Re: Why more 17& 18 inch wheels on new vehicles

Pit <spamlister@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> However, have no desire to decrease or compromise brake  operations .
> I am told 16 WILL fit but cooling is decreased .

Either they fit or they don't.  A given size of brake will have a
minimum rim size, and any rim that size or larger will work fine.

Anyone telling you that the cooling is decreased is probably right in a
perverse way, given that excessive airflow around the brakes can result
in overcooling.  With modern pad materials, this isn't such a problem
but with some older pads, you had to choose between soft pads that
worked well cold and wore out in no time or hard pads that worked really
well when hot but were virtually useless cold.

With metallic pads, they were fine once the brakes got up to operating
temperature but useless if they cooled down again.  A road car fitted
with brake cooling scoops like racing cars have could have completely
useless brakes after 50+km on a freeway or highway because they'd get
too cold...

In your case, the reduced brake cooling due to going from 17" rims to
the design rim size of 16" could actually improve the brakes by reducing
overcooling.

Just make sure that the rims do have holes through them to allow for air
flow.  The old "centreline" style rims can cause brake overheating
irrespective of rim diameter, and were only ever intended for use on a
drag strip.  If the Falcon steelies can get enough airflow with the row
of holes around the centre plus hubcaps on the outside, I really don't
see any other rim with bigger holes being a problem...

-- 
Athol
<http://cust.idl.com.au/athol>
  Linux Registered User # 254000
I'm a Libran Engineer. I don't argue, I discuss.