Wheel Advice for a Noobie

[The Big A]

Picking up a 2016 soon and have no ideas about the best combinations (diameter, width) for this car, besides stock OEM of course. The car has OEM black wheels and although I haven't seen them in-person, I think they're gonna be pretty beat. Rubber is good, so I'll stay with these for a while but am wondering what you guys (and ladies) can tell me about the advantages/disadvantages of going with 16's and what wheels work best (and look awesome in both 16 and 17 inch sizes. For perspective-I almost bought a Shadow Black ST with Fifteen52 Podiums in white, which looked awesome. But I'm open to all suggestions. Car is not going to the track fwiw.

Also, can someone address wheel "offset" and how it affects this car overall? It would suck to purchase the proper wheels but have the wrong offset (I'm guessing Thanks

 

[Grsemky]

I would do a search; there are countless threads tackling these subjects....

 

[SteveS]

16" wheels gets access to performance tire models unavailable in the OEM size. 15" wheels lets you get 185/60-15 or 195/55-15 snow tires. Going to the smaller wheel but maintaining the same diameter tire gains you sidewall, which will add comfort and pothole protection for the rim. You may lose some responsiveness, but that's highly tire dependent. The 205/40R17 stock size is pretty much an orphaned size since the FiST was discontinued, so the selection of tires has dwindled, though there are still some good tires available. Nothing like there used to be though.

You can't go up much in width without rubbing problems. The wheel well was designed for the 185/60-15 standard Fiesta tire. People successfully run 215 width without much trouble, but more than that is difficult.

The wheels are 4x108 bolt pattern, and stock offset is +47.5mm. You'll need to stay pretty close to that or you will have trouble. The standard wheel for a 205 will be 7" width. You can do 8", especially if going to a 215.