I having been looking at the tirerack.com and am intrigued with the possibility of replacing the stock 205/55-16?s on my ?98 SVT with 215/45-17?s. Has anyone done this upgrade, and if so, how satisfied have you been with it?
I have a few specific questions. The first concerns fit- how close to the original size do the 215/45-17?s come? I most concerned about width issues. I got burned in the past trying install a pair of 225/50-16?s (had problems rubbing the edge of the rear wheel hub with passengers and/or bumps). Any problems with strut or wheel-well clearance in the front or rear?
Also- any noticeable improvements in handling? Is the handling crisper/better? More stable at high speed? Or is there really not much of a performance improvement?
In the same vein, has anyone noticed a decrease in comfort? I live in the Philadelphia area and the roads stink around here. Did the increase from 16?-->17? wheels have a negative impact on comfort and shock absorption?
And finally, are there any problems with using either 7? or 7.5? width wheels in either the 16? or 17? wheel sizes? I noticed that the stock SVT rims are only 6.5? wide. Do things still fit properly with the wider rims?
It seems that the TireRack has fit-tested all of the rims they recommend for the SVT Contour, so I'm assuming that fit/offset are correct for the '98 SVT??
Many thanks for any responses. Any feedback from folks who have already been down this path is GREATLY appreciated!
-Jeff
