How slow with 15''s

Anto Modded

Anto Modded

Ex. Club Member
Ive tried a tyre calculater and it says 15''s with 195/45 tyres will be .3 mph slower than my origional 165/60 14 standard wheels. Car is a 1.3 . Will this be noticable, seems like ####all to be out by. Tyre is wider but........... I just dont want a slow car being use to the quickness of it and 14'' lightweights in black are hard enough to find over her
 
aprently they make a diffrance swiper ran his wifes 15 alloys on his 1.0 (now my micra) down to JAE in 06 and he said it made a diffrance over his std 14'' alloys. and he had an exhaust (cat back) with janspeed manifold and an induction kit.
 
i noticed better handling, slightly stiffer ride. much better looks.......and absolutely no difference to how much it wheelspins.....erm.. i mean accelerate...
 
I've noticed a reduction in top speed of about 10mph, I can only assume this is due to increased wind resistance of the wider rubber and/or friction due to the bigger footprint.

Although it still spins the wheels if i floor it from a standing start.
 
Only possible advantage i might have is on the facelift model they come with 14'' steelies where the older k11 came with 13''s. therefore id only be out by .3 mph. Where as compared to a 13'' steelie you would be out by 5.3mph.
hard to know what to go for, 14''s will take upto 6 weeks to get if order off halfords over here.......there so slow. I will have my coilovers on friday 20 - 120mm drop. Here is a pic of i guy i knows 1.0l lowered on 15''s and doesnt rub. has 195/45 tyres.
6side.jpg
 
Dont do it if you only have a 1.0, i put 15" almera gti wheels on my old 1.0 and it was like having a really fat mate in the car all the time. LOADS of grip and it looked ace but the tyres were the wrong profile. The speedo would say 67 when i was doing 70 with 195/50s on and it would refuse to go over 80mph with them on.

Even if you get the right size tyres though the weight is too much if you aint got the power.
 
Sorry dude i was looking at your details on the left :glance:

You should be alright then if the size difference is minute, i was refering to my old s reg, i went from 155/70 13" steelies to 195/50 15" alloys, it was awful!

Its mainly the weight that does it, ive switched between 165/60 14" steelies and 185/55 14" alloys (off the sport) on my '52 k11 and you can tell the slight difference i.e. the alloys make it slightly slower cos they weigh more in total. The sport+ is therfore slower than say the s. How ironic is that! :)
 
Yeah weight may make a difference. Not all alloys are light! but you shouldn't notice a major difference - especially an above figure of 20mph!! Standard K11 wheels are quite light if i remember rightly. Ems had some on her K10 - they gripped the roads even better allowing better accelleration. I imagine if you put very heavy / oversized alloys on, then the engine has to work harder to move the car, but i guess that's down to the wheels you buy.
 
I have however recently put my old 175/60 13" alloys (the four spoke ones off the prefacelift) on and f*** me how it flies now! Its like its been tuned lol. It looks diddyer with 13s but i prefer the acceleration. :devil:
 
i just dont want to fork out money for 15''s then realise the cars accelleration is bad and say i should of gotten 14''s. Just a difference of .3mph aint much and alloys are light too at 4.9kgs each
 
If it's any help Ant, I'm going back to 14" alloys with 185/50 tyres due to the slowing effect of the 15" alloys with 195/45 tyres, I suppose super lightweight wheels would help, but I'm not prepared to fork out that much to find out either.
 
well i know on my 96 k11 it had 155/70/r13 steelies and 14'' alloys with 185/50/r14 tyres were perfect. Loads of poke and now difference in power
 
this is an old topic, but it is relevant to me now so if anyone has good advice, then i'm listening

i put 15" on my 1.0 k11 and i agree it's like having a fat friend in the car all the time. it is definately slower, but then i guess i bought alloys which weigh a lot more. they look awesome though. must admit the handling is much better and it takes corners in an awesome manner.

i am thinking of going down to 13" wheels as im going to get the full spax suspension 55mm lowered, shocks, anti-roll rear and front.

