Unless you have a high horsepower car, there is no reason for 19s and 20s except for looks.

Lambos, ferraris, etc... have 19s and 20s for the extra contact patch and large brakes. The wheels don't slow them down.

As for an s2000, unless you are running FI, it will only make your car slower...

 

stiff, hard sidewalls is a good thing...

 

Stiff sidewalls can be a good thing for all out performance. But for day to day driving it will decrease the ride comfort. The tire may track every groove in the road and may be unpredictable in corners at times. Bumps in the road will also feel more harsh. A softer sidewall can be more forgiving but with lower limits compared to a harder sidewall although not always the case depending on tread compound. It is give and take. Assuming a person is going with 19's just for looks, the all out performance point of stiffer sidewalls is not really important seeing as how most (not all) are much heavier than stock. Just saying sidewall height is another variable to consider.

 

This doesn't make any sense... The rim width and tire size would be what made the contact patch, not the diameter of the rim. These cars could be as easily running on 18", and would probably have the ability to gain some width losing some of the outside diameter, especially with the right tire. Just so no one is confused. The diameters are all for looks really. Unless you are running them because you have a massive brake kit with 15-16" rotors, it's a style thing. Not to mention if you are FI, you would want more tire, so the idea of a high HP car needing massive rims, or being able to utilize them any more efficiently, is BS.

As for how they degrade handling, I have no personal experience with them, so I can't comment. With the exception of those who posted their cars on 19s, I'd treat their responses the same way... I wouldn't do it because I don't like the look on this particular car, that's just my opinion. If you do, by all means talk to people who have actually done it...

 

sorry, i meant taller tires (larger diameter) which is not the case for this conversation... however:

taller tires and larger overall diameter equal a larger contact patch.

think about it like this... the larger a circle, the straighter it looks then viewed at a tangent.

for an extreme example:
a basketball, and the earth.

the ground looks perfectly straight, hoever, you can see the basketball is round...


cars like a lambo are designed to ride on a taller tire. the 19s and 20s ARE designed with purpose in mind. for contact patch and large rotor clearance.

the profile of the stock tire along with the wheel was definately taken into consideration by engineers for performance.

 

You are talking about rolling diameter, not the diameter of the wheels themselves, and that all depends on the car's gearing as to what it performs better with... They designed the car to run those diameters, but that is not to say it wasn't a cosmetic desicion first...

 

larger rolling diameter = larger contact patch
larger wheel = larger rotor

enzo, murcielago, gallardo, 360, 430, etc... =
form follows function

if they performed better with 17s, they would have had 'em.

the enzo does not have 19x9 and 19x13 wheels because they look nice.

 

Not fan of bling 19" wheels but those black Hre...

 

I'm still going to disagree. You think contact patch is all around the rim, it is not. Contact patch is the portion of the tire making contact with the driving surface at any given time. It isn't the entire diameter of the tire, it's more a width thing whose main variable aside from rim and tire width, is camber.

You continue to bring up such exotic examples, and having no personal driving/tuning experience with these, it's all speculation all around. I will say there is no way a set of 17" wheels would hide the Enzo's braking system. What I cannot comment on, as I'm sure neither can you, is how the car would perform with a smaller braking system with smaller diameter wheels. Being how light it is, I wouldn't see it as a problem in theory.

If you think these auto manufacturers aren't trying to sell you bling at the expense of a faster automobile, you are only kidding yourself. They make the next year more jaw dropping than the last to sway you into buying new. If rim diameter was so important, we'd be seeing 20" rims on F1 cars...

 

I ONLY like 19's on an S2K if the car is slammed along with them, and they are a 3pc design such as SP1's because it makes them look more like 18's without a lip. 19's with no lip just look way too big IMO.