I'm looking at buying a new 2018 XC60 or XC40. I live in the city, but I'm not much of a city commuter; I take public transportation. I mostly intend to use the car to get out of town -- for highway road trips, and a bit of light off-roading/camping.

It seems that a majority of the available Volvo's in my region come with upgraded 19- or 20-inch wheels for $800-1000. I'm not interested in larger wheels, and I'd prefer the smoother cushioning and gas mileage of smaller wheels.

If I can't find the model I want with the base 18" wheels, is it worth it to just buy one of these cars with upgraded wheels, downsize to 18" or even 17" aftermarket wheels, and sell the OEM wheels? I've heard that if I do that, it might be better to store the OEM wheels and tires and put them back on when I'm ready to sell the car, as it will improve the resale value.

Also, if I do find or custom order a model with base 18" wheels, could I still get significantly better cushioning and gas mileage if I downsize to 17"?

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

 

FC as in fuel consumption? No wheel size won't change this but tire model may. Certainly running higher pressure can help.

Less bumpy - yes. Consider the sidewall absorbs some of the jolt, there will be some improvement, plus you will get better pothole protection.

Quieter ride - again not directly related to size, again this is more about tire model. Summer tires with narrower tread gaps will be quieter than say a block tread snow etc. Check comparisons/analysis on the TIre Rack web site to get some data.

Cost savings - yes. take a look at the going price for 16/17s vs 19/20s for a similar style model.

Style points - the bigger rims look better. they fill out the wheel arches nicely, more shiny metal etc.

If you decide to down size, just make sure you buy rims that can fit over your brakes, fit the hubs and have correct offset. Wheel-size.com is a good resource to find what size rims are considered OEM for you model.

 

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The 2019 VW Atlas has 18" as stock and mine has 20's. If your model in the same year came with the lower Aspect to Width ratio 16" rims you can go down in size otherwise don't. Don't do so not only for safety but also be in compliance with Manufacture recommendations. Most tire shops will not sell or install that for liability issues if that's the case.

The 18" have stiffer sidewalls when you have to make an emergency maneuver left to right. The car or SUV can wallow in high winded areas if you go down that low. My 1998 S70 T5 came with 16" and I went down to 15" Volvo V70 rims. The ride was better, softer and slightly bouncier over speed bumps but the S70 had stock 15's. Only go down if your model came with smaller size rims.

If you were ever in a major accident and have less than recommended tire size you could be found at fault and the insurance not pay.
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all good points, which is why I suggest looking at wheelsize.com to see what size rims were available on the car model in question. Its not uncommon for dealers to offer new buyers a "delete" option where you get wheels from a lesser package (which is how I got 15 inch Cetus rims on my 850T - at the time when Volvo was being sued for blowouts on the 16 inch rims. LOL, the fix was to put in 3 more PSI than the door placard suggested)

 

Oops, I missed the intent of the Wheelsize.com. As comprehensive as it gets. Getting Costco to inflate to 38 PSI is always hit and miss and they will always go to the Door Sticker first.

If the OP can decrease the rim size use this website to match tires if they don't want to go with Volvo recommended sizes.
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https://tiresize.com/comparison/
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i dont think downsizing will lower the gas mileage. If you are looking on to changing it to smaller size try to checkout some wheels at www.unleashedwheels.com they got alot of wheels and sizes for XC60 and XC40. I got mine on that website.