15 inch alloy wheels for Yaris excel

[irshad]

Hi

planning to change current  17 inch alloy wheels to 15 inch alloy wheels. aim is for reducing road noise and improve ride comfort

any advice/suggestions

spoke to insurance they are ok with this alteration

[Cyker]

I did it to 15" steels because it was much cheaper, but I don't actually know what the 15" toyota alloy rims cost; Might be worth checking, and if nothing else that'd get you the right dimensions for reference for hunting for suitable third-party ones - The 15" rims will be narrower than the 17" rims and have a different offset.

Unless you need a second set for e.g. winter/summer, just swap the TPWS sensors over rather than getting new ones as the Toyota ones are very expensive and third-party ones are glitchy and don't currently work well with the Toyota system.

 

[irshad]

6 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I did it to 15" steels because it was much cheaper, but I don't actually know what the 15" toyota alloy rims cost; Might be worth checking, and if nothing else that'd get you the right dimensions for reference for hunting for suitable third-party ones - The 15" rims will be narrower than the 17" rims and have a different offset.

Unless you need a second set for e.g. winter/summer, just swap the TPWS sensors over rather than getting new ones as the Toyota ones are very expensive and third-party ones are glitchy and don't currently work well with the Toyota system

 

Hi  

i am planning to buy the mazda hybrid 15 inch which is literally a yaris with mazda logo .  is there difference in ride comfort and road noise when compared to 17 inch wheels?

[Cyker]

Ah I forgot about those, yes those should work perfectly  

I find the car much better on bad roads than on 17"s and I'm less scared to go over potholes or kerbs (What started me on this is my Auris-owning friend also had low-profile tyres, and he kept puncturing his tyres every time he had to mount a kerb or hit a particularly nasty pothole, and those tyres are not cheap!)

The road-noise is a bit more subjective; I would say it's only a bit quieter, but for me the frequency of the noise is less intrusive on the 15's. With the 17s it cut through everything, so I'd have to turn the music volume up higher.

However, the tyres and road surface also have a big effect and even on the 15s, there are roads that are still very loud in the car! There's only so much effect the rim size will have when the car has paper thin doors and lack of sound deadening!

TBH the biggest advantage of the 15's is the cost of the tyres - The same model of tyre can cost as little as half of what the equiv 17" one costs! I think they also improve mpg, as I seem to be the only person who is regularly in the high-70's low-80's (Well, in summer anyway... not so good at the moment with the cold weather!!)

 

 

[Guest]

It's your choice of course, but I have an excel and I had to borrow a design temporarily which has the smaller wheels. I only had it for two days but I found it more unstable on the road. I didn't notice much difference with the mpg. My excel often gets above 80mpg during the warmer temperatures. 

[Yugguy1970]

15s have higher sidewall so should give a little more comfort at the expense of perhaps slightly more roll.

I actually like that my design RAV has the 18s with quite a high sidewall, and not 19 or 20.  Much less risk of accidental curbing, and if I have to bump up a kerb on a narrow road it makes it a lot smoother. 

[SinglePointSafety]

Irshad, as others have said, generally smaller wheels/bigger tyres = increased comfort when riding over road imperfections, and less chance of kerbing wheels (especially if you choose steel wheels with a plastic trim). When I changed to smaller wheels on my YC, the tyre place was happy to transfer the TPWS valves

My experience is that tyre choice is a big determinant of road noise. I've generally gone from summer to all-season tyres, which have a more compliant tread and filter out a lot of the 'road buzz'. They've also given me a significant noise reduction, but that might depend on the summer tyre/all-season tyre exact comparison. Don't take much notice of the tyre's noise specification - that's for external drive-by noise and has little correlation with interior noise (once swapped from Michelin Primacy to Cross-Climate, same size, both rated 71 dB, CC was much quieter inside cabin)

 

Edit: you might find the info in 

useful 

Edited January 27, 2023 by SinglePointSafety
More info

[Mojo1010]

Have changed my mind on the excel order to the design trim which has 195/55/16. This will still be a major improvement to my current car and also will give better ride comfort than the excel on 17". Can go 10mm wider tyres in the future with it being the one of the cheapest profile. 

