Handling difference between 13X5 and 14X5.5

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Aug 1, 2009
Messages
1,008
Location
ME
My car has comically-small OEM sized wheels, 13X5. I've recently replaced the struts with KYBs making it ride much more firmly, which is a happy/sad situation because the dramatically improved handling easily overwhelms the tires.


Would going up to 14X5.5 (factory wheels specific to this car) make much of a difference in handling? Also, another consideration is that with 14s it vastly expands the tire choices vs. 13s which these days are mostly all seasons.
 
Yes it will. totally worth it if you have to buy tires as well.
 
Last edited:
My previous vehicle came with 14x5.5 wheels (1989 Accord LXi). Once they were worn out of round I replaced them with 14x6 aftermarket wheels. I don't believe there was any noticeable difference there. But, toward the end of the car's life in 2012 it was much harder to find a decent selection of 14" tires anywhere. So, I recommend going with a 15" wheel and tire combination that maintains a similar diameter. 14" wheels are quite vestigial these days.
 
The circle track racers like small rims because then they can run very small tires, like 175/70/13s. (There is a 60 or 70 aspect ratio limitation.)

While I upsized to 15" for my saturn that took 14s I'm sticking with 14s for my Neon. I'm getting plenty of deals on tires and the car handles well enough, for a typical understeering FWD mess. 14s are light by default. 1990s Miatas ran them.
 
13's are hard to find, i'd 14's just to have better choices. As long as you keep the section width similar it should handle fine.
 
Originally Posted By: Nayov
My car has comically-small OEM sized wheels, 13X5. I've recently replaced the struts with KYBs making it ride much more firmly, which is a happy/sad situation because the dramatically improved handling easily overwhelms the tires.


Would going up to 14X5.5 (factory wheels specific to this car) make much of a difference in handling? Also, another consideration is that with 14s it vastly expands the tire choices vs. 13s which these days are mostly all seasons.


First, it would be helpful if you told us what vehicle we are talking about. While what you are proposing seems to be independent of the vehicle, it just might be that all this work won't pay out a dividend because the age or the type of vehicle prevents any real improvement - that bigger improvements might be obtained by changing other things, like shocks or sway bars.

Second, the make and model of a tire makes more of a difference than a change in size does. While what you propose is directionally towards better handling, the differences are small compared to the difference between tires of the same size.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top