Wheel sizes

[nakamichi]

Hi guys
My 92 car has 17" wheels on the rear and 16" wheels front.Originally they would have been 16" and 15" respectively.
My question is:
Would the ride/handling etc. improve or not if I went back to the original size tyres?
Presumably Honda put those size wheels on for a reason??
Bit of an anorak question ,I know,but I am genuinely interested.
Cheers
Tony

[NSX 2000]

Hi guys
My 92 car has 17" wheels on the rear and 16" wheels front.Originally they would have been 16" and 15" respectively.
My question is:
Would the ride/handling etc. improve or not if I went back to the original size tyres?
Presumably Honda put those size wheels on for a reason??
Bit of an anorak question ,I know,but I am genuinely interested.
Cheers
Tony

Hi Tony

IMO there is more to this than meets the eye, due to the change in tyre tehcnology, when Honda and Senna set the car up they did so on a specific tyre/s none of these are now available, so you are not going to able to get the same ride as those engineers intended.

HTH

Paul

[Nick Graves]

This is true.

The S2000 is a perfect example; I loved the razor-sharp (some would say too sharp!) handling on the original 16" Bridgestone ES02JZs. These had a sort of 245 rear tread on a 225-width carcass to stabilize an oddity in the RWS characteristic. It really doesn't work on 'normal' tyres. Once those were discontinued, I was forced to switch to the 17" BS RE050 MZ. Hence the Mugen wheels.

Although my early suspension is not optimised for the 17", the car feels more 'mature', grips better wet or dry and the handling is less tiring, if less entertaining.

Simon Prelude suggests the same wheel/tyrecombo "transforms the NSX".

So long as you use a very lightweight wheel, so as not to increase unsprung mass and only increase diameter to reduce sidewall height and don't go silly with 'oversize' wheels, it ought to be possible to 'update' the car to later tyre technology, without ruining its purity.

[madras]

With a 93 manual, no PS I originally had the 15 and 16 combo, and got some 16 and 17 to use, had these on for about 18months and couldn't get the tyres so went back to the original setup. I think it drives far better on the original smaller wheels (but only noticed when changing back), the steering is so much lighter and feels so much better and more precise. Much easier to find matching sets of W rated tyres too.

[NSX 2000]

With a 93 manual, no PS I originally had the 15 and 16 combo, and got some 16 and 17 to use, had these on for about 18months and couldn't get the tyres so went back to the original setup. I think it drives far better on the original smaller wheels (but only noticed when changing back), the steering is so much lighter and feels so much better and more precise. Much easier to find matching sets of W rated tyres too.

Can I ask what make the 16/17 combo wheels are?

[nakamichi]

Can I ask what make the 16/17 combo wheels are?
OEM Honda wheels from a later model I believe.

[markc]

As has been said there are lot of variables here.

As a general rule the lighter the wheel/tyre package is, the easier job the suspension will have controlling it. Identically produced wheels and tyres in smaller sizes will be lighter.

However bigger or smaller wheels will not "transform" the car, assuming you don't fit MASSIVELY heavier or lighter ones, but new/different tyres might.

Fresh rubber can make an enormous difference if it's replacing heavily worn or very old ones. Even fitting identical but new tyres can make a huge differance.

Our cars are getting on a bit now and the suspension components, particularly the dampers (shock absorbers), could be worn. The heavier the wheel tyre combination used the more it will show up any deficiencies in the dampers.

Tony, I assume you have the later NSX Blade wheels? Does your car still have the Nitron suspension that Nathan fitted or is it back to standard? If the Nitrons are still on you can't compare it with a standard car, it's bound to be a lot firmer and potentially harsher than standard, but these are not old so the dampers should still be working well. If it's back on the standard shocks, what condition are these 19yr old units in?

Personally I would stick with the 16/17 and some decent modern rubber. Try experimenting with tyre pressures to lightening the steering and improve the ride.

Cheers

Mark

[gumball]

Its marginal really, the car drives slightly better with the smaller wheels, looks slightly better with bigger wheels(arguably).

[nakamichi]

As has been said there are lot of variables here.

As a general rule the lighter the wheel/tyre package is, the easier job the suspension will have controlling it. Identically produced wheels and tyres in smaller sizes will be lighter.

However bigger or smaller wheels will not "transform" the car, assuming you don't fit MASSIVELY heavier or lighter ones, but new/different tyres might.

Fresh rubber can make an enormous difference if it's replacing heavily worn or very old ones. Even fitting identical but new tyres can make a huge differance.

Our cars are getting on a bit now and the suspension components, particularly the dampers (shock absorbers), could be worn. The heavier the wheel tyre combination used the more it will show up any deficiencies in the dampers.

Tony, I assume you have the later NSX Blade wheels? Does your car still have the Nitron suspension that Nathan fitted or is it back to standard? If the Nitrons are still on you can't compare it with a standard car, it's bound to be a lot firmer and potentially harsher than standard, but these are not old so the dampers should still be working well. If it's back on the standard shocks, what condition are these 19yr old units in?

Personally I would stick with the 16/17 and some decent modern rubber. Try experimenting with tyre pressures to lightening the steering and improve the ride.

Cheers

Mark
still got the Nitron suspension.
There is nothing wrong with the ride,I was just curious about the different wheel sizes and what affect they would have.
Thanks for the replies:)

[Nick Graves]

Be careful of the rolling radius when swapping; it alters the ride height and also the castor settings, if uneven.

The steering may be lightened slightly by reducing the castor angle too.

But I agree about how different a set of old, "collapsed" tyres feel when compared to a new set of the same. With the S-02s, the thumpiness told you when they'd 'gone'.

[madras]

Can I ask what make the 16/17 combo wheels are?

The original NSX ones.