Pelican Pete

Thanks to RKA, I finally caved in an bought a set of 17" wheels for my car. I held out for a long time just because I live in Brooklyn, and I did not want to make my ride quality any worse than it already was.

But when my previous wheels wouldn't fit over my brake upgrade, and when Raj decided to sell his wheels, I could not resist.

So last Thursday I drove down to PA and met up with Raj, and we (well, basically he did all the work) put his 17" Oettinger RE wheels on my car.
The tires were in decent enough shape. The fronts have 17k miles on them, and still look new. The rears were shot, but still above the treadwear bars.

Today I got a set of Bridgestone Potenza S03 tires on the wheels. (Thanks Eddie@TireRack!)

The wheels look great on the Pelican Blue.
I haven't put the tires through their paces yet, since they are still slippery.

But one thing I noticed right away... the ride quality is not any worse than 16" wheels. I can definitely feel the pavement better than before -- there is much more positive feedback through the controls, and the car feels more connected to the road. Rough pavement is more noticable but not any more harsh. Broken pavement (and there is a LOT of it where I live) still feels like broken pavement. Not any better (obviously) but not noticably any worse either.

Granted my 16" tires were not exactly touring tires either, and I kept them inflated pretty high -- 35psi. If I had kept my 16s inflated at the normal 32psi, then maybe the change to 17s would feel more harsh.
I can't believe I waited so long!!

Can't wait for Watkins Glen next month!!! :-)

Pictures to follow.

Cheers,
Peter

Bimmer Love

congrats, nice wheels too.

RKA

What's the matter with you...you can't say "pictures to come"...post them damnit! :-)

Pelican Pete

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RKA

Got daylight?

Pelican Pete

I rescheduled my appointment for next week. Today is too hectic.

--P.