Rims

[dan at angband.org (Dan)]

On Fri, Feb 20, 2004 at 06:54:53AM -0500, Allyn wrote:
> > Also, what wheel diameter and width would be ideal for 15" rims?
> 
> 15x6 is a pretty good width. i'd stay away from 15x7 on a rocco.
> not sure why others dislike 15's. i ran them on several of my roccos with no
> bad stuff, and plenty of increased lateral grip in the turns.

Tire choice in that size range bites,  what is available is 50% more
expensive, and barely lasts 25,000 miles.  The lower profile does have
slightly higer grip on dry pavement, but much worse in the rain, and the
the available tread patterns completely rot in the snow.  Additionally,
they suck power from you during acceleration due to higher moment of 
inertia, and adversely affect handling because of the higher unsprung
weight.  On top of all that, once I spent way too much money on a set of
Hock-Rs, I decided that they look silly.  Way too much open space and not
enough brake disc.  The 10.1s in the front don't look TOO bad, but the
rear discs are really goofy.  Almost as bad as the posers with 17" on a
Mazda Protoge with their tiny rear brake drums spray painted bright
yellow.

If 15" rims help handling so much, why are all the most competitve
autocrossers running 13" ?

Dan

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