20 inch alloys down to 19 or 18s

[sugerbear]

Hi,

I have a 2012 XC90 D5 200hp which is currently running 20 inch alloy wheels. Edited to add, it's an R-Design.

The ride is quite unforgiving and I would like to change to either 19 or 18 inch alloys with will give the tyre some more give with a higher profile tyre (ideally 18 inch)

I am unsure if the calipers on this model can accept an 18 inch alloy, Black Circles (and most other sites) only show a tyre option of 19 inches, no option for an 18.

Does anyone know if the calipers are bigger on the 200hp D5 and what size alloy can be used?

[Harley Dave]

From what i've read on here, all XC90's (of that age) for the UK market had the same size discs and calipers.

Cheers

Dave

[Carlosos]

Originally Posted by sugerbear

Hi,

I have a 2012 XC90 D5 200hp which is currently running 20 inch alloy wheels. Edited to add, it's an R-Design.

The ride is quite unforgiving and I would like to change to either 19 or 18 inch alloys with will give the tyre some more give with a higher profile tyre (ideally 18 inch)

I am unsure if the calipers on this model can accept an 18 inch alloy, Black Circles (and most other sites) only show a tyre option of 19 inches, no option for an 18.

Does anyone know if the calipers are bigger on the 200hp D5 and what size alloy can be used?

I’ve thought about going down from my 18’s to 17’s although I always do consider going smaller on all our cars. Big wheels just don’t make sense to me on our terrible terrible roads.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Harley Dave

From what i've read on here, all XC90's (of that age) for the UK market had the same size discs and calipers.

Cheers

Dave

That - 336mm discs at the front, over which you can get 17" wheels.

[Moose Test]

Originally Posted by sugerbear

20 inch alloy wheels...it's an R-Design.
The ride is quite unforgiving and I would like to change to either 19 or 18 inch alloys with will give the tyre some more give with a higher profile tyre (ideally 18 inch)

Short version: Been there, did that. I went all the way down to 17" Neptune wheels. It made a noticeable difference, although ultimately not enough for my taste, coming from a previous XC90 on regular suspension.

In the end, I "deleted" the R-Design suspension by replacing the front and rear shocks with new ones. This yields a regular suspension configuration, all except for the stiffer front roll bar.

Outcome: a totally different beast, very close to a "proper" regular setup, albeit at the cost of a little more roll through the bends. I wish I'd done it at the outset.

[sugerbear]

Thanks for the advice, really pleased that I can at least change the alloys/tyres as a start and if things dont improve I will probably look at the suspension (if costs are not too bad).

[Moose Test]

It's probably only worth considering the suspension "upgrade" route if either money is no object, or you are able to perform the work yourself.

My total cost for parts was around £1200 (using Caffyns), which compared to the price of a new set of wheels and tyres, yielded a far superior outcome. With the benefit of hindsight, I would not have changed wheels as the result was marginal and I'd still have £400+ in my pocket to offset the suspension costs.

The dynamics change radically if you're paying for garage labour.