Going from 17 to 18 on stock suspension
 

2006 A4 Cabriolet.
It has 235-45-17 on it. My wheels are curbed. I thought about repairing them and still may.
If I don't, I am considering going to an 18" wheel. This car is 100% daily driver for my wife who is a nurse. This car is never driven hard.
Will the 18's look better? Ride the same? Not rub? Not make the car sit higher?
How about the offset/backspace? Can I get wheels that look "deep dish" and this stock setup? I don't want spacers etc.
I promise I have read a bunch on here about this. Problem is, most people seem to be willing to lower, stagger, etc,. I want to stay stock but maybe bigger. I definitely like the deep dish look. Please help.
TIA,
Phil

Yo yo!
Hey Phil.
The move to an 18'' will stiffen the ride a little bit if you keep the stock height, which is recommended so you don't have any speedometer or odometer problems. That tire size would be 235/40R18. There would be no rubbing issues with that size.
For wheel size an 18x8 or 18x8.5 would fit well. I would recommend staying with an offset between 30 and 40. The lower offset will give you more of a deep dish look.
As far as looks go, if I may generalize, people tend to like to see a shiny wheel instead of a black tire sidewall. In the end it comes down to your preference more than anything. I'll dig up some pictures for you so that you can get an idea. Of course you can always use our resource online to see the vehicle profile with our wheel options on it:
http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=BY4&...age/Garage.jsp

Here are some pics of an A4 sporting some 18's. See what you think.

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