mono_t
PId
redfury
S31Ender
6x15" rims only improved when I changed them to 7x17" (and lowered the car). It's reactions just felt sharper. The steering didn't feel quite so sluggish anymore. It may very well have been psychological, but I felt more secure taking corners way faster than before (not that it couldn't be done before, but it just wasn't fun 
). 
code_kev*whispers* its just a game.
mono_tI'm talking about ordinary family cars that can easily be improved just by increasing the size of the rim. My Nissan Primera '97 with it's
NA8CIncreasing the wheel diameter does nothing but increase unsprung weight. The bigger the wheel, the poorer the performance. The increased weight simply increases the rolling resistance of the wheel, which isn't what you want when you're trying to pull as much handling performance out of a car as possible. The smaller the diameter of the wheel, the lighter it is - lightness is what you want in a performance situation. It's really about striking a balance between wheel and tire size. Your bigger wheels may have felt as if they performed better, but that's simply an effect of your tires having smaller sidewalls; there's not as much rubber there to flex or fold under conditions of increased stress. Take a 14" wheel and pair it with a tire with a very stiff sidewall and you'll get the same (if not better) results.
It's all about pounds-per-corner. Say you have a 9.5lb 14" wheel (like the stock alloys on my Miata, which I now use for track events) coupled with a tire that weighs ~17.0lbs. That makes for a corner weight of 26.5lbs. Take another wheel; 15" @ 12.0lbs (like the wheels I have on the car for every-day driving) coupled with a tire that weighs 19.0lbs. That's a corner weight of 31.0lbs. The difference there is 4.5lbs. In your hand, 4.5lbs isn't a lot of weight at all. On a standing wheel, it's not a whole lot of weight either. On a spinning wheel? The weight difference becomes MASSIVE! Why? That 4.5lbs becomes a whole lot heavier as it spins.
The car's motor works harder to spin that wheel, so in effect, you lose horsepower. Another detriment of larger wheels? Increased wheel weight has a direct effect on braking - a heavier wheel takes more braking power and a longer distance to be brought to a stop. Also, wheel size and weight also affect your suspension - the car's ride will be smoother with a lighter wheel. From a performance standpoint, the suspension doesn't work as hard with a lightweight wheel as it does with a heavy one.
Your wheels didn't affect your car's handling performance in a good way (I'm assuming you didn't pay the very large sums of money it takes to purchase a lightweight 17" wheel). Lowering it is what helped. A reduced center of gravity greatly changes a car's handling characteristics. Again, it corrolates to weight: you're reducing the weight that's "up high" on a car by moving it closer to the ground. In doing so, you minimize the weight that shifts from side to side during cornering.
Sort of a tangent, but just trying to educate the masses.
ferret-turboexactly......
go to a car forum to get technical
NA8CIncreasing the wheel diameter does nothing but increase unsprung weight. The bigger the wheel, the poorer the performance. The increased weight simply increases the rolling resistance of the wheel, which isn't what you want when you're trying to pull as much handling performance out of a car as possible. The smaller the diameter of the wheel, the lighter it is - lightness is what you want in a performance situation. It's really about striking a balance between wheel and tire size. Your bigger wheels may have felt as if they performed better, but that's simply an effect of your tires having smaller sidewalls; there's not as much rubber there to flex or fold under conditions of increased stress. Take a 14" wheel and pair it with a tire with a very stiff sidewall and you'll get the same (if not better) results.
It's all about pounds-per-corner. Say you have a 9.5lb 14" wheel (like the stock alloys on my Miata, which I now use for track events) coupled with a tire that weighs ~17.0lbs. That makes for a corner weight of 26.5lbs. Take another wheel; 15" @ 12.0lbs (like the wheels I have on the car for every-day driving) coupled with a tire that weighs 19.0lbs. That's a corner weight of 31.0lbs. The difference there is 4.5lbs. In your hand, 4.5lbs isn't a lot of weight at all. On a standing wheel, it's not a whole lot of weight either. On a spinning wheel? The weight difference becomes MASSIVE! Why? That 4.5lbs becomes a whole lot heavier as it spins.
