i changed my 16" rim to a 17" aguilla sport rim and i absolutely love my cat more than ever before, however the ride comfort is gone and i have this stiff ride and even feel very small bumps on the road. Again it feels like the front suspension is gone though i never noticed that when i drove with the 16" rim. Anyway am currently running on 245/45R17 and i dont know what to do to enjoy comfortable ride.
Again there is this annoying rattling from the left side of the dashboard and i have tried to find what is causing that and how to fix it but have not been successful.
Any help?

 

You did two things to change your ride comfort. Larger wheels and as a result shorter tires. You didn't mention the brand of tires you put on the 17s but that could be contributing to your extra stiffness. Check with your tire shop and see what they recommend as a softer tire for the wheels and your car.

It is expected to get a stiffer ride for every increase in wheel size but your tires could be making it worse than it has to be.

 

What MBary said... for the most part.

The rattle, do a search, a ton of info on hear about the blender doors rattling and how to fix them.

 

Also, the unstrung weight of the wheel tire assy plays a big role in NVH (noise vibration harshness) .

 

Tires

 

The sound from your dashboard area could be the door near the tweeter speaker area ( just makes it seem like it is coming from the dashboard) and also could be the air vent register on the drivers side. If that is rattling it is most likely the little plastic gears that open and close the air flow gets a little loose and makes a plastic rattling sound when you hit bumps....

 

anyway thought the ride comfort has been compromised and not thinking about going back to the 16" rims cos i love this new look.
thanks guys