the car will be lower and i am told it will handle like a gem. i know i will have to alter the speedometer, but thats something i will get a pro to do.

wider 13"s will weight less and surely be more stable? previous k11s had 13"s so i am assuming it is fine to use them.

i saw some PCD 100s 4 stud on ebay and the nissan dealer told me they would fit on my micra, but he never heard of dropping sizes, only going up.

any advice?
 
frank said:
no_jezebel

165/55/13,s will help with your acceleration and handle well too, but a 55mm drop might take it too low
here,s a pic of mine with a 15mm drop on the front (top post)
http://www.micra.org.uk/showthread.php?t=4447&page=16
Click to expand...

cool.

i was hoping to get the distance between the wheel and the top wheel arch rim to be minimal.. like barely noticable like that yellow wald kit micra bounced around here before.

the 2003 k11 doesnt really need any kit adding to it as its got a good shape already and the exhaust is hidden too. just needs the front bumper spraying..

ill post a blog soon.
 
if you get 14" alloys with 185/50/r14 tyres you wont notice any difference on a 1.0l, if the car has 13'' steelies as standard. Mine had 14''s as standard and with the 15'' and right tyres i notice no difference. My old 96 1.0l i put 14''s on. As people here will say most likely say, right size rim above your origional rim with the right tyre will be grand. Although do slate me on this, its just my thought
 
i found that its the weight of the wheel that ffected me most from stellies to 15" konigs 195/45 i could tell the difference especially up hills
 
i found that its the weight of the wheel that ffected me most from stellies to 15" konigs 195/45 i could tell the difference especially up hills
 
You will get a power loss with 195/45x15s, the weight is greater so you will lose power there, the cross section is bigger, so there will be more wind resistance therefore more loss of power, obviously the effect will be more noticeable on a 1.0 than a 1.3 and the weight of the alloy iself will vary so the power loss will vary wether on a 1.0 or 1.3.
 
I'm downsizing to 14's soon, not had a problem with 14's, just want to go loooow..

What width tyres should i go for on a 50 profile, 185 or 195..? Currently on 195/50/r15s.

Kinda related.. :p
 
technically more traction in the wet - better handling but bigger wider wheels will cause more rolling road resistance this may or may not refect in mpg / acceleration slightly?

Having said that being in a front end crash at 50-40mph down a deep ditch in the dark round a blind right hand bend in the wet in a k11=====X
- i will keep the 15" on who knows the better braking / traction may save my life?
 
This entirely depends on which wheels you go for and what your requirements are. All out handling.......economy or a balance of the two.

Wheel radius counts for a small effect, as you effectively reduce the mechanical advantage that the transmission acts through, although this isn't a huge concern unless you opt for 17's on a Micra.

Wheel mass has a more significant effect with regard to the drivetrain, as you expend more energy while accelerating/decelerating and this also increases the unsprung mass, which in turn puts more load on the suspension system, thus effecting handling.......not to mention the additional loads put through the transmission.

Tyre width can also have significant effect, as with increased width comes increased friction, (great for cornering), however the tradeoff is increased rolling resistance. Increased tyre width also increases the effective frontal area of the car slightly, which coupled with the aformentioned increased friction will further reduce top speed. If you already had wide tyres as standard then the difference perhaps will be minimal, but the difference on a 1.0 for example which had 155 profile tyres as standard, will be much more noticeable.

Collectively, all of the above can have quite an impact on a small engined car.
 
Here ya go jeze, '52 plate facelift with old sr 13" alloys on with 35mm drop. (this is essential for the facelift with 13s on, looks awful without lowering)

Image272.jpg


175/60 tyres. Definately not huge grip but didnt notice any difference in grip against 185/55s on the 14" sport alloys but did notice quicker acceleration. :laugh:

Depends what you want, acceleration or grip.
 
i am gonna give me enkeis to my brother as they make the car to slow and find some 14 wide steels or 15 as longs as i can get 195's on.
 
hmm, well you helped make up my mind, thanks for all the advice.

