CNET On Cars 'Your Emails': Pros and cons of larger wheel rims

[MUSIC] Welcome back to CNet on Cars. I'm Brian Cooley. Here's the part of the show where I take one of your emails. This time it's coming in from Keith B., writing in from the Philippines. And he says, I've got a Honda City, a car you might not recognize, but very popular here in. In Southeast Asia. I know the car it's a little smaller than a Civic a little bigger than a Honda Fit. I was thinking of changing my rims, he writes, from 15 inch to 19 inch. His question is what are the pros and cons of larger rims on a cars. Well, Keith, first of all you're not just getting larger you're really going to town. 15 to 19 is like night and day your car's going to look really different, but more importantly it may feel different in a handful of ways. Here's what I want you to think about. First of all's ride quality, there could be an additional harshness, in fact almost certainly When you go from a 15 with a very thick, high-profile tire, to a 19 with a very thin, low-profile tire. A lot more road input's gonna work its way into your cabin. Then you wanna make sure you're gonna have good clearance on your new tires and wheels. They won't just be bigger in diameter. They're also necessarily going to get wider. There's a lot more mass moving in that wheelwell. Make sure it's not scraping or rubbing. Either when the car's empty, fully laden, going straight, or making a U-turn. Next up, make sure the overall circumference of your new tire-wheel package is basically the same as your old tire-wheel package. That's the overall diameter. This is important to make sure your speedometer still reads correctly But more importantly, that you're ABS technology knows what it's dealing with out there with the wheels that it's trying to control slip and spin on. Now think about your power steering as well. When you get a bigger wheel, you also get a wider wheel. Wheel. And that means the bigger contact patch of rubber on the road. That has more resistance to being turn. So your power steering rack, the apparatus in the car, don't have to work harder. You may not feel it at the wheel. Because it takes care of the extra sweat. But just know you might be wearing things out faster. And finally now that you're acceleration and fuel economy could suffer a little bit, because you're adding a lot more rotating metal weight That the car has to spin up and break all the time. It's not gonna be a big deal I don't think but you may feel it. Overall the jump you're trying to make from basically 15 inch donuts to 19's that could make your car look like a donk is kind of drastic. I might measure that back a little and just go with 17's maybe. Four cars driven CNET style, standing by at CNETONCars.com. Click On The Road. [MUSIC]