I would think if you go to 15" with a 185mm tyre, then this will not be good for twisty roads, town and city driving no problem. My MK3 is on 185mm, it's not good enough on twisty, though the MK4 has a stiffer chassis. IMO 195mm is the minimum for the Yaris hybrid, more so for the MK3. 

[flash22]

Standard 15" alloy (185/65R15) is 42611-K0030

Uk spec 16"-18" alloys, no 15" what are usually on the 1.0l cars

[TonyHSD]

Yaris design spec alloys and tyre sizes 16”  are the ultimate medium for this car imo. 15” are a bit too small and with narrower tyres the car may change its dynamic characteristics, increase braking distance, becomes more prone to unnecessary wheel spins and eats the tyres faster. All that will be only felt when the car is pushed hard, in normal driving won’t be noticed, perhaps only the quick tyre wearing out. 
Flash22 is right about the sizes. The 15” wheels although they can be exact match for the car body they does not match the car power train set up where Yaris hybrid is heavier than Yaris 1.0 manual.
Another advantage on smaller wheels and higher profile tyres is grip in bad weather, particularly snow, ice, mud and gravel. Because these tyres flexing more they create different pattern length that touches the ground and allow extra elasticity which equals huge improvement in tyre grip., where lower profile tyres and larger wheels diameter will straggle and loose friction.
For example two Yaris hybrids one with 16 and the other with 17” wheels  equipped with same make and model tyres on slippery conditions the car with 16” wheels will have better grip by far.


https://www.willtheyfit.com

https://www.wheel-size.com

[Cyker]

Really? I was always told narrower tyres were better on wet or otherwise marginal surfaces as they exert a higher pressure per area than wider tyres, which have a higher tendency to 'float' on the surface as the pressure is more spread out.

Mine have been fine under braking, still face-breakingly strong (The AEB triggered on the way home today because some idiot pedestrian was standing too close to the edge of the kerb and moved slightly toward the road; I can definitely confirm the stopping distance is still very short!  ).

It is more prone to wheelspin if I floor it from a standstill, esp. while steering, but the traction control sorts that out so it's not been much of a problem.

I do feel like they are wearing out faster, but I only ran on the 17s for a month or so so hard to compare.  But the tyres are much much cheaper than 17s so I'm not too bothered about them wearing a bit faster!

I am running them at 38f/36r psi currently.

[ISL]

Smaller wheels normally lend themselves to narrower tyres which provide better grip in wet, icy or snow conditions, one of the reasons why manufacturers normally recommend a smaller wheel/narrower tyre for winter tyres. Wider tyres of course have improved grip in the dry

A higher profile tyre will be more comfortable and can provide improved handling as smaller wheels tend to be lighter reducing unsprung weight.

The other advantage of a smaller wheel with reduced weight is marginally improved acceleration.

The biggest advantage of smaller wheel/narrower tyre is reduced rolling resistance and of course improved fuel economy.

 

[TonyHSD]

That’s the one, we are talking about the same things. 👍

I also meant to say that higher tyre wall add extra grip against the lower profile tyres in particular acceleration and stopping, plus extra grip on slippery surfaces because the flexibility of the tyre that changes and increase tyre contact with the road. This is the reason why dragsters , f1 , some other sport vehicles has high tyre walls.
Here I will give an example with Corolla.
 If we take 3 Corolla hatchbacks 1.8 hybrids

one icon 16” 🛞, the other design 17”🛞 and excel 18”🛞 all fitted with the same make and model tyres and set at correct pressures and we go on a slippery slope guess which one will perform the best ? Please comment below 🙂
Actually the low profile tyres had only one main advantage, better stability in corners due to the difference in tyre slip angle. What Toyota does recent years with tyres going low profile in exchange for wheels going up in diameter it is purely for aesthetic reasons as been mentioned in recent new Prius 5 man in charge interview. He said large wheels, large wheels arches are for the look only, they wanted to make the car sportier and more appealing. 🛞👍

[W1P30UT]

I wanted the Excel, but couldn't live with the 17" (I had a test drive), and so bought the Dynamic with 16".

