Just for funsies, I tried to see if the 17" Arietta wheels from my MK4 Golf would fit the ID.4 today.

In the past, people who tried 18" wheels said "not a chance!" on 17" wheels. I'm sorry to report that, as expected, they were right!

I estimate that with the inside of the wheel directly against the caliper, there is just around 1/4 in. (~6mm) of extra space needed in order to get a 17 in. wheel to fit, and that's without accounting for space for balancing weights. You could get a smaller caliper, and use interior adhesive weights or clip-on weights, but that doesn't sound like a great idea.

Verdict: 17 inches is just too small.

 

I don't think anyone has actually tried it, but the general consensus is that most 18" wheels with balancing weights barely clear the front brake calipers, so 17" probbaly won't fit. My 18s are pretty tight, but not crazy close.

...plus it may be difficult to find 17" wheels with the proper load capacity for the heavy ID.4, but certainly possible.

It would be best if you could find a set of 17" to test fit before buying, but you should plan on them being too small.

 

My 18s are pretty tight, but not crazy close.

What efficiency are you seeing on 18s?

 

Like I said the main thing to me is ride comfort, now if I get more miles/kwh - that is just cherry on top. I honestly, don't understand why OEM have giant rims, not like we can see them from inside or we take our cars to the track. maybe my age but I want a laz-y-boy style comfort - one reason I like EV no engine noise, I don't even like the noise it make at sub 25mph speed but its for safety so that is fine.

 

Go with 18" wheels and 235/60 R18 tires. Consult @fiehlsport, the tire expert, to source the tires and wheels for you.

 

That's the chart that Tesla submitted to EPA for their Model 3 with 18, 19, and 20 in. wheels. The takeaway is the vast difference between the 18" and 20" wheels. Tesla is famously "optimistic" on their ranges. I doubt the Model 3 could get ~480 miles on 18" wheels at 50mph.

 

I live in west central MN and I have the RWD. been driving it on stock tires with no problems - granted this year we didn't have what I would consider a Minnesota winter, but winter tires will solve this problem.

 

I am mainly interested in comfort that is the reason I am after 17

Our minivan is 17. But it is a Toyota so not the same bolt pattern.. I will double check

 

Our minivan is 17. But it is a Toyota so not the same bolt pattern.. I will double check

Many things could be different besides bolt pattern such as offset and tire size.

 

A Pirelli tire engineer explained it very well better than I could. Hopefully he can help you understand it.

https://www.vwidtalk.com/threads/pirelli-how-does-wheel-size-condition-the-performance-of-your-car.14107/

 

A Pirelli tire engineer explained it very well better than I could. Hopefully he can help you understand it.

https://www.vwidtalk.com/threads/pirelli-how-does-wheel-size-condition-the-performance-of-your-car.14107/

I don't think that explained it very well. It's talking about overall wheel size, diameter of the rubber.
Sometimes wheel is used interchangeably with rim, sometimes it means rim+tire.
Most folks are not changing the overall diameter very much, smaller rim means larger sidewall, but the aerodynamics of the whole wheel (rim+tire) are worse with a large rim. Tire sidewall is aerodynamically cleaner than the rim.

This you tube Why Big Wheels Are A Bad Idea On Electric Cars almost gets there, but it comes out in his comment
CLARIFICATION! Why do bigger wheels mean worse efficiency, when the overall tire diameter remains the same? This comes down to aerodynamics. A 20" wheel will cause more of a disruption in airflow than an 18" wheel. That's why Tesla (and others) uses aero covers on their wheels (Car & Driver testing showed it gives about a 3% efficiency bonus at speed). The smaller the wheel, the more of the side profile of the wheel & tire is perfectly flat (the tire is flat, the wheel is open: more tire = more flat area, less open area).

 

You could try putting the 17" from the Toyota minivan on the ID.4 to see if it will clear the caliper.

To be clear, I don't mean actually mounting it on the car, since it won't line up with the 5x114mm bolt pattern, and the center bore is 60mm vs 57mm, but if you can get a jack stand under each one and just check it for fitment, it would give us a definite answer. I actually may try that myself since I have some 5x100 17 in. VW wheels from an old TDI Golf (Ariettas, if anyone wants them!)

There are lots of good XL tire choices with "Eco Focus" (sort of a proxy for LRR, but not quite) at tire rack in 235/65R17 like the excellent Continental CrossContact LX25, so you could run a 235 square setup with those (they don't come in 255/60R17). There are only a handful of choices at 255/60R17, but the YOKOHAMA GEOLANDAR CV G058 is available in both 235/65R17 and 255/60R17, and is also a really good tire.

I still expect the 17 in. not to fit, unless of course you want to downsize your front rotors and calipers. Probably not a good idea

I'm really happy with the comfort of my 18 in. setup, though, and I run the pressures around 37 - 39 PSI or so.

 

So a friend of mine convinced me to try out a polstar 2 after work, same thing different badge, it would be a financial suicide to switch out 6 months old car anyways

@waldo22 did you notice a big difference between 18s and 20s

Btw we have very similar cars. Mine is Pro.
I don't understand the need of harder side walls. our sienna is 300lbs heavier running on 17 with regular passenger car tires set at 32psi 🤷

 

So a friend of mine convinced me to try out a polstar 2 after work, same thing different badge, it would be a financial suicide to switch out 6 months old car anyways

@waldo22 did you notice a big difference between 18s and 20s

Btw we have very similar cars. Mine is Pro.