If you put different wheels on your car It could effect the performance and handling of your car. If you put bigger wheels on your car and don't increase the total aspect ratio of the wheel ( the diameter ) or increase the width, you should receive better handling around corners due to the fact that you have less tyre roll ( because you have less tyre wall height ) and therefore keep a grater contact patch on the road. You should also decrease body roll due to the fact that there is less tyre height and less air in the tyre to be compressed when the weight is applied to the outside tiers.

WHEEL WEIGHT

As far as wheel weight goes you should not notice a great difference in weight even though you have more metal because you should have less air in your tyres due to the fact that they have a lower profile ( if the aspect ratio and width are the same ) . Note: Air which has been compressed weighs more then non compressed air ( some people use this method to find out how much air is in a divers tank ). However If you increase the total aspect ratio or increase the width of the wheel you will increase the weight of the wheel which will also decrease acceleration and braking performance because the wheel will have a grater momentum. This will also change the wheels weight in relation to the car. due to the wheel being heavier the wheel will have greater momentum when you go over a bump in the road this will mean the car will be more bouncy and the wheel will have a slower transit time ( rebound time ) which means it will not track the road as well as a lighter wheel.

HOWEVER …

9 time out of ten when people buy 17" they increases the width of the wheel and increase the total aspect ratio of the wheel and its weight. This can greatly affect performance of your car. By increasing the diameter of the wheel you will effectively gear up the car, which I believe is a bad thing this will also affect the speedo reading. It should read slower than you are actually going. But this will mean your odometer will read less k's than what you have done ( cool ). You can get the speedo recalibrated to read the right speed if you want.

APEAL

Well that is up to you but…. I think 17"s look better on AE 101's and at the end of the day I think this is the real issue. Most don't care about performance.