[Cyker]

Me too; Wish they were options like on the Mazda version instead of only allowing bigger rim options but not smaller ones! Don't know why they aren't; It can't be for homologation reasons if Mazda can do it!!

I wanted the HUD more than I didn't want the 17" rims so I got Excel but bought 15" steel rims to go with it.  

By the time I change my tyres again the amount I've saved on tyres alone will have paid for the 15" rims!

And it's really nice not caring about whether I kerb the wheels or not  

[Mojo1010]

So the 205/45/17 is really that bad, haven't test driven one. Maybe going to the design trim with 16" isnt so bad after all. 

[JoaoM]

205/45 means that you'll have a 92,25mm sidewall. That's less 15mm than on the 16" (195/55) and 28mm than on the 15" (185/65). It's even (9mm) lower than my Corolla TS' 225/45R17. It will be easier to puncture and unless you pretend to drive the little hybrid like a sporty car, you'll not get any advantage of the wider and lower profiled tyres.

For the Mrs. Yaris, we had to go for the medium level trim that comes with 16" because I wanted the full led headlights. I could ask for a wheel switch but the 15"s that they fit for the Portuguese market are terrible (the 16" look much better); buying an extra set of wheels and tyres is a waste of money.

I was keen on the 15" for better MPG, lower cost, better wet grip and higher riding comfort but the comments of @TonyHSD regarding the heavier (and much more powerful) Powertrain made me think that the 16" aren't that bad.

[Cyker]

For the Yaris, I think 16's are the sweet spot; They have a nice ratio of rim to tyre which is more aesthetically pleasing than 15s or 17s to me, tyres are are cheaper than 17s or 18s, ride comfort and handling are fine. I mainly went to 15s because I figured if I was going to do a drop like that, why go half-measures?  

I wouldn't say the 17s are terrible, but they are noticeably less pleasant going over potholes and speed humps, and on the more severe ones or if I was fully loaded there'd sometimes be this loud hard thump sound that made me cringe every time, which I've never had on the 15s. (I'm assuming it was the suspension bottoming out rather than the road hitting the rims!!). I have a lot lower rim-wrecking anxiety on the 15's  

If I lived in japan or switzerland or basically a country where they maintained their roads, I'd be fine with 17s, but as I work in London, I don't think the 17s would have lasted a year before I cracked one on a pothole, not to mention the multitude of pinch punctures I would have had by now! (Part of the reason I was so put off by the 17s is due to my Auris-owning friend who has 215/45r17s; The kicker was when he he got a pinch puncture just from driving up a particularly tall kerb to park!)

 

[TonyHSD]

7 minutes ago, Cyker said:

For the Yaris, I think 16's are the sweet spot; They have a nice ratio of rim to tyre which is more aesthetically pleasing than 15s or 17s to me, tyres are are cheaper than 17s or 18s, ride comfort and handling are fine. I mainly went to 15s because I figured if I was going to do a drop like that, why go half-measures?  

I wouldn't say the 17s are terrible, but they are noticeably less pleasant going over potholes and speed humps, and on the more severe ones or if I was fully loaded there'd sometimes be this loud hard thump sound that made me cringe every time, which I've never had on the 15s. (I'm assuming it was the suspension bottoming out rather than the road hitting the rims!!). I have a lot lower rim-wrecking anxiety on the 15's  

If I lived in japan or switzerland or basically a country where they maintained their roads, I'd be fine with 17s, but as I work in London, I don't think the 17s would have lasted a year before I cracked one on a pothole, not to mention the multitude of pinch punctures I would have had by now! (Part of the reason I was so put off by the 17s is due to my Auris-owning friend who has 215/45r17s; The kicker was when he he got a pinch puncture just from driving up a particularly tall kerb to park!)

