19" Wheels for GT2 AWD?

[nhsjpeterson]

Earlier I asked about staggered (18 front, 19 rear) on a Premium, and was told it wasn't a good idea.

Instead of a Premium, I eventually got a GT2 AWD, which comes with 18" front and back. I've been looking at different wheel sites -- some won't show 19s at all for my vehicle, but others do. If I'm not going staggered, I'd prefer to go 19" all around (and get different tires as well).

Good idea? or should I stick with 18"? Will 19s cause any real problems?

 

[NS_Stinger]

Well here in Canada 19" staggered wheels are standard on all AWD models. Not sure why it wasnt an option south of the border.

225r 40r 19 in the front and 255 35r 19 in the back. Cant remember the oem wheel widths though.

 

[Waynerm002]

The GT2 comes with both 18" squared and 19" staggered. Depending on your area your dealer might choose to go with the 18" option for the AWD version. My GT2 is AWD with the 19" staggered setup. If you stay with the 18" version you can get wider tires for the wheels. Based on where you are located, I guess you get a lot of snow, unless you plan on doing a summer/winter setup and have place to store the 19" during the winter, it might make sense to keep the 18s. One thing though, dump the Bridgestones that came with the 18s, they are not that great. Look for some UHP AS tires that will grip better and handle the power that engine produces.

 

[GRStinger]

In my area - west Mich - dealers had GT2 AWD's on their lots with both 18 squared and 19 staggered. Based on test drives of both, and personal preference, I went with the 18's. I put a lot of miles on my car - 50mi round-trip daily commutes, and a lot of weekend road-trips with the wife - plus with our notoriously bad roads, I felt like the 18 all-seasons would give me a bit smoother ride still not take away from the GT characteristics of the car that I love. I realize it's a bit of a compromise, but I don't feel like I'm sacrificing too much in overall performance. Also, when I bought I was undecided about the summer/winter setup - another reason I took the 18 all-seasons, but I will probably will end up doing it.

 

[Waynerm002]

Oh yeah, if you have crappy roads in your area, the 18" versions will be better. A few folks here have popped some tires and have wheel damage due to road hazards. Roads in my area are pretty good but along my commute, there are some crappy ones. I hit a spot yesterday driving in and I plan on taking a different route, local, due to those roads being repaved recently. It will be a bit longer but it will save me from damaging a wheel or tire.

 

[eflyguy]

To directly answer your question, no, 19" won't cause any problems, and it doesn't matter if you go square or staggered, except be aware you can't cross-rotate with staggered, just side to side as long as the tires themselves are not directional.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Well here in Canada 19" staggered wheels are standard on all AWD models. Not sure why it wasnt an option south of the border.

225r 40r 19 in the front and 255 35r 19 in the back. Cant remember the oem wheel widths though.

8" front, 8.5" rear.

It makes no sense to make only 18s available in places in the US, because of severe/harsh weather much of the year, and yet have 19s in Canada. Eh?

 

[NS_Stinger]

8" front, 8.5" rear.

It makes no sense to make only 18s available in places in the US, because of severe/harsh weather much of the year, and yet have 19s in Canada. Eh?

I don't get it, the dealer doesn't even have a go-to winter wheel package here. Kind of a lost opportunity if you ask me, had they sent me an email advertising a decent package I might have taken them up on it, I ended up ordering them myself online.

 

[jchan_stinger]

On the dealership paper, I thought I saw my GT2 come with 19" tires. But when I was looking into getting winter tires, I realized that my GT2 has the Potenza tires (wasn't able to get a good look this morning before work) but I assume it's 18" squared.

For some reason, I've been thinking I had 19" staggered. Does it make much of a difference? I'm also in NY, so the roads here are pretty bad. lol

 

[Jaychang1]

Earlier I asked about staggered (18 front, 19 rear) on a Premium, and was told it wasn't a good idea.

Instead of a Premium, I eventually got a GT2 AWD, which comes with 18" front and back. I've been looking at different wheel sites -- some won't show 19s at all for my vehicle, but others do. If I'm not going staggered, I'd prefer to go 19" all around (and get different tires as well).

Good idea? or should I stick with 18"? Will 19s cause any real problems?

Have you checked out the classified section on the forum? My GT2 AWD came with the 19" Michelins, and since I live in Kentucky, where we get snow, I just ordered a set of wheels with all-season tires and plan on selling the OEM 19" wheel set-up once my wheels come in. Figured it would be a better deal to get the wheels I wanted with A/S tires and sell the OEM to cut into the price of the 20's I'm going with.

