2016 SQ5 wheel question

[TJay74]

So we are going to ditch the 21" wheel, while the wife and I love the design it is such an odd tire size that no one makes a ultra high performance all season tire for it. To replace the stock tires are around $350 per tire, I would rather add a little money to that and go with a 20" wheel that has a lot better options for tires. Probably just put the 21" wheel up in the attic for now and see if someone down the road offers a better 21" tire option.

With that I know the stock wheels a 21 x 8.5 with a +33ET offset. We are settled on the TSW forged Geneva in a 20 x 8.5 with a very close to stock offset. Someone in another thread mentioned the optional 20 x 9 or a 20 x 10 with +25ET running a 275 tire. I am fine with a wider tire, granted at the current power levels out SQ5 would be able to overpower the stock size 255 tires, but the plan is to eventually go with the AWE touring exhaust system and the APR Stage II tune with the pulley. Should put us near 450hp and make the little SQ5 a nice sleeper daily driver for the wife.

So my question is this, what wheel specs can we run that wont push the 20" wheel out past the fenders. 20 x 9 at what offset or 20 x 10 at what offset?

The stock tires are 29.03" tall, if I was to run a 275/40-R20 that ends up at 28.66" tall which is less than a 1/2" difference and wont mess with the speedometer or odometer by much.

So what say you all, I know there are plenty of you who are running some nice 20" wheel setups in here.

Thanks in advance... Todd

[riceboy22]

Are you at the stock height and planning to stay there? If you're lower, you're likely going to align with more negative camber, so it will tuck the wheels in a bit more and allow you to run a more aggressive offset.

You may want to just take a ruler and measure from your current setup how much further out you want the wheels. "Flush" is kind of subjective. The standard seems to be +15mm from the stock wheels up front and +20mm in the rear. You can use http://www.willtheyfit.com to calculate how that compares to your available options.

For what it's worth, I've run 20x9 et30 255/45r20 and now 20x10 et25 275/40r20. The 20x9 et30 definitely could have been pushed out further. The picture below is on my 20x10 et25 setup.

[TJay74]

The thought was to maybe go with the 1" H&R springs down the road later this year along with the NRDP from AWE for this years mods. I just ordered a set of EBC red stuff pads, I've had it with the dusting from the stock front pads.

I don't want to get into a position that I cant get with in specs if lowering it the 1" is going to cause issues. Looking at your pics though the 20 x 10 +25ET with the 275/40 tire is going to be the way to go.

[riceboy22]

The thought was to maybe go with the 1" H&R springs down the road later this year along with the NRDP from AWE for this years mods. I just ordered a set of EBC red stuff pads, I've had it with the dusting from the stock front pads.

I don't want to get into a position that I cant get with in specs if lowering it the 1" is going to cause issues. Looking at your pics though the 20 x 10 +25ET with the 275/40 tire is going to be the way to go.

I'm on the 29001-3 springs which are supposedly the right ones for the US SQ5. The drop ends up being about 2" so you end up at 30.5" GTF. The 29001-1 springs share the same front spring part number, but for whatever reason, people were reporting more of a 1.4-1.6" drop with those.

Also, if you're going to drop the car and it's your wife's daily driver, I would definitely consider going with the Bilstein B8s at the same time. If you're sensitive about ride quality (particularly about bounciness) then you'll want to replace the stock dampers. You can find additional feedback in the Bilstein B8 (or other aftermarket shocks) + H&R - Who's running this setup? thread.

[SQive]

My two cents. . .Go big or go home.

There are already more 21" tires available than there were when I had my '14 SQ5. I wrote a review of a tire that fits the stock 21"s perfectly, and run about $620 for the whole set, shipped! A complete review can be found by searching this forum for "Trying a new tire."

My '16 SQ5 is running 295/35ZR21 on 21x10 et+30. These run a little over $1K for the set and have great specs, 320 AA A. I've had two track days on them and they're still on the car and in decent shape after 15K miles. The reason that's impressive is because they did an excellent job on the track. My experience has been that if they do well on the track, they really get torn up. Whereas tires that didn't do so well on the track appeared to be unscathed from the torture. These are definitely not unscathed, but they survived much better than the stock Pirellis. Now you may not track that beast, but like anything else, if you want to find out how good something really is in the automotive realm, beat the hell out of it in the crucible of motorsports and see how it fares. Better yet, let the rest of us fools try it at our expense and then read about those follies here. I mean. . .isn't that the point of these forums?

I loved those stock 21"s on my '14, but my '16 came with the 20"s. When deciding on what to replace them with, I used http://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp. I found it more useful than willtheyfit, and it served me very well with my current fitment. For the tires, I used tires-easy. If you're searching locally, or just TireRack, your choices will be very limited. Search, research, and read the reviews. Seriously, I couldn't be happier with these Vredesteins. In fact, I have the next set of them waiting in the garage so I won't have to wait for shipping.

Drive thirsty my friends.

[TJay74]

My two cents. . .Go big or go home.

There are already more 21" tires available than there were when I had my '14 SQ5. I wrote a review of a tire that fits the stock 21"s perfectly, and run about $620 for the whole set, shipped! A complete review can be found by searching this forum for "Trying a new tire."