grip is the most important thing for me. flying around a corner and whipping around roundabouts is all the fun of driving.... anyone can put their foot down on the motorway...thats boring

i would rather leave a skyline trailing behind me in the yorkshire dales country roads than race some chaved up ford focus on the motorway...

straight line driving is boring....

cornering is always more fun.... il just get lighter 15s i think...
 
im getting the full suspension kit and getting the brakes updated and will eventually turbo the car. it will be tuned in many ways. the car is being stripped also and it will be very quick.

a modified micra for the purpose of cornering will easily leave a skyline behind if it were simply a country road race...

the skyline is a speed car for straight lining, essentially... no one made it for an english country road. and i mean proper country road, not the crap down south ;)

there are cars designed for cornering and those designed for straight line speed and they are generally pretty obvious from the appearance, although this is not a gospel guideline...

obviously an unmodified micra would not be a winner, but one tuned for that purpose would easily do it as has been seen previously.

a skykline will always have that size and weight so unless it gets wings, it will find it very difficult in those narrow country lanes no matter how much power it has, because its not about power on those lanes
 
you're kidding?

The Skyline R34 had one of the most advanced 4WD and Traction Control systems ever.

It's immensly good in standard form at cornerning, and doubt a K11 with a whiteline, would out perform a skyline with Traction Control, 4WD etc on cornering.

Nevermind, I stand corrected on this that it's been proven that a modified K11 will out handle a stock R34.

Would be interesting to see similar handling mods done to an R34 though, and then compared.
 
i am refering to a particular type of country road where i live which in parts are absolutely tiny and the general 4x4 landrover has its door mirrors almost touching the stones on both sides of the road. i am not talking about a formula one track, nor an open space corner.

of course, you can tune any car to do a particular thing, but the shape/size of that car will have an impact. first of all, does it easily fit and secondly, does the gap allow for the larger car to manoevre at the same speed as the smaller car.

metaphorically speaking, watch the cat chasing the mouse, or the dog chasing the cat. the mechanics are different, yes, (but you could call that tuning ha (well, God's creation, actually!), but the size of the thing give an edge without question.

i mean, how many of those fully tuned skylines would you meet anyway and i would like to know how many in their £££££skylines would even attempt to push on those roads with more corners than a toblerone.

please remember i'm talking about one type of road! i am not rubbishing the skyline in general, nor any other car.
 
Well speaking from experience, as I drive a 1.3 K11 which, except for coilovers, roll cage and seam welding on the chassis, has had every available suspension upgrade there is for a narrow track Micra.......they do handle well but they're by no means the quickest car around.......there's plenty more that would run a quicker timed section of road.......and like you say, meeting a skyline on such roads is not very common, therefore making the comparison seem a bit wasted.

Good luck meeting an oncoming vehicle on your single track roads though......
 
I can tell you right now no mica can outpace an r32 gtr with a remap and good suspension setup i.e coilovers will whoop any micra on any road. Drive a gtr you will see lol.
 
Robb said:
Id make sure i put all those mods on a 1.3/1.4 manual jeze. :p
Click to expand...

@ robb of course. a 1.4 would be the minimal. :) but there is no rush just yet. it's a 2003 k11 with plenty of life in it still.

@ jabran: you clearly did not read the detail in the thread.. and as for saying a micra cannot beat a skyline. that's stupid. any car with enough money / technology thrown at it, for straight line speed (as you are infering) could beat another.

as for ANY ROAD. i think you should actually go to the real country roads some time, then you will see lol.
 
I have been to the dales and to be honest the gtr will do what its built for and use the attesa/4wd to its adavanatge and will leave you for dust.

O.k i made a mistake saying any micra. Your micra with what you will do to it turbo, coilovers, full suspension kit will be no match for a gtr (stock power with some qauntum coils as they are good) especially at the dales with all that torque steer and understeer. Have your tried driving offroad in a stock car? it takes a beating and don't go very fast as theres no tarmac but the gtr was built to rally and will work well on those kind of terrains and the dales arent exactly off road.

Lol and lets get this straight the r32 was not built for straght line speed it handles very very well it was banned from rallies fyi.

Try driving a gtr you'll see.
 

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