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Have a CL9 Luxury with the 17" rims and RE003 tyres but the wife doesn't like how it handles. I love it, but it's her ride...
The objective is to give it a softer ride, and not feel every painted line on the road.
How do the base models go? I'm considering downgrading the spec and keeping the car or else we'll have to get rid of it.
Cheers!
No offense to your wife but if she can "feel every painted line on the road" then she's not keeping in her lane and that might explain why she is not enjoying her driving. RE003s are very good tyres for handling and grip, especially in the wet and you should keep them. CL9s handle excellently and better than most sedans. How long has she had it for? Maybe she just needs to get used to it.
I think the whole profile thing and size or rim is overblown. I mean we're talking a difference of one inch here in rims size and a difference in profile of something like 50 to 55. It's not a big jump and those who claim to feel the difference probably have hypersensitive butts.
I drove a CL9 base model on 16 inch 50 profile Turanzas for years and recently bought a CU2 on 18 inch rims with a 45 profile. I can feel the difference but is it big enough of a difference to have to change my rims and tyres? No! But that's just me.
Maybe your wife just wants a new European car or an SUV! Women are cunning... don't forget that!
Thanks for your comments. We've had the car for 2 years this Feb and put 18,000km on it in that time, so plenty of time to get used to it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattmt79
Definitely not chasing an SUV as we hate them, and newer European car is over budget (~$10k). We like the luxury touches of leather, sunroof and electric everything of the CL9, and added front sensors and put a 2DIN Kenwood touch screen unit in for reversing camera, Android Auto navigation and DAB+. The car only has 110,000km on it and we did intend to keep it for years to come, hence the updates.
Now we're considering mods to soften the handling, or switching to a compact people mover like a Citroen C4 Picasso. Previously had a 2002 Zafira (no jokes, please..) for 8 years and loved it for economy and practicality, but things started to wear out when it got to 200,000km. The new Opel Zafira briefly appeared in 2013 but they are very, very rare. Honda Odyssey is too big (long) but otherwise a good choice.
Agree on paper the 205/55R16 isn't that different to the 225/45R17, but I do think the narrower contact patch and higher sidewall would be less "responsive" to the road surface. Good to get your input.