Concerns about 17" wheel upgrade

[1oldbanjo]

I just bought a new Vibe Base and one of the fist upgrades I want to make is wheels and tires. I ordered the car with steel wheels so that I can put snow tires on them in the winter - and buy a set of alloy wheels for summer use.I am tempted to move up to 17" wheels for improved looks - but the choices in tires seems to be much better for the 16" wheels. The reviews on the Tire Rack website have great reviews on the Goodyear Triple Treads and Michelin HydroEdge - both of which are supposed to be 80 - 90,000 mile tires. Thes tires are quiet, handle well in the wet and dry, and pretty durable - the people that have purchased them all love them. We have the HydroEdge on my wife's Jetta TDI and with 50,000 miles on them there is plenty of tread left.The wheels I have tentatively selected are the Mille Miglia HT3 in brights Silver in 7 x17.When I look at the reviews for the available tires for the 215/50-17 size I see lots of complaints about tire noise, cupping, fast tread wear, and horrible traction on wet roads. The best reviews I could find were on the Bridgestone Potenza G009. It seems that when you make the switch to 17" wheels the tires become more performance oriented toward dry pavement - and treadwear, wet traction and comfort become secondary. I use my car for daily driving and will take many 5 hour trips on weekends...and I want a tire that is easy to live with.....even when I am not taking freeway ramps as fast as possible. Even if you don't choose a ALL SEASON tire in this size and avoid the Maximum Performance Summer tires - the tires tend to be oriented toward performance and do not ride as well or last as long as the available 16" tires . Any tire suggestions???? Thanks - Dave

[goodvibe]

Your ride will suffer a bit but with the tires that your looking at everything else including poor weather traction should improve over stock.

[travis1043]

i've read people putting 19's. i myself have 18's. checkout the kumho ecsta asx. i think you'll be impressed.