My '16 SQ5 is running 295/35ZR21 on 21x10 et+30. These run a little over $1K for the set and have great specs, 320 AA A. I've had two track days on them and they're still on the car and in decent shape after 15K miles. The reason that's impressive is because they did an excellent job on the track. My experience has been that if they do well on the track, they really get torn up. Whereas tires that didn't do so well on the track appeared to be unscathed from the torture. These are definitely not unscathed, but they survived much better than the stock Pirellis. Now you may not track that beast, but like anything else, if you want to find out how good something really is in the automotive realm, beat the hell out of it in the crucible of motorsports and see how it fares. Better yet, let the rest of us fools try it at our expense and then read about those follies here. I mean. . .isn't that the point of these forums?

I loved those stock 21"s on my '14, but my '16 came with the 20"s. When deciding on what to replace them with, I used http://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp. I found it more useful than willtheyfit, and it served me very well with my current fitment. For the tires, I used tires-easy. If you're searching locally, or just TireRack, your choices will be very limited. Search, research, and read the reviews. Seriously, I couldn't be happier with these Vredesteins. In fact, I have the next set of them waiting in the garage so I won't have to wait for shipping.

Drive thirsty my friends.

Unless you know of some other tires I am missing, there are only 4 tires currently out in the stock 255/40-R21 size, 2 winter tires and 2 summer only tires. Living in OKC we don't have a need for winter tires at all, we see maybe 3-4 snow events a year, none of it stays around long enough to warranty snow tires. One week it is 25° and snowing, the next week it will be 60° and sunny. I would rather have a high performance all season 20" than to try and wing it on the summer only 21" wheels.

Wife doesn't care either way, she like the look of the 21" wheel. I like the aspect of performance that the 20" wheel will be lighter and affect the performance some.

[SQive]

Unless you know of some other tires I am missing, there are only 4 tires currently out in the stock 255/40-R21 size, 2 winter tires and 2 summer only tires. Living in OKC we don't have a need for winter tires at all, we see maybe 3-4 snow events a year, none of it stays around long enough to warranty snow tires. One week it is 25° and snowing, the next week it will be 60° and sunny. I would rather have a high performance all season 20" than to try and wing it on the summer only 21" wheels.

Wife doesn't care either way, she like the look of the 21" wheel. I like the aspect of performance that the 20" wheel will be lighter and affect the performance some.

Aluminum weighs less than rubber, so you're not going to gain performance by going with 20"s, only ride comfort. I guess I should have mentioned searching for 265, rather than 255. The 255's are a bit skinny for the Q's. I know it gets hotter than hell in OK, but down here, it gets hotter than hell's asshole, with the occasional hot wind blowing through. If you like the stock 21"s and don't go to the track, try the Atturos in 265/40. I even reviewed them on ice and snow. If you do go to the track, or simply like good lateral grip, try the Vredesteins. They also come in 265 and you won't be disappointed. I have found them to be on par with the Pirellis.

[sleepyheadn20]

Unless you know of some other tires I am missing, there are only 4 tires currently out in the stock 255/40-R21 size, 2 winter tires and 2 summer only tires. Living in OKC we don't have a need for winter tires at all, we see maybe 3-4 snow events a year, none of it stays around long enough to warranty snow tires. One week it is 25° and snowing, the next week it will be 60° and sunny. I would rather have a high performance all season 20" than to try and wing it on the summer only 21" wheels.

Wife doesn't care either way, she like the look of the 21" wheel. I like the aspect of performance that the 20" wheel will be lighter and affect the performance some.

I was in the same boat, I like my stock 21", but couldn't find any 20" wheels I like or any wheel dealer/installer here in NM. So ended up getting the Perilli winter tire. I have to say they were very good, no slipping compare to the Continental All season I had on my A3.

In the long term I would rather have good A/S tires, maybe the Continental DWS. I've been looking for some 20" close to stock spec also. Not looking to lower my car.

[TJay74]

Aluminum weighs less than rubber, so you're not going to gain performance by going with 20"s, only ride comfort. I guess I should have mentioned searching for 265, rather than 255. The 255's are a bit skinny for the Q's. I know it gets hotter than hell in OK, but down here, it gets hotter than hell's asshole, with the occasional hot wind blowing through. If you like the stock 21"s and don't go to the track, try the Atturos in 265/40. I even reviewed them on ice and snow. If you do go to the track, or simply like good lateral grip, try the Vredesteins. They also come in 265 and you won't be disappointed. I have found them to be on par with the Pirellis.

Yeah I read your thread, while the 265 does open up 2 more tires none of them are listed as a ultra high performance all season. I am also going thru Discount Tire as I get a really good discount with them so I am also limited to what wheels and tires they can get in stock. I showed the wife the stock SQ5 20" wheels and she likes them as well so I may try to find a set of those as well as another option.

I ran into this same issue when I had my 2009 G8 GXP. It has 19" wheels from the factory and at the time there were not a lot of options for tires since it was considered an odd ball wheel size.

[djfrestyl]

I had the same concerns as the OP. I'm running the Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season in 265/40/21. Not high performance, but damn well close to it.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....um=64VR1SVASXL

[jpsjr]

I had the same concerns as the OP. I'm running the Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season in 265/40/21. Not high performance, but damn well close to it.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....um=64VR1SVASXL

Any issues with clearance? I too live in NJ and would love to keep my OEM 21" All Season if I could. Any issues with noise? Balancing issues?

Jose

[djfrestyl]

I added 5/10 spacers (solely for preference). No issues with clearance or balancing issues. They would have fit without the spacers.