Do bigger wheels help performance?!?

[NismoDan]

So I was watching the Best Motoring Rotary Reborn DVD when they mentioned something about the RX-8 having bigger wheels, and that helped in a corner.
It was during the Tsukuba battle against the G35 Coupe and S2000 and all these other cars, and on one corner the narrator guy said "the RX-8 should have an advantage here with it's 18 inch wheels."

How would 18's be an advantage?

[timmybgood]

wider?

adiadek;fajdfa

[nightwalker]

to a certain degree. Wider doesn't always mean more traction. Bigger wheels are advantageous because of the smaller sidewall. But wider wheels require more inertia to turn, and more braking to stop. Most anything above 17 is not good. Also depends on the car in question and what not.

A good rule of thumb, don't buy 20s.

[Andrew Bohan]

wide contact patch is good, and small sidewall is good. lots of metal is not good.

ima get some tweels one of these days

[Drunk Bastard]

i got some tires for those wheels, homeboy :rawk:

[sr240mike]

Tweels are dope!!!

[mk20116]

large contact patch. but isn't it in conjunction with the wheelbase of the rx-8 that would attribute to it's handling in corners?

[mjjstang]

a great Eskimo once told me "wider is better"

[90RS13]

There was a car mag, not import type, like Car and Driver I think, that did a test.... same car with 15,16,17,18, wheels. Same tires (obviously different sizes) same width etc. They ended up getting best results with 17's and with 18's comin in second.

[NismoDan]

The only thing I could think of was that, during cornering, having a large diameter wheel means keeping the rotating momentum of the wheel up, requiring less force to get the car going again at the corner exit.
Sort of the opposite of drag/launching, where you want less rotational mass, here, having more rotational mass means having more force pushing you out of the turn.

i dont know....

[ZK]

The larger the wheel, the thinner the tire they run. Less sidewall flex so it handles more predictably.

[pruto]

bigger is always better... right? =)

[axiomatik]

The way wheel/tire size affects handling is much more complex than just 'shorter sidewalls = less flex'. It is true that a shorter/stiffer sidewall will make a car react more quickly in turns, but there is much more to improving handling than just getting quicker turn-in. Increasing unsprung weight (by getting bigger wheels) will cause more motion to be transmitted to the body, which in turn will transmit more motion to the suspension at the other corners, changing their geometry. Weight distribution also plays a large role in what tire width/aspect ratio provides better handling.

[ZK]

The way wheel/tire size affects handling is much more complex than just 'shorter sidewalls = less flex'. It is true that a shorter/stiffer sidewall will make a car react more quickly in turns, but there is much more to improving handling than just getting quicker turn-in. Increasing unsprung weight (by getting bigger wheels) will cause more motion to be transmitted to the body, which in turn will transmit more motion to the suspension at the other corners, changing their geometry. Weight distribution also plays a large role in what tire width/aspect ratio provides better handling.

Very true, a wheel/tire combo works good on one car may not work good on another car so it depends a lot on the car itself and how everything else is set up. Also, larger rims shift the weight of the wheel from the inside to the outside of the wheel which changes the handling characteristics. Rubber is displaced by aluminum and aluminum is heavier than rubber.

[sideviewcivic]

search on race cars forums such as size of wheel in relation to the size of the car. you will road-race on 16s or 17s in a 240. from honda-tech to bimmerforums can give you very good info. usually bigger weight cars like supras, skylines, vipers, vettes need bigger wheels to have a bigger tire to deal with the increased weight and load. In some instances the size of the wheel is mandated by the sactioning body. SCCA,NASA,etc.

[egan]

http://www.grmotorsports.com/plustest.html

[Kernel Klinko]

K bad example and as for the ricer comment.
American Muscle = straight line
Ricer = Corner

So basically smaller tires accelerate faster
Bigger Tires Have Higher top speed

[MakotoS13]

Let's just say you have a decent car like 190 rwhp.

never heard of that one... who makes it?

Because you need power to push larger wheels (now i'm talking about diameter of wheel not rim).

power is useful to push anything...

but larger tires can have a better top speed (they both will mess up your speedo.)

top speed of the tire or the CAR?

Anyways i'm saying if you put 2 supped up cars next to each other in a race like 400hp the one with larger wheel tires would win if they had all the same mods and reaction times.

Walter Tommy Frank?! dubya tea eff mate?

Now it gets much more complex then this, you would prob have to ask someone who races. I'm not going to even touch in on the cornering part but smaller sidewall is better. In any case i'm going with the biggest rims and whatever size tire will fit on it, that will still fit on my car.

so basically your whole point is that:

+ you don't race
+ if you did you'd do it in a straight line
+ you will stick 20's under your car if its in any way possible

= RICER

[OptionZero]

That sums it up pretty nicely

Smaller wheel = less weight = faster with equal power, dude.

[Loofee95SE]

well I believes this also have to do with wheels offset. I can't believes that so much about offset on wheels is mention on the forums but nobody actualy brought up" WHY LESS OFFSET WHEELS IS BETTER!!"
in performance and not just looks. go figure. C

[dball33]

I can't believes that so much about offset on wheels is mention on the forums but nobody actualy brought up" WHY LESS OFFSET WHEELS IS BETTER!!"

Yeah, I've wondered that myself. I think it has to do something with having a wider track but I could be wrong.

[OptionZero]

Wider track. Brake and Suspension Clearance.

Perhaps more room for tires, in some instances.

Of course, everything in moderation.

[citizen]

~wheel rates~ =P

[goodjuan]

http://www.grassrootsmotorsports.com/plustest.html

pretty good check check it...uh..we are the aqua teens

[sykikchimp]

low offsets have negatives too, like increased scrub radius.