The car's motor works harder to spin that wheel, so in effect, you lose horsepower. Another detriment of larger wheels? Increased wheel weight has a direct effect on braking - a heavier wheel takes more braking power and a longer distance to be brought to a stop. Also, wheel size and weight also affect your suspension - the car's ride will be smoother with a lighter wheel. From a performance standpoint, the suspension doesn't work as hard with a lightweight wheel as it does with a heavy one.
Your wheels didn't affect your car's handling performance in a good way (I'm assuming you didn't pay the very large sums of money it takes to purchase a lightweight 17" wheel). Lowering it is what helped. A reduced center of gravity greatly changes a car's handling characteristics. Again, it corrolates to weight: you're reducing the weight that's "up high" on a car by moving it closer to the ground. In doing so, you minimize the weight that shifts from side to side during cornering.
Sort of a tangent, but just trying to educate the masses.
I think you have misunderstood me. I never said anything about increasing the overall diameter of the wheel. If I did, I'm sorry. I was talking about increasing the diameter of the rim, at the same time decreasing the tirewall, i.e. going from 195/60-R15 to 205/50-R16, which was the case with the Primera, not R-17. That was a typo 
)
SaintKamus
mono_tMy Nissan Primera '97 with it's
lol tax payers money at their highest... J/KT100Lay off Brenton New York City public schools suck
NA8CIncreasing the wheel diameter does nothing but increase unsprung weight. The bigger the wheel, the poorer the performance. The increased weight simply increases the rolling resistance of the wheel, which isn't what you want when you're trying to pull as much handling performance out of a car as possible. The smaller the diameter of the wheel, the lighter it is - lightness is what you want in a performance situation. It's really about striking a balance between wheel and tire size. Your bigger wheels may have felt as if they performed better, but that's simply an effect of your tires having smaller sidewalls; there's not as much rubber there to flex or fold under conditions of increased stress. Take a 14" wheel and pair it with a tire with a very stiff sidewall and you'll get the same (if not better) results.
It's all about pounds-per-corner. Say you have a 9.5lb 14" wheel (like the stock alloys on my Miata, which I now use for track events) coupled with a tire that weighs ~17.0lbs. That makes for a corner weight of 26.5lbs. Take another wheel; 15" @ 12.0lbs (like the wheels I have on the car for every-day driving) coupled with a tire that weighs 19.0lbs. That's a corner weight of 31.0lbs. The difference there is 4.5lbs. In your hand, 4.5lbs isn't a lot of weight at all. On a standing wheel, it's not a whole lot of weight either. On a spinning wheel? The weight difference becomes MASSIVE! Why? That 4.5lbs becomes a whole lot heavier as it spins.
The car's motor works harder to spin that wheel, so in effect, you lose horsepower. Another detriment of larger wheels? Increased wheel weight has a direct effect on braking - a heavier wheel takes more braking power and a longer distance to be brought to a stop. Also, wheel size and weight also affect your suspension - the car's ride will be smoother with a lighter wheel. From a performance standpoint, the suspension doesn't work as hard with a lightweight wheel as it does with a heavy one.
Your wheels didn't affect your car's handling performance in a good way (I'm assuming you didn't pay the very large sums of money it takes to purchase a lightweight 17" wheel). Lowering it is what helped. A reduced center of gravity greatly changes a car's handling characteristics. Again, it corrolates to weight: you're reducing the weight that's "up high" on a car by moving it closer to the ground. In doing so, you minimize the weight that shifts from side to side during cornering.
Sort of a tangent, but just trying to educate the masses.
Big rims pretty....ferret-turboye I know it's a lot more involved than those games...but...it's STILL a game
a damm good one though!
