do you lose in the luxury ride quality by swapping wheels and tires.
I really enjoy the smooth ride with my stock 16's on my gs400, but really like the look of aftermarket wheels. The stocks look like little tiny wheels and tires.

While I like 19's or even 20's, I am thinking of going to 18 in rims as a compromise hoping I won't lose too much in ride quality. So far I am thinking of leaving the suspension stock.

A buddy of mine is a lexus tech and said he's driven gs400's with 19s and said the ride was pretty good, not much difference. His personal car a a camaro lowered with bone jarring suspension, so I think anything is smooth to him.

Ride and quietness is top priority, but I could give up a little bit for the 18's.
I have a viper that rides on 335 tires which I think actually soften the ride a bit-but still the car overall is harsh, so I wonder if 275's on the back will offset the larger rim, smaller sidewall of the 18's.

Can anyone give me some honest feedback?

Thanks

 

well i have 20's and 275 out back and my car has a agressive drop with tein cs coilovers and it rides very close to stock as possible

 

i have 20s with the tein CS, lowered to almost no gap. what can i say, it's just comfortable. you get the sound of the 20s coz' of the low profile, but the ride is smooth

 

that's very comforting.... i think i will be investing in some tein cs within the next year

 

I have the Tein Flex coilover suspension, 18's and almost no gap between the wheels and fender. I have the Tein Flex set to a comfort setting (15/16) and the ride is very comfortable to me. I have to watch out for potholes and such, but other than that I absolutely love it!!!

Keep in mind that the roads up here (especially roads in the cities) are not smooth. Extreme temperature variations here plus the salt that is dumped wreak havoc on our roads.

 

Even 18's will give a big drop in ride quality compared to your 16's. Or to say this another way, you have to have your suspension set up for a nice, soft ride. My ride on 18's is probably more harsh than many with 20's due to the choices I have made. [Tein HA's and every chassis brace under the sun.]

 

very true, your car must be stiff. but however, you don't have every pieces yet, you are still missing two sets from toms

 

I have 20's w/ coil overs and rides is comfy

 

I am? Are you still talking suspension?

 

2? Hmm just Coilovers. Then theres Hood and mirror covers

 

'ride quality" is a personal subjective term...18s to me are the best compromise....19s are bit firmer...looked great though..20s looked HOT

 

yup, suspensions, you are still missing two sets, aside from the coilovers

 

Hey, this is a suspension thread. Stay on topic please. rominl meant 2 suspension components. We'll leave the other pieces for a different thread.

 

so from what i gather, the stock ride can be acheived with larger rims, but different shocks namely the tien cs must be used to do so?

 

The ride will never be stock but it will be close. Part of this is due to the reduction of the sidewall. The ride will also be a little noisier and you'll get more road condition feedback. One of the pros though is that you lose that float that is in the OEM setup. This loss gives you more predictable/controlled drive behavior.

When I had my 18s, we test drove my car with CS and braces galore and then drove a stock GS with 17s. The ride quality was amazigly close.