 

Exactly 👍

I am not sure if we all should write letter to Toyota UK about importing  the new Prius but I am positive that we indeed need to write a complaint about rim sizes on new Toyota models and ability to choose the size we prefer. They only ever allowed that on new Prius gen 4 excel and business edition to swap 17” for 15” at no extra cost, even with £500 discount. 
First thing when I bought our first Auris that came with 17” same size as your friend was, God, these wheels needs to go. I managed to damage the wheel fairly easy while parking over low kerb as that was the only way to park cars in front of my previous house. I went furious and even repaired the kerb by myself 😂👌 I didn’t change the wheels  as I passed the car to my gf but two years later when I took it back I went for a smaller 16” tyres and the Auris became a class above car by comfortable drive and noise reduction. 

[Eddie G]

34 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Exactly 👍

I am not sure if we all should write letter to Toyota UK about importing  the new Prius but I am positive that we indeed need to write a complaint about rim sizes on new Toyota models and ability to choose the size we prefer. They only ever allowed that on new Prius gen 4 excel and business edition to swap 17” for 15” at no extra cost, even with £500 discount. 
First thing when I bought our first Auris that came with 17” same size as your friend was, God, these wheels needs to go. I managed to damage the wheel fairly easy while parking over low kerb as that was the only way to park cars in front of my previous house. I went furious and even repaired the kerb by myself 😂👌 I didn’t change the wheels  as I passed the car to my gf but two years later when I took it back I went for a smaller 16” tyres and the Auris became a class above car by comfortable drive and noise reduction. 

No razor blade thin tyres for me or massive rims for me either after doing the same once, was after a Corolla but the mid to high spec one's have the hello razor blade tyres on them! luckily after trying a Yaris Design was sorted and more in my price range as well.

[Eddie G]

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

For the Yaris, I think 16's are the sweet spot; They have a nice ratio of rim to tyre which is more aesthetically pleasing than 15s or 17s to me, tyres are are cheaper than 17s or 18s, ride comfort and handling are fine. I mainly went to 15s because I figured if I was going to do a drop like that, why go half-measures?  

I wouldn't say the 17s are terrible, but they are noticeably less pleasant going over potholes and speed humps, and on the more severe ones or if I was fully loaded there'd sometimes be this loud hard thump sound that made me cringe every time, which I've never had on the 15s. (I'm assuming it was the suspension bottoming out rather than the road hitting the rims!!). I have a lot lower rim-wrecking anxiety on the 15's  

If I lived in japan or switzerland or basically a country where they maintained their roads, I'd be fine with 17s, but as I work in London, I don't think the 17s would have lasted a year before I cracked one on a pothole, not to mention the multitude of pinch punctures I would have had by now! (Part of the reason I was so put off by the 17s is due to my Auris-owning friend who has 215/45r17s; The kicker was when he he got a pinch puncture just from driving up a particularly tall kerb to park!)

 

Same here 16s or 15s the trend for biggers wheels seems a tad crazy to me especially when you can't see them when your driving but you can feel them! especially along side a curb 🙈 never again.

[Cyker]

Haha Tony you mad lad! I can't believe you repaired the kerb too!!  

I nearly coughed up my horlicks at the picture of the brick and board 

Did you go after the council for repair to the rim and your construction services??  

[Eddie G]

16 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Haha Tony you mad lad! I can't believe you repaired the kerb too!!  

I nearly coughed up my horlicks at the picture of the brick and board 

Did you go after the council for repair to the rim and your construction services??  

Rate Pothole repairs are getting done probably better off doing them ourselves 🤣

[TonyHSD]

5 hours ago, Cyker said:

Haha Tony you mad lad! I can't believe you repaired the kerb too!!  

I nearly coughed up my horlicks at the picture of the brick and board 

Did you go after the council for repair to the rim and your construction services??  

Hahah , I filed in the hole with a strong concrete mixture 😂👌 , can’t find the picture of the finished kerb but was good yeah 😅 I was furious no joke 😤 But when I hit the motorway bridge gap and damaged the tyre I didn’t return to fix  the M25 for sure 😂🛞

[Cyker]

Yikes!!