[murcod]

Great to see you post your experience on here too Rob. Falken tyres seem to have gone downhill in the ten years since I last bought them and the Toyo's sound like a lot better quality tyre? Plus, what rim widths are we talking here from 16 -> 17"? The wider the rim then the less the tyre will move around on rim under cornering forces, which will improve turn in and steering response. But nobdy here seems to even realise that?!

I think the point that we drive on roads and not race tracks has been sadly overlooked. Smaller sidewalls on rough roads isn't a good mix to an improvement in vehicle directional stability and the like.

Teki, my example of the Mazda 6 wasn't to suggest that a Fiesta on 17" would be an improvement- quite the opposite actually. The Mazda being on 17" is roughly the same as the Fiesta being on 16" rims-> 215/45 vs 195/45 tyre sizes. 18" on the 6 would be roughly equivalent to the Fiesta on 17" in side wall height- I'm glad I didn't do that! I have instead got wider rims - 7.5" which have the benefits I stated earlier.

At the end of the day, each to their own. :1syellow1

But for me, I'd rather get slightly smaller diameter, wider rims (compared to humungous "look at me" rims) and spend the money saved on better tyres. The overall result should always be better handling than the look at me option for the same or less $$$$.