20 inch wheels on impala..

[sharpx]

I'm thinking about puting 20 inch wheels on my impala ls. How does this affect gas milage? Also what about the ride comfort? Will it mess with the speedometer and/or make me get it speed calibrated?

[quicksand]

yes its going to affect gas mileage 20's are heavier than the stock wheels affect it by how much i dont know, you will feel more bumps pot holes because of the thin tire, you will get use to it. speedometer will change also the bigger the wheels then you will think your going slower than u actually are example with your factorys wheels the speedometer says 60 mph and the car would be going 60 mph. with 20 's the speedometer says 60 mph and u could be really going 70. but it varies with what size u already have and what size your putting on in your case 20's. odometer is also affected with your smaller factory wheels 1 mile would be shorter than what your bigger wheels register as one mile

[sharpx]

Originally Posted by sharpx

I'm thinking about puting 20 inch wheels on my impala ls. How does this affect gas milage? Also what about the ride comfort? Will it mess with the speedometer and/or make me get it speed calibrated?

damn. so basically it doesn't seem like something I can do. I'm selling my Mustang GT to get an impala. Reason being my mustang is bumpy and uncomfortable. I have H&R super sport lowering springs on it and it causes the ride to be rough as hell. I don't want a repeat with the impala. Do you think the amount it effects gas milage is a lot? or just like having a fat kid ride with you? LOL.
how would you correct the speedometer? I know on my Mustang when I got 4.10 gears I had to get a speedcal, but it could never be perfect like stock and is actually off by about 10 mph depending on how fast you are going.

[Project_Cav]

dood..just do it..your gas comsumption would change to amount SOOOO little you will never notice it..yes they are heavier then stock but your not lifting the tire..your rolling it..BIG difference..eg..if you take a stock tire and stand it up and start pushing it to get it rolling and you take a 20' rim and do the same..you think your gonna notice a difference in the amount of force it took you to move either one ?..no..the feel of the car wont change dramatically..yes it will get bumpier but in 9-10 cases when someone puts 20's-19's-18's-17's on their car..they complain about the ride cuz they also added drop springs..if you think about it..your springs and shocks/struts have the job of dampening and cushioning the ride..you think they are going to do their job any less cuz you slapped 20's on ?..another no

and for the speedo..yes theres a chance that you might affect the speedo..but only depending on what size tires you get...if you have a tire that has a 15' rim with a tire wall of 3' then from the very top to the very bottom would be 21' total height

since your getting 20's youve got an inch to work with before affecting the speedo...granted those tires could possibly be like a 25-30 series
so you could end up buying something like a 215/30R20 tire...but it can be done...and even if your over a little it could be like a 1-2 mph difference at 30mph...so if your doing 30mph on the speedo you could be doing 28-29mph since its a bigger tire

no biggie...i say do it up

[Project_Cav]

IMO i would go with 19's...alot easier to work with...20's are basically for trucks

[sharpx]

Originally Posted by Project_Cav

IMO i would go with 19's...alot easier to work with...20's are basically for trucks

that's what I'm thinking. Actually I'm now thinking about just going with 18's. How do 18's look? Would my speedo/gas mileage even be effected by 18's? I seriously doubt it, since it's just an inch above stock, but I have to put it out there :P
I just don't want to make any mistakes with this car like I think I did my last..Not so much mistakes, but things that made it look/perform well but not good on my wallet or comfort.

[bigrod118]

actually thats two inches abouve stock. the 17's on impalas are not stock rims unless you have the ss. otherwise the impala rims are 16's. and if it will help you out any...... http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html use this to help you figure it out.

[sharpx]

Originally Posted by bigrod118

actually thats two inches abouve stock. the 17's on impalas are not stock rims unless you have the ss. otherwise the impala rims are 16's. and if it will help you out any...... http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html use this to help you figure it out.

hm ya, you're right. thanks for the link, that'll help a lot. What's the stock tire size on a 01-04 LS model?

[sharpx]

are the stock shocks/struts built for the 16 inch wheels or will that have no bad effect if I put the 18"s on?

[bigrod118]

well the tire size I believe is 225/60 16 but you can go out to your car and it says it right on the side to make sure.and the struts on that car dont have anything to do with the tire or rim itself. you can change the rim and tire smaller or bigger (within reason) and you wont have to change your struts or suspension system. the only time tire/rim size becomes a factor is suspension is if you are lowering you vehicle. since with it lower to the ground that will be less clearance above the tire in the wheel well for a bigger size wheel. but if you go to any local tire shop they can help you figure this all out for you and make suggestions about size and whats appropriate. they'll have a better idea of how the car will react to more rim / less tire and if it'll be too bouncy or stiff. but technically if you use that website and put it 225/60 16 then change it to 145/30 23 your speedometer will almost be the same. so you COULD put a 23 inch rim on if it will fit in the wheel well and if they even make tires that same size to fit on that size rim. im probably just confusing you at this point because im even starting to confuse myself, but any local tire and rim shop should be able to answer any technical questions you have.

[quicksand]

yea i named everything but its not going to be a big difference in mileage etc . its not a big deal as long as they dont rub too much. you just feel the road more beacause of the thin tires because they cant absorb as much road feel. i take it you have the newer impala. aw yea they just start making 23 inch tires for fwd vehicles i dont know how widely available they are though

[BNaylor]

My brother just put P245/45ZR-17 wheels/tires on his '01 LS. It looks great and the ride is still good. There are no clearance problems. He was considering a 18" wheel size but he would have needed a tire with an aspect ratio of 35. He did not want to destroy the handling or overall ride comfort. His speedo error is only about 2 mph from stock.

[jlobato01]

We have a 2003 Impala and put on 18 inch rims with 245/45/18 tires. It still rides smooth and have no clearance problems. The only problem we had was the low tire pressure light coming on right after we installed them but we cleared it by using the DISP on the radio.

[YALKIN4]

i think that anything over 18's is too much for the w body impala. i put 17s on mine. granted i was trying to keep a somewhat similar to stock. i have 225/50r/17's and im only off by like 2mph at 60mph.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/3079/finallized24qq.jpg"

[YALKIN4]

i think that anything over 18's is too much for the w body impala. i put 17s on mine. granted i was trying to keep a somewhat similar to stock. i have 225/50r/17's and im only off by like 2mph at 60mph.
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/642...llized20eq.jpg