20" Vs 21" Wheels Comfort and Handling

[TacticalExpedition]

I love my 21”. When compared to my friends 19” & 20” Taycans, they regret not getting the 21”. If you want comfort, get EQS. ?

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[tomdfw1]

The smaller rims have an inch more rubber and air to soften the ride and absorb bumps. It will feel more cushy and "comfortable". However, when you whip around a corner you will get more body roll or less response and more understeer. IMHO the larger rims with lower profile tires look much better and I prefer the stiffer handling.

 

[Englishtony2002]

I've been wondering about the 225 front on the 19" setup -- that seems crazy narrow for a vehicle like this?

My little 20 year old Mk1 TT wears this size and weighs 1000kg less, sounds insane to me. I have 21" spyders on a Turbo with air, love the ride

 

[diegomedinaf]

Crazy happy with my RWD and 21”s on air not springs.
I think that is the game changer more than the diameter of the wheels

 

[WindsurfUS1111]

Yeah
Air is non negotiable
Springs suck
Next car!

 

[diegomedinaf]

Just to add my own subjective 2 cents, the 21" Mission E's are the wheels that belong on the Taycan and are the best looking of the bunch. Additionally, all of the 21" wheels are wider with wider rubber and are also forged, while the 19's and 20's are cast.

Finally, I have absolutely no objection to the ride with the 21's on my 4S. With air suspension,

I took the RS to have 21’s, love the looks and handling on same suspension setup you have.

wanted the brakes more than the mission E just did not want the whole 8k package for the brakes and liking better my wheels and its Exactly why mission/brakes are 1 pack.
BUT for sure mission E are hell of sexy wheels for the taycan.

 

[andix]

I switched from 20" summer to 21" summer, different tire make.

20" are a bit more comfortable and more silent below 30
21" have significantly better handling, stability, cornering, brake feeling

Interestingly enough, consumption/ range seems to be very similar

(Taycan Turbo on air suspension, PDCC, RAS)

 

[CarbonTax]

Yeah
Air is non negotiable
Springs suck
Next car!

21s on springs and wouldn't ride otherwise,
want 19s or 20s? cushy ride? get a Tesla
don't appreciate the complexity of the air suspension,
road conditions around these parts = likely damage if air suspending an inch lower

 

[Frankcan]

Mine came with 21" Mission E wheels, it sets it off nicely and handles better than my Macan that had 21" wheels.

 

[Mike in CA]

I didn’t realize 21’s had a wider tread
Do you think the wider tread compensates for a thinner tire depth and equals out?

What difference is forged vs cast in practical terms?
Stiffer, stronger?

You also have air suspension vs steel which I suspect makes a big difference in comfort.

Sorry for the late response. Just saw your post.

The Taycan 21" wheels are 1.5" wider front and rear than the 19" wheels and 1/2" wider F/R than the 20's. Wider wheels allow wider, lower profile tires. Cornering grip and handling response are improved with wider tires, but I don't think there is any offset with regard to comfort.

Forged wheels are denser, stronger and will handle impacts better. Because forged wheels can be made stronger with less material they are typically as much as 25-30% lighter than a cast wheel of the same size. Despite their larger width and diameter, the forged 21's are almost certainly significantly lighter than the 20's and are probably close to the weight of the smaller and narrower 19's.

I'm sure you're right about the AS making a big difference in comfort.

 

[Chas1]

The scrubbing has nothing to do with the wheel size.

I’m surprised. I have 19” for winter tyres. For little money I bought a set of OEM 19” wheels with brand new Michelin pilot sport 4 tyres. My 21 inch spider wheels are cool looking but I get quite a bit of low speed scrub as expected but none with 19” - is that age/wear related? I will get the 19” standard OEM rims painted charcoal grey for looks I think. However observations so far are uk winter range about 10-15% improvement. (Anyone else noticed similar?). Comfort vastly improved on uk bumpy country roads. Tyre noise greatly reduced. 21” have Goodyear vs Michelin pilot 4 tyres on the 19” wheels. With 19” my rwd Taycan with air suspension feels a bit better balanced, more nimble on its feet, more feel in the steering, just more together - not what I was expecting at all. 21” tyres I’m sure would be better round the track but Taycan isn’t the car I’d take on a track day really. As an aside - For sensible money I can paint the 21” wheels in Aurum gold to go nicely with Mama green. Or is that guilding the Lily? Could I get away with painting 19” rims in Aurum too? The 19” rims in my view look surprisingly great on the car - just too much aluminium colour though.

 

[WuffvonTrips]

21” have Goodyear vs Michelin pilot 4 tyres on the 19” wheels. With 19” my rwd Taycan with air suspension feels a bit better balanced, more nimble on its feet, more feel in the steering, just more together - not what I was expecting at all. 21” tyres I’m sure would be better round the track but Taycan isn’t the car I’d take on a track day really.

I'm interested to see more informed opinions than mine from those with track/race setup experience- in the meantime, for what it's worth, I'd guess that wider tyres enable later braking (more grip and also, bigger wheels allow for bigger brakes), higher lateral grip and better acceleration off the line, but their lower profile means less sidewall to flex, so less progressive feel around the lateral grip limit (also less able to maintain contact when under high lateral load). So they might be more suited to disciplined smooth driving to get optimum lap times. OTH, the narrower, higher profile tyres on smaller wheels are more alive for fun driving (which is suboptimal for lap times), and have the advantage of more sidewall to flex to maintain contact under high lateral load (a reason why F1 tyres are so HIGH profile?).
(BTW I assume your PCM has been updated with your winter set)

 

[WindsurfUS1111]

Sounds great.

where do you get this - see below for “little money?”

For little money I bought a set of OEM 19” wheels with brand new Michelin pilot sport 4 tyres.

 

[f1eng]

(a reason why F1 tyres are so HIGH profile?

It is the rules for F1.
They used to be 13” to keep the brakes small but engineers got the small brakes good enough to use all the grip, so they were just expensive. Went to 15” for 2022.

Taller narrower wheels give a longer narrower contact patch which has some advantage over a wide smaller diameter wheel with the same contact area but punters like the look of big wheels with low profile tyres so that is what tyre companies want to develop for the road car market.

It is fashion not performance.

Dragsters have very long contact patch.

Narrower wheels are less camber sensitive and low profile tyres are hard to make progressive in performance, the juddering being worse on 21” wheels than 19” has nothing to do with tyre diameter but is due to lateral stiffness - 19” wheels can accommodate the misalignment at low speed by flexing more than low profile 21” of the same OD before one slips..

 

[f1eng]

is that age/wear related?

It is sidewall lateral stiffness and grip related.

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