16 or 17's
 

i cant help but think after browsing for replacement tyres on 16", that 16 tyres are on borrowed time.
my local place that has always been top notch cant get any tyres at a reasonable price; starts at £140 for the avon ZZ1.
they can get S02's for £161 (maybe porsche fitment?), sp1's £155, and t1r's at £150.

the only ones i've found at a reasonable price/spec are the falken 452's that seem to be flavour of the month at the moment. i just cant help but think they wont be around for much longer

i'm very much considering flogging my 16" BBS JDM alloys and going for 17's.
im sure there are plenty of people against that idea and i'm sure they'll be snapped up if i do think about selling them; hell, they should even cover the cost of 17s purchase.

anyone else considering doing the same?

IF i do choose this option, am i going to need to consider lowering the car aswell? i've seen a few threads where the car sits funny when moving between wheels..

All 16" tyres are on borrowed time?

I'm in the crap with the Teg then, cos that's on 15s :o ;)

S02 16s have been dead for about 5 years now.

You can still get Eagle F1 GSD3s, RE050as etc

I'll be going for Toyos next though because I don't like the handling balance on non-S02JZ rear 225s. 245 rears on 16s feel much better IMO

I have considered doing the same in the past because of the 245 issue I mentioned before.

na, not all 16's, just 245/45/16 or 225/50/16's.
re050's (from what i can find) are £150 area. not seen the MZ's; they've all been merc&audi fitment.
f1's - not found them on the usual online tyre places..

last year i got 16's for £80-90/ea. now they're £140 area. that aint all vat/inflation surely!?

I moved from OEM 16's to OEM 17's, the car does feel more stable.
Slight depreciation in ride comfort is the trade off.

I am running Kuhmo Ecsta Sports, £68 for the fronts and £90 for the rears.

I wouldn't worry about 16" tyres going out of production.
The gap between the cost of 17 and 16 might narrow though so there's no savings to be made by sticking to 16s.

Personally I'd quite like 17s, but for the difference they'd make I don't want to spend the money on new wheels and new rubber – certainly not until I need to replace all 4 of my 16 tyres and then I might consider swapping wheels too.

I upgraded to OEM 17's from 16's and, IMO, it's the best bolt-on mod you can do for pre 04 cars. You'll have a wider choice of tyres (another thumbs up for the Falken 452) and it transforms the handling, plus it looks cool. The ride height does look a little high on 17's, probably made worse by a large wheel and skinny tyre, but unless you are hyper critical about looks, it doesn't really matter.

EDIT - I agree with senninha1994 about the ride comfort, it does feel different over the 16's but after a while you won't even notice.

Vredesteins on my ATR. 215/45/17

Last year £75. Now £140 each.

I think a lot of it is to do with economy I'm afraid.

Cheap tyres are still cheap though - I've moved to Hankook V12 on the ATR - £60 each.

It is also to do with how popular the size is, for instance, on my ITR...

Vredestein Sportrack 3 195/50/15 - £45 each
Same tyres on the OEM size 195/55/15 - £80 each. :(

Honda like to use odd sizes for some reason.

The 16" RE050 are Runflats.

Have you tried Event Tyres for the RE050as - website quoting £115 fitted.

FK 452s are £90.60 fitted.

humm... event tyres - somehow missed their link on the s2kuk site!
i checked all the others.

purchase made - 2x tyres coming end of this week! :)