How Wheel Size Affects Your Vehicle
Here at Toyota Arlington in Palatine, IL, we have all sorts of different Toyota vehicles, many of which have completely different wheel sizes. That makes people wonder what difference wheel size has on, well, anything. Let’s take a look at that.
Should you get bigger wheels on your new Toyota or stick to the smaller ones?
How Wheel Size Affects Your Drive
Wheel size changes many things about the way your vehicle drives. The below table shows the general pros and cons of each size of wheel. It’s important to note that certain vehicles use bigger wheels by default, such as performance vehicles.
| Wheel Size | Small (14”–15”) | Medium (16”-17”) | Large (19”+) |
| Ride Quality | Smooth | Average | Stiff |
| Stability | Low | Average | High |
| Handling | Average | Average | Responsive |
| Road Noise | Average | Low | High |
Lots of different things will also affect your ride quality. If the road is wet or poorly maintained, ride quality unilaterally goes down. Similarly, how much your car weighs, which engine your vehicle has, the type of transmission your car has, and more will also affect how smoothly your car drives. Most wheel sizes vary by trim, so you can easily test drive the vehicle you want with different wheel sizes to see which you prefer.
What About Tires?
Tires are an equally important piece of the ride quality puzzle. A high-quality tire can easily boost a wheel size with average handling to responsive. On the other hand, a wheel size with high stability and handling will go down significantly if it has an old or bald tire.
Get a New Toyota for Less
If you’re thinking about getting a new Toyota vehicle, make sure you check out our new Toyota specials! And also visit our new Toyota incentives page to get access to even more great deals!
