Any ideas as to how much handling improvement a guy could expect by going from 16" to 17" wheels? Assuming overall tire height and width stayed the same.

I'd assume that 17" would corner better, but I've seen a few bad *** V8 autocrossers with 16" wheels.

Would the change justify the expense on a street car or would high end shocks/struts be a better investment?

Thanks in advance.

 

Your opening a can of worms here.

IMHO smaller diameter is better, IF IF IF, you can get the same tire. The key here is always the tire choice, if you can get an AWSOME tire in only a 17" it may out handle any tire available for the 16". But, all things being equal, on a live axle car, I would take the 16" over the 17".

Now get ready for all of the information about aspect ratio vs slip angles, and so on so forth.

 

Oops.

 

I chose 17" since the tires I run only come in 17 and larger, otherwise I'd still be with 16's.

 

Not a lot of 16x11" choices either.

 

Given the choice I still prefer 15’s, but it’s really hard to find good tires…

 

You're probably not going to see much of a handling difference unless the wheels are wider. Yeah a 17" rim might get you a little smaller sidewall (less sidewall = less flex). You'll also have more options for wide tires if you get 17" rims but if you go from a 16X8 rim to a 17X7, you're taking a step backwards. If you're going to shell out $XXX per wheel, try and get at least 17X9s.

Or 17X10s.

Pat