Re: Power versus wheels.

[Jim Buck <vwpride@mixi.net>]

Good question.  Sidewall height affecting handling to a great degree is carryover from
bias ply tire tech.  Today's tires don't flex that much if they are designed for high
performance, no matter if it's a 60 or a 40 series.  Now the 40 series will flex
slightly less than a 60 series of the same tire, but it certainly will not buy you
significantly lower lap times or roll the tread up on itself.  Remember, the big wheel
thing came about because exotic cars and Touring Cup cars needed room for 14"+ brake
rotors, and they would certainly give up a little acceleration for way better
braking.  Big wheels look cool too.

jim

"Wm. Josiah Erikson" wrote:

> Will you actually gain handling with a 215/40/16 over a 195/50/15 of the same kind
> of tire? Anybody have more than just seat of the pants experience to back it up
> either way?
>     -Josiah
>     '84 GTI
>     '86 Scirocco 8v (buy me!)
>     '87 QSW
>     http://www.gsinet.net/~josiah
>
> James Tuan wrote:
>
> > Bradley Peet wrote:
> > >
> > > Let's get one thing straight:  larger wheels don't reduce the power your car
> > > has.  They do hurt acceleration because they have more mass and it takes
> > > some additional power to spin that larger mass up to speed than a smaller,
> > > lighter wheel/tire combo.
> >
> > Don't forget about overall size diameter of the tire combination. A
> > taller combination will raise your overall gear ratio thus the seat of
> > the pants will be slower feeling car. But if you stay with the same
> > overall diameter then the only way to test "larger" mass it to weigh the
> > tires.  Generally you can buy lighter and larger rims thus actually
> > reduce overall mass yet preserving factory diameters. Of course there is
> > a premium $ associated with this type of purchase. The benefits of the
> > larger diameter rim is less tire side wall thus better overall handling
> > but harsher ride.
> >
> > you can do the opposite of course, you can reduce the overall tire
> > diameter and gain
> > a seat of the pants feel.
> >
> > --
> > James K. Tuan                                   Ph: 203.961.1686
> > PetroChemNet Inc.                               Fax:203.357.7011
> > 1281 Main Street                                email: jtuan@t3tech.com
> > Stamford CT 06902                               URL: www.petrochem.net
> >
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--
Jim Buck
1990 Passat Wagon 2.0 16v
1987 Scirocco 16v "lil 109"
1982 Rabbit Convertible

Got Wheels? Visit anyway!

http://www.mixi.net/~vwpride/



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