[sctm81]

I apologize if this has been posted before, but i could not find any conclusive answer:

I own the 2010 SE and have installed a few mods (catback, CAI, JBA headers, Diablosport) to make it drive faster (which it now does, 0-60 in 6.5). I really don't like the standard stock 17" wheels. they just don't look good on this big car and they look dull as well. I am thinking of upgrading to the Rallye 18" wheels or 20" wheels in the near future. 20" do look better for the challenger but I was wondering if a 20" wheel would significantly decrease the performance compared to the 18" wheel.

Has anybody who moved to 20" wheels noticed any decrease in performance?

Thanks

tim

 

[MoparOhio]

I have an SE and went from the stock 18" to 20" American Racing Torq Thrusts. I got good tires and quite honestly I don't notice any difference. I have to say though I don't drive the car hard or race it.

I loved the Rallye 18" wheels but I wanted 20"s to fill the wheel well a little more.

-Mark S.

 

[Z71]

Honestly..the skinny Goodyear tires on the SE factory 17" rims seem to out perform the bigger rims..wider tires on RT's in axel deep snow at 15 mph!

No kidding..I passed an RT like it was standing still..'cause he was standing still!:werd:

I would of thunk the wider/taller tires would have more bite...but maybe it was because the bigger engine made the front wheels into snow anchors...don't know?:scratchhead:

Probably not the answer your looking for...but at least in loose snow...bone stock SE tires/wheels pushed me all over the place without much issue...she walked right past a V6 Camaro too barely turning 1500 rpm...just stay out of the big drifts.:thumbsup:

 

[GHOSTDANCE]

the RIM diameter doesn't affect performance - the TOTAL diameter of the TIRE is what affects performance

 

[ChallengerPhil]

A 20 will hurt performance also due to weight. but a nicely "shoed" 20 will handle much nicer A better tire will make a bigger difference over the wheel size I would think. 20" wheel with something say 245ish and in a summer only tire..... HUGE... I mean HUGE performance increase in braking..... HUGE performance increase in cornering... BETTER weather traction. Most 20"s would hurt your 0-60.

Z71, narrower is always better in the snow. Scientific fact...... unless of course you need to float over the snow like some Arctic machine.

 

[DAHBOOM]

Don't you think the 18" wheel could look kool without having to spend a grip on a wheels rims and hurting performance? Sort of like the happy medium? I've been wrestling with this idea too.

 

[ChallengerPhil]

Don't you think the 18" wheel could look kool without having to spend a grip on a wheels rims and hurting performance? Sort of like the happy medium? I've been wrestling with this idea too.

Oh absolutely, It's amazing what you can improve with just very high quality tires in the appropriate size.

There's more to tires than just being round. Personally, I wanted the look of the 20, plus the size tire I went with opened up a whole new selection of performance tires. I'm sure I could have gone with a cool looking tire on the stock 17 (I'm a fan of the look of the base 17" wheel), but my tire options were limited and I was really, really looking for a summer performance tire.

 

[sctm81]

Thanks so much for the input guys (though even more is appreciated)! So it seems like 20" will definitely impact the performance but will improve handling (and looks). Btw, does anyone know if the SE is slightly raised compared to the R/T? the 17" wheels look kinda lost in it sometimes

 

[freak]

wouldn't you have to re-calibrate with bigger (or any different sized) tires, to make sure your speedo is accurate?

seems i ran into that problem with my jeep, and was told you could recalibrate only once back and forth (stock to bigger, bigger to stock).

 

[Hesser]

I went from stock 18's to 245/45/20's. I do drive hard during Challenger cruises and yes there is considerable performance difference. With a lower profile tire you have to be careful of where you put that tire on the road. That being the down side, the upside is it now rides like it is on rails. I have taken curves with the 20's at speeds I never would have with the skinny 18's. The 18's are an upgrade on the G package over 17's but are still too small for the wheel well IMHO. The tire size is easy to calculate, check out Tire size calculator. As far as any other performance factor, it is an SE so it is what it is. Most of all, 20's make this car look great.

 

[ChallengerPhil]

wouldn't you have to re-calibrate with bigger (or any different sized) tires, to make sure your speedo is accurate?

seems i ran into that problem with my jeep, and was told you could recalibrate only once back and forth (stock to bigger, bigger to stock).

