17's or 18's for summer?

I'm looking for summer rims and tires for my 05 Legacy GT and trying to figure out if I should get 17" or 18" rims. I was originally planning on 18's, but I've been thinking that the Toronto roads might make the ride with 18's extremely painful. What size rims are you guys running on your car? For the guys with 17's and 18's, how much of a difference is ride comfort?

I didn't notice much a difference (if any) going from stock 17x7 225/45 all-seasons to Volk 18x7.5 225/40 summer performance. On the other hand, the 18s I got were super lightweights from Volk so maybe that helped.

Going from my stock wheel/tire setup to my summer set, 18x7.5 ASA with 225/40/18 Eagle F1 asymmetrics there was a noticeable increase in road noise and NVH being translated back into the cabin. After living with the 18s in NY for awhile, I am relieved to have my (relatively) cushy/compliant stock 17 inch setup back on the car. My next set of summer wheels will be a 17x8 set with meatier tires and sidewalls.

Going from my stock wheel/tire setup to my summer set, 18x7.5 ASA with 225/40/18 Eagle F1 asymmetrics there was a noticeable increase in road noise and NVH being translated back into the cabin. After living with the 18s in NY for awhile, I am relieved to have my (relatively) cushy/compliant stock 17 inch setup back on the car. My next set of summer wheels will be a 17x8 set with meatier tires and sidewalls.

choice of tires makes a big difference in road noise

choice of tires makes a big difference in road noise

 

The OP is requesting insight into a summer wheel and tire package, in my experience most summer oriented performance tires generally are noisier on road. Granted, there are variations between brands, but when moving from the stock wheel and tire setup to a summer setup I think he should expect to incur an increase in NVH.

 

It is undoubtedly a tolerable increase in NVH, but something to consider when weighing the pros/cons of a 17 or 18 inch summer setup IMO.

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/chartDisplay.jsp?ttid=140

I'm running 18s for the summer up here in Northern Ontario. No issues with harshness, etc. from the wheel/tire size.

 

Good luck.

I've been running 18s 225/40 only legit problems with the tires are they are slight nosier...ride comfort is fine. Im thinking of getting a new set of 17s when summer comes around but totally not sure..(maybe just a set of discount tires from Mavis, STS, or TireRack - depending what tire I choose and the prices offered!) My current set is beat up, might be a reason for the noise - but had them for a few seasons now.

The noise would be based on tire choice vs. tire size.

 

I assume if you did a bit of research you could find a good performing tire in your price range with good road noise.

For this car I dont think there is any reason to go bigger than 17. Seriously.

 

If you want better grip, you should run a 17x8 w/ 225/45/17, or 17x9 with 245/40/17. But you are increasing weight. Why?

 

But you really need to upgrade the suspension to make these mods worthwhile. Peeps who just throw huge rims on the car are just going for cosmetics. Performance suffers big time, even going to 18x8 - this is a weight gain of at least 5 lbs per wheel and can be more if you go wide and get cheap gravity cast wheels - which most punters do.