curtis9

Hey everyone! My first post. Getting ready to order a 2011 S4. Like the Prestige package except the 19" wheels. My thoughts are that the 19 inchers are nice, but cosmetic only. They seem to me to cause a heavier turn-in, harsher ride, and are of course more expensive to replace than the 18 inchers. Any thoughts before I order???? Thanks!

mellow_sparky

Order the car with the wheels you like. If you prefer the 18's, then get that.

I think the 19's kick a$$ - I'm very happy with them. I don't find the ride any worse than the 18's on my BMW.

DrGP

Your concerns are all valid points. C&D just did an article where they took a car and just changed the wheels size using the same tires. 18" had better performance figures than 19". Unfortunately, you cannot order the Prestige without the 19" wheels. And you cannot order the Prem+ with all the options on the Prestige. If you really want the Prestige and 18" wheels, you have 2 options. Get the dealer to do a wheel and tire swap.Dealer will be getting more expensive wheels and tires in the deal. Better idea might be to trade someone with 18" wheels that wants 19s. I would expect you to receive some money along with that deal. Alternatively, buy yourself some 18" wheels/tires of your choice. And just sell the wheels on eBay or on the forum classifieds

DrGP

Unfortuantely,you cannot order the Prestige with 18" wheels. ( at least you couldn't on the 2010) Someone has tried that without success. No doub't the 19" tires will cost more to replace and are heavier.

Muray

If the 19'' and 18'' tires and wheel combo weighed the same, the 19's would come out ahead because it has bigger contact patch on the road, and has lower sidewall so it can flex less while cornering. It's simple physics. But naturally most 19's weigh a lot more than most 18's, so 18's would win if they weighed a lot less than the 19's. In everyday driving I think one would be hard to notice though. I test drove a S4 with 19's and the ride was better than my Mercedes C350 with 17's. I ordered my 2011 with 19's.

rktskicar

they will of course not weigh the same. the 19" are heavier. the 18" also have lower rotational mass as well.

Bruce

DrVolkl

I just ordered (well, about a month ago) new 19" rims to replace my stock 19" rims. I bet my new setup is lighter than most 18" ones out there.

Personally, I wouldn't go smaller than 19 on this car... but that's just my opinion. It just doesn't look right to me. Of course everyone has their own taste, so that's really not an issue. The stock 19" rims are pretty awesome in person, but I wanted something different/lighter.

Unless you're tracking your car, ignore any performance gains/losses with either setup. Really guys, you'll get a bigger time difference between drivers than wheel sizes. Unless you live your life 1/4 mile at a time, I doubt you'll notice what wheels are on your car.

As for tire cost, it's really not that big a difference either. There are plenty of 19" size tires out there... and perhaps paying an extra $20 a tire for new ones by going 19's shouldn't break your bank.... if that's even the case.

mellow_sparky

I'm pretty sure you can with a 2011 order (which is what this would be).

rktskicar

On this car, I only ran 18" wheels for the ride and the fact that the stock OEM 19" are cosmetically challenged IMO i.e b**t ugly (flamesuit on). The stock 18" wheels are much better looking than the OEM 19" IMO. My last cars 35's were too harsh though. I beefed up the width on these to run at least 255's on 18/40s. What are you going to run DrV?

Bruce
old, crabby, and still working for some reason.

koobah

19's hands down. 18's look small on B8, but I'd use them for winter tires.