20" Rim Wheel Upgrade 2017 Sportage LX

Orbryant said:

Has anyone done a 20" wheel upgrade on their 2017 Sportage LX? What tire size did you end up going for? I'd love to see pics! I'm unsure of where to start for this upgrade.

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Remember that the lower the profile of the tire, the harder/worse the ride will be, especially on the LX/EX. You will have to go with a very low profile tire on 20" rims. Also, your rims will be more susceptible to being bent when you hit something in the road like a pothole. On the other hand, 20" rims will look better IMO. It all depends on your priorities. One of the reasons I chose the EX over the SX was that the ride was slightly better because of the 17" rims. I second the idea of going to the Tirerack site if you decide to move in this direction. In terms of tire width, wider is not generally better on an SUV like the Sportage. Narrower tires are better in both the snow and rain than wider tires. I'd strongly recommend going with a similar width to what you have now. Good luck.

timbit said:

Im runnin 245 40 20s on My 2020 with no clearance issues and still rides decent. Not as well as a smaller rim but in return i get better handling

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Looks good, but there is no technical reason you should be getting better handling. It might give you the "feeling" of better handling because the ride is a little harsher and you would feel the road more, but, in fact, lap times will remain about the same and might increase. Now you may have lighter wheels which could be slightly better when going over bumps, but not by much. You have gone with wider tires but your handling will actually be worse in snow and rain which you do have in Canada... right???? Just be careful with potholes as you don't have as much wheel protection as you've had in the past. How a car feels is very personal. I like a harsher ride in my sports car, but a smoother ride in my SUV. But let's face it... most of us go to larger wheels for how it looks, not how it performs -- especially in a low power SUV. Nothing wrong with that at all...

shadowmaker said:

Here's pictures how my summer 20" setup looks like. It's a concave wheel, but with 8,5" and ET like that (40) it's hard to notice. Would really want 21" set, but couldn't find 8,5" with correct ET. Went for 245/45 tire which has +4% diameter (original size with 20" is 245/40). This way wheel wells are looking more occupied and the car looks lower (while it's actually a bit higher). Also should add to the ride confort on gravel roads (which I have to drive) and made speedometer spot on with GPS speed. On the downside it adds to unsprung weight (compared to 245/40 tire), but my wheels are only 10,6kg/pc, so compared to original wheel/tire set it's not that bad. My winter setup is also the same size, but with studded tires and a bit heavier wheels (8,5", ET38 IRC). Car is 2016 2.0crdi 4WD AT.

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Good solution to ride quality issue, but the circumference is actually about 7.5% larger so when the speedo says 65, it is actually almost 70 mph. That also reduces torque and hp at the wheels and significantly extends 0-60 times. If you are happy with that reduced power and don't care about significant acceleration, then it may be a good solution. The effect on mpg is less predictable. I suspect mpg will be significantly lower in city driving and might be better on sustained highway speeds without starts and stops so it depends on how you most use your car. And yeah, to a car enthusiast like me, it does look better.

shadowmaker said:

Don't know where you get that 7,5%? 245/45-19 (original) vs 245/45-20 -> +3,6% diameter and circumference. So also +3,6% to speedometer, which at least on my car makes it spot on with actual GPS speed. Also It's really hard to say what it does to power and mpg without head to head tests (they are bigger, but also lighter), but currently it does 15,3s/143kmh @1/4mile (0-100kmh 7,3s) and consumption is down ~2L/100km. These improvements have nothing to do with wheels/tires though. It's funny that my 2ton FWD diesel van is one second and +20kmh faster @1/4mile.

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You are right as I used R18 instead of R19. A 3.6% larger circumference will, however, lower hp and torque at the rear wheels not because of weight, but because of pure physics of final drive ratio at the wheels. Is it significant? That depends on the individual and whether your driving is mostly city or highway.