 

[Jaychang1]

On the dealership paper, I thought I saw my GT2 come with 19" tires. But when I was looking into getting winter tires, I realized that my GT2 has the Potenza tires (wasn't able to get a good look this morning before work) but I assume it's 18" squared.

For some reason, I've been thinking I had 19" staggered. Does it make much of a difference? I'm also in NY, so the roads here are pretty bad. lol

The main thing you have going on is the Top Speed difference...19" wheels have a top speed of 167 MPH, but the 18's are ECU limited to @130-140 MPH.

 

[nhsjpeterson]

I have 19" coming in a few days to replace my stock 18". Can the ECU be changed to increase the top speed?

 

[Falaris]

Can the ECU be changed to increase the top speed?

Nope, not officially, dealers won't touch it. Not sure what the ECU tuners can or cannot do though...

P.S. Searching is your friend. LOTS of discussion on this forum about this.

-Fal

 

[MerlintheMad]

On the dealership paper, I thought I saw my GT2 come with 19" tires. But when I was looking into getting winter tires, I realized that my GT2 has the Potenza tires (wasn't able to get a good look this morning before work) but I assume it's 18" squared.

For some reason, I've been thinking I had 19" staggered. Does it make much of a difference? I'm also in NY, so the roads here are pretty bad. lol

If you had Michelin 18s that would mean you are RWD. But Potenzas (as I understand it) are the limited "high performance" standard OEM tire for AWD on 18s. A number of forum members are till peeved that when they bought back in late 2017 there was no literature publishing the different top speeds for the Michelins and Potenzas. But I don't see why you couldn't find a tune shop to mess with the limited top speed and raise it. The only concern would be if Kia found out and disagreed with it and cancelled your warranty.

 

[Jean]

The main thing you have going on is the Top Speed difference...19" wheels have a top speed of 167 MPH, but the 18's are ECU limited to @130-140 MPH.

@Jaychang1, I see you are at Knox...are you the one with the blue or gray one. Hopefully well run into each other in the near future as I am stationed there (HRC).

 

[Waynerm002]

The Michelin’s only come in 19” summers to my knowledge, the 18s are Bridgestones. Has anyone gotten the 18” all season setup with Michelin tires?

 

[MerlintheMad]

The Michelin’s only come in 19” summers to my knowledge, the 18s are Bridgestones. Has anyone gotten the 18” all season setup with Michelin tires?

Not on this thread, but one of the other active tire threads: someone said that their GT with 18s had Michelin tires. That was the first I realized that RWD with 18s could have summer tires on them. I'm still waiting to find out if this is true; but it might be one of those cases where Kia did a "weird" car not in their specs.

 

[Waynerm002]

I recall someone adamantly stating his 19" wheels with Michelin's sucked and weeks later looked at his tires and found out he didn't in fact have Michelin's but had 18" wheels with Bridgestones. As well as another who found out they had 19" summer tires after they bought the car and wondered why a manufacturer would sell Summer only tires in an area that gets snow.

Not saying it can't happen but KIA's marketing specifically states the Summer Michelin tires were on 19" wheels. To my knowledge, there are no Michelin All Season tires on the Stinger, which is what is found on the 18" wheels nor was there an option for 18" wheels on a RWD cars. I will say though that I did see a video with Michelins on a 2.0T.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Yeah, weird exceptions that Kia sent out that never show up on the official options and features list? It does not surprise me to read on here that someone has 18" wheels with Michelin summer tires. And it would not surprise me to find out that two equally appointed 18" Michelin equipped cars have both speed restrictions, tires be damned. I would explain it as the 18" rims put on the "wrong" car; or, the Michelins getting put on in place of Potenzas for whatever reason after the car left the factory, by some well meaning fixer upper along the way. It could even be that the Potenzas were swapped for Michelins because a potential buyer wanted the Michelins, then decided to not buy the car. I'm guessing that any 18" rims are all limited to 140 MPH, from the factory. But possibly 19s were swapped for 18s, again to appeal to a potential buyer who changed their mind, and thus it would be possible to have 18s on a car with the 167 MPH top speed.

 

[Jaychang1]

@Jaychang1, I see you are at Knox...are you the one with the blue or gray one. Hopefully well run into each other in the near future as I am stationed there (HRC).

I have the Ceramic Silver one. My office is at the 84th Training Command building by the PX.