Stock rims, 16 or 17s?

Have a 2007 STX with the stock 16" alloys. I like the look of the 17" STX alloys from later year models (but don't mind the current ones either). Given that these seem to pop up 2nd hand fairly often I was wondering if they are an improvement for 'regular' driving. would they potentially be lighter, smoother or just look better and cost more for tyres? If they are a better option I'll grab a set when it comes time to get new tyres.

I have two spare 16" rims now and could store a couple more fairly easily if I wanted to get some more off road bias tyres. We also have an R51 pathfinder with 17s on it that does most of our family/holiday-towing stuff.

Going from 16"-17" isn't going to be that much of an improvement for handling, and isn't going to be that much of a downgrade for offroad bagging out. Tyres are a little bit more expensive, but each to their own, depends on look I spose!
I only went for 17" on our D22(up from a 16") because I found a good combo on tyres and rims!

i doubt the 17 inch rims would be the same weight as the 16,s , what you need to consider when going up a rim size is ; my speedo will be out of wack when the larger diameter wheels ar fitted. if your going to do some 4 x 4 driving maybe the 16,s would be good with a set of higher profile tyres, this way you only need to buy the tyres not the 17 inch rims plus the new 17 inch tyres. you don,t want you good Navara to look like one of those stupid looking BMW x7 or such 4 x 4 ,s with tyres that should be on a race car.

Taller rim is usually heavier, no? Wouldnt be much though - depending on wheel type it could be lighter. OD of the tyre and speedo isnt an issue if you get the right profile. If it feels good do it. Get a bit more of a balance between road manners and off road i spose. 22" wheels is another story - if you were getting them i'd tell you to get ****ed, lol.

So I managed to procure some rims second hand. Thought I was getting 6, but when I arrived to purchase it ended up being 9 in total which was a pretty full load in the back on the way home. I'll need to switch some tyres around from steel spares to the alloys so the question becomes:

Titanium edition or standard silver for the colour. If I go Ti, then two rims will need painting to match (or four really to ensure they are all the same colour). I rolled them out against the car for a test and ....


What do you think?

Appears that because it was raining my photo skills are a bit lacking and it's missed the front showing a stock alloy nudge bar.

Still need to weigh them to see if there is much difference in weight between the 16" and 17" wheels.

I like the look of the titanium wheels.

cassgazz said:

I like the look of the titanium wheels.

Click to expand...

+1

Tend to agree, titanium looks better. Now to find a suitable paint code.

This morning I got the scales out and weighed some wheels. All had reasonable tread on them, but tyres were different so this is not scientific.

16" steel: 31.3kg
16" alloy: 26.8kg
17" steel: 32.3kg
17" alloy: 29.2 & 29.7kg

Nice. The titanium wheels look a lot better on your truck.

From what i understand, the 17 inch wheels were added to d40s to allow larger brake rotors than on earlier 16 inch d40s.

They went from a 295mm rotor to a 320mm rotor.

Now you can fit them in behind the 17“ wheels it would be a tempting option as its a pretty major upgrade