There are some good threads on the subject, but ultimately it's about the overall diameter of the wheel and tire.

Take the stock SE wheel/tire, which is a 215/65-17..... bleh. The overall diameter is 28.0 give or take. One could say, stick a 235/60-17 on that wheel and it would still be within a tenth or two overal diameter.

The 18" wheel/tire combo is 28.7" in diameter. Would the speedo be off? certainly, but I wouldn't think by a ton. Someone will post a link to the formula/thread on the subject. You kind of have to play with the ratio's to get close to the same overall diameter. Sometimes you have to change wheel size to get what you want. If you move up or down say, half an inch, you probably don't have to, just take into account that it will mean the speedo is off by a mph or two.

I went from the 215/65-17 to 245/40-20's, which made my diameter around 27.6, 27.7. I didn't reprogram my computer.


With these cars it's all a matter of programming the computer. Yeah, in the days of long gone, you had to change speedo gears somwehere I think to get it to calibrate close enough.

 

[Rumblefish50]

I kept the 18" wheels but switched out the tires to Falken 255's because it was the look I was going for. Today 20"+ is the style but in the 80's when I was in highschool this is how the car would have looked.

I bought this car because it brought me back to younger carefree days so to me it wouldn't look right with huge rims. To a 20 something year old of today though, the first thing they would think was...those rims need to be scrapped for 22's!!.

To each his/her own and I do have to admit that when done tastefully to me the 20's look very nice.

Here's a couple pics of the 18"s with Falken 255's for reference. It wasn't a problem for me because I wanted a proportioned look rather and a super fat tire look as this is my daily driver but the 18's are 7" rims so you are limited to width due to possible rubbing on the front. Dodge ok's 255's, Discount tire only recommends 245's for 7" rims but I was lucky in that the guy I was working with there is a Chally fan and together we put some time and effort into mounting and testing the 255's and sure enough they fit fine with no rubbing.

In the end wheels and tires are completely a personal choice and many different combinations look great.

 

[MoparOhio]

wouldn't you have to re-calibrate with bigger (or any different sized) tires, to make sure your speedo is accurate?

seems i ran into that problem with my jeep, and was told you could recalibrate only once back and forth (stock to bigger, bigger to stock).

A tire store can easily tell you. If you go from 18's to 20's the speedo does not need calibrating. Going from 17's to 20's it may though since base 2009 and 2010 SEs had 17s.

 

[Rumblefish50]

MoparOhio do you have any side and front or rear pics with the 20's?

It looks like we have almost the same car and I'd love to see what it looks like with that setup had I gone that route.

If you post some pics below mine it would be a good reference to see the difference .

Also I wasn't a math major, but it seems to me that performance (for acceleration) would be dictated by wheel+tire weight vs diameter of tire. So if you increase the weight w/o increasing the amount of road covered with each revolution of the tire then you must take a performance hit.

 

[freak]

some raised white letter tires would look phat.

 

[ChallengerPhil]

some raised white letter tires would look phat.

Goodyear Eagle GT II's in 255/60-17 Kinda tall, I'd reprogram the computer. Probably wouldn't do much for handling either.

 

[Hesser]

Goodyear Eagle GT II's in 255/60-17 Kinda tall, I'd reprogram the computer. Probably wouldn't do much for handling either.

It would have a bit of "sloppy body roll" feel I'll bet, with that height but I bet they would look badazz. I really like the old school tall tire, small wheel look, just not the performance.

 

[freak]

Goodyear Eagle GT II's in 255/60-17 Kinda tall, I'd reprogram the computer. Probably wouldn't do much for handling either.

yeah....i know.
like i said....it would look phat.

but thats about it.

and i was thinking more of a 'bf goodrich t/s radial', but i don't think THAT would work.

 

[sctm81]

I found these online 18x8 American Racing Phantom Black:

American Racing Phantom Machined w/Black Accent

look very similar to the Rallye Wheels but are lighter (and cheaper). (25.8lbs vs 28.4lbs)

Does anybody know how much the extra inch in profile affects performance?

 

[fradaj]

The standard 18" wheels are my favorite. They look the most like the wheels that were on the concept car.