18" wheels or 19" wheels ... are the 19's going to hurt performance as far as acceleration ?

Does anyone know if this will make a difference ... are the 18's lighter ?

My concern as with any other wheel upgrade is the larger wheel can cause a slight decrease in acceleration ... thanks

 

The A5 acceleration stats in Road&Track / AutoWeek came from S-Line models.(19"rims)

Using Audi's OEM numbers:
[245/40 x 18] and [255/35 x 19]
The diameter difference = 0.3-inches
The circumference difference = 1-inch
http://www.csgnetwork.com/tiresizescalc.html

 

thanks, I was thinking more along the lines of wheel weight from the larger rims

 

maybe handling will feel slightly more crisp with a lighter wheel, but a taller tire side wall on an 18" wheel will basically make it feel the same.

Go with the 19" wheels, it looks better. If you want a car that accelerates quickly you're not looking at the right car. While quick, it's not really what it's intended to do.

 

Everything else being equal, there will be some reduction in acceleration, unless you go to a lightweight forged 19" wheel, or similar.

It's sort of like having a heavier flywheel on each side of the differential. How significant the effect is, I don't know. I'm guessing not too much.

I went with th 19" wheels. I like 'em.

 

I saw a lot of A5's in Europe with smaller wheels not only for winter but for summer. I bought 17" BBS rims and Dunlop Winter Sport tires in the same width as stock, just with the higher profile. I was SHOCKED at how much better this car is with the lighter wheels and tires. I took the stock 18" wheels off and was surprised at how heavy they were (made by Ronal). For the new tires, I did not use the recommended winter tire size, I actually used the wider 245, 45 17 size which is a Stock summer tire size used in some European markets for the TDI version of this car. This was partly necessary because the BBS wheels in 17" are 1/2" wider than the 17" Audi wheels.

Now when spring comes I may stick with 17", most likely Pilot Sport 2.

The car does not look bad, the higher profile tire looks great. The only thing that may be lacking are the rear wheels which would look better if they were pushed out of the wheel wheels more. I am not messing with spacers etc, as my goal was to make this car drive as good as possible, and spacers could only hurt matters.

In my opinion, when equipped with 5 spoke 18" stock wheels and the 19", the tire side walls just look so thin that it is not natural, not balanced. They make the car look like a cartoon, not a real car. Just my opinion. I think that you see the same thing on the new VW GTi, big heavy wheels with unnaturally low profile tires.

With the 17" fitted, my car is quicker, is quieter and does not tramline at all. The steering is still very sharp, I do not notice more lean. I live in Michigan, the roads here and in the surrounding States and Provinces are horrible. But with these tires I have NO SQUEAKS, NO RATTLES, not stress, all is good.

18", 19" and larger wheels and tires are only for looks on an A5. I can barely overcome the lateral grip with my 17" winter tires on bad roads, with 17" Pilot Sport 2's this car will fly. And to be honest, the A5 is not really a sports car, it is more like a GT, and a slightly underpowered one at that. I would have preferred to have a 3.0 TDI Quattro if that were available here in the USA.

BTW, I played this game with my Porsche 964 C4. I still keep 16" wheels and tires on that car, after trying 17" and 18".

Only one guys opinion, I am sure that most of you, prefer 18" or larger,