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

Daryl Walford wrote:
> 
> I'm not so sure low profile tyres handle better, IMO they are more
> cosmetic than anything else.

yep. Of course it's application specific, but a little sidewall flex can
allow for more effective weight transfer, and the more weight (as a
percentage of the car's mass, for want of better term) pu****ng down apon
the tread the more lateral grip it will have. Of course friction
coefficient goes down with downforce, but at a dramatically less
significant rate, so getting the weight transfer (which isn't
necessarily the same thing as body movement/roll of course) can be
useful.

Perhaps more im****tantly - since the conversation at least started on
the topic of production/street vehicles, the lower profile tyre (all
else being equal which it never is) will have less
warning/predictability as to when it is about to lose traction. To the
uninitiated this might not seem so, as there is likely a difference in
slip angle that might affect perception of whether or not it's cornering
as well (then again, it's probably far less relevant with radials in
general)

A lighter wheel/tyre package can be worth some tenths in a 1/4mile - one
of the semi-parody web posts of some time back was where they took a
riced up ****box (which was so underpowered that the 1/4mile times were
fairly consistent and not particularly subject to driver/grip changes
affecting the outcome massively) and going from the wank big wheels back
to stockers gained (I seem to recall) .3 second reduction (how does one
gain a reduction?) in the 1/4mile time. Of couse they went nuts,
eventually stripping teh interior, cutting off the roof and so forth,
doing a retest with each successive stage.

I can re****t that mini's are still 'fwarkin' happy on 10 inch tyres, not
that there's too many choices left.


-- 
John McKenzie

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