by Tony Smith » Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:41 pm
Having run a GTA with standard, 16 and 17 inch wheels in various widths over the years my opinion is as follows:
Standard - can look good if polished and the car is lowered to close some of that arch gap - and you keep 255's on the back. Ride is excellent and rear grip fine but the fronts cannot cope at all with power understeer especially in the wet. Standard rear tyres now very expensive and can be hard to source.
16" - Wheel style is obviously down to personal opinion but many aftermarket wheels just don't look so good at this diameter. Tyre sizes are limited too (and therefore pricey). Better front grip marginally better ride.
17" - Great looks from most of the AZEV range, ride still surprisingly complient hugely better turn in and front end grip over standard (partly to do with the width).
Personally my preferred combination is 7 or 7.5 front with 215/40 tyres and a 10 inch rear with 275/35's
Alpines - GTA 3.0 Turbo, GTA 3.0 Inj (Project DD), GTA 6.2 V8 (500 bhp) , R32 Skyline GTR, BMW Alpina B10 635 Highline, Alpina B10 E39 5 Series, Jaguar 4.2 XKR, Laguna 205GT, BMW 120d.
Probably lighter, which equals less unsprung weight = better handling, narrower tyres, which equals less drag = better performance and slightly less grip = more excitement when I put the power down!
And doubt they'd fit! 
, might look a bit strange on a standard car..
