Smaller Wheels = Faster????

[AmirClio]

Right got in to a big argument with a mate earlier as im sure if u have small wheels it will make the car marginally quicker...is this true??
I am putting 15's on my valver at the weekend, i no it will feel better but i jmus wanna shut my mate up cus hes a stubbord fucker! lol
thanks
Amir

 

[Anonymous]

Placebo effect mate

 

[AmirClio]

Explain please its 11pm and my brain is on shutdown!

 

[Martin]

15s will make your car quicker...if they are lighter and have a smaller rolling radius. Better handling too

 

[AmirClio]

There williams wheels dude! with 195/45/15 tyres!

what do u rekon?

 

[Anonymous]

I have had 15's then 17's and back to 15's and really didnt notice any difference.

 

[donsrno1]

It does make a difference. It might not be totally noticeable when driving but it will make a difference. Smaller moment of inertia with smaller wheel in general meaning it's easier for the engine to rotate them.

 

[Serg]

surly a 15" wheel with a smaller radius would accelerate faster but a 17" (bigger radius) would be slightly quicker at top end?

 

[manicmonkey]

surly a 15" wheel with a smaller radius would accelerate faster but a 17" (bigger radius) would be slightly quicker at top end?

my thoughts exactly

 

[jongsr4]

The smaller wheels should be a bit quicker, should make the car handle a bit better too

 

[Martin]

edit see post below

 

[lawrence]

this is the difference

i had 15s on my cup ran a 14.61 1/4mile
swapped 2 of the fronts with ballcrushers 17s and couldnt get below 14.8

i had lightweight 15s he had prima williams reps 17inch

 

[Martin]

surly a 15" wheel with a smaller radius would accelerate faster but a 17" (bigger radius) would be slightly quicker at top end?

Not neccesarily... as the bigger wheels will only lenghten the gearing which means unless the car hits the rev limiter in top gear the top speed will be the same possibly lower if the rolling radius and wheel weight is higher.

 

[Sami]

+More friction with bigger wheels = lower top end

 

[The Bear]

A smaller circumference will take less time to complete one revolution, but won't travel quite as far.

As said above, you should accelarate marginally quicker with smaller wheels.

 

[Anonymous]

this is the difference

i had 15s on my cup ran a 14.61 1/4mile
swapped 2 of the fronts with ballcrushers 17s and couldnt get below 14.8

i had lightweight 15s he had prima williams reps 17inch

So they basically make f**k all difference..........which is what I experienced.

My car feels faster/slower from one day to the next depending on conditions etc

 

[jongsr4]

should handle better though, ride should be better too

 

[GordonD]

There are two issues. The size of the wheel itself. And the rolling diameter of the tyre.

A wheel/tyre combination is heavier and is harder to accelerate if it is either wider or the wheel is a larger diameter. A heavier wheel tyre combination degrades ride and fractionally reduces acceleration. A larger diameter wheel (with a lower profile tyre) may however improved cornering power by putting more rubber on the road. Just the same as a wider tyre would.

A wheel/tyre combination with a larger rolling diameter makes the effective gearing taller and will probably reduce acceleration inlow gear. If the gearing is too short for the engine to get to maximum power revs it may increase top speed, but Clio Sports have pretty near optimum gearing in 5th.

So the result of changing to a different wheel/tyre size is almost impossible to predict unless a car has a known problem like clearly having too narrow rubber for the power of its engine. On a car with very little power putting bigger wheels on could make it slower off the line. But the Clio Sport has enough power to spin the drive wheels so the extra traction of a bigger tyre/wheel could more than offset the fact that the bigger wheel is harder for the engine to get spinning.

You note that dragsters have relatively small diameter wheels with big diameter tyres on them. Whereas most circuit race cars have big diameter wheels with low profile tyres. Providing they're allowed to, which excludes F1. And rally cars have smallish whhel and fairly tall tyres. They all wouldn't do that if it wasn't the best answer for them.

 

[lawrence]

So they basically make f**k all difference..........which is what I experienced.

My car feels faster/slower from one day to the next depending on conditions etc

yep pretty much, apart from feeling more planted(less tramlining etc) and the handling iproved, acceleration made f**k all difference, maybe a different matter around a track though?????

 

[Gaz_]

did you know that the french cups (ragnotti) only have 15" speedlines?

must be something in that i reckon

 

[steve740]

I originally had 15's on my mk1 then went to 17's, the difference is immense! Slower acceleration, harsher ride etc. If it wasn't for the look of it, I'd go back to smaller

 

[Gaz_]

i had 16" (super leggras) on my punto gt (come with 14") and again the difference was night and day, ended up selling them!!

 

[john.med]

Had 17" 205 40 profile on mine when I bought it, changed to oem 16" 195 45 profile wheels and the car felt a lot better; turn in, wet driving etc all improved.

Everyone liked my car with 17's on it, used to get comments everywhere from chavs on the street to carwash fellas... Part of the reason I threw some OEM rims on it! Stealth is best.

Most car manufacturers spend a lot of money on development; they don't do this for fun.

You and your mates Kev and Trev aren't really gonna improve on a billion quids worth of development.

Saying that, I had an old 1.6 Cavalier at Uni. Bought some Opel Manta wheels, same size other than the tyre's width was much bigger and the car was ten times beter. Before it'd understeer like a tw@t, spin in the wet upto 30mph, didn't brake well and would just spin it's wheels on a standing hill start if it had rained once in say 1964.

 

[Anonymous]

did you know that the french cups (ragnotti) only have 15" speedlines?

must be something in that i reckon

BTCC cars run on 17's....must be something in that too

 

[Englebert]

Yep, brakes.

 

[Anth1234]

BTCC cars run on 17's....must be something in that too

Power to... wheel ratio? :rasp:

 

[Phill1978]

BTCC cars run on 17's....must be something in that too

yea BTCC cars are bigger than clio`s

the Le`mans racers run 15`s i ithink perhaps even 14`s

not many serious professional racecars run massive 20" wheels or 19" wheels biggest size is probably 18" for the balance of grip and acceleration

 

[black kro]

15s (185/55) to 17s (205/40) only 1.8% difference in circumference - I can't notice it!

 

[sh33n]

There's no right or wrong answer on this.

Smaller lighter wheels means greater speed in a straight line, but wheels with a bigger foot print would provide more starting grip, so it's getting a balance that suits.

Namely why most people say 16s are perfect size on the Clios.

 

[Day]

Yep, brakes.

Yep, the Supertourers ran upto 19 inch to accomodate bigger brakes.
The current regs stop such expensive braking systems to prevent spiraling costs... hence smaller diameter wheels.

 

[Gaz_]

i'm getting some 15's

 

[steve740]

im only keepin my 17s so that i can upgrade brakes ready for engine conversion

 

[carrmrc96]

So would bigger wheels suit cars wiv more torque so that there is more grip pulling off?

 

[Peperami]

surly a 15" wheel with a smaller radius would accelerate faster but a 17" (bigger radius) would be slightly quicker at top end?

Spot on

 

[Henry]

smaller rolling radius = lower gearing = quicker acceleration; in theory

speedo will need recalibrating too

 

[philis]

think bmx vs racing bike (small vs big wheel) and the difference between pedeling each.
you dont them on the tour de france racing bmx's.

 

[Henry]

BMX don't have gears?

 

[carrmrc96]

How do you recalibrate a speedo?

 

[Day]

Also smaller wheels = larger stopping distances

 

[portal172]

this is the difference

i had 15s on my cup ran a 14.61 1/4mile
swapped 2 of the fronts with ballcrushers 17s and couldnt get below 14.8

i had lightweight 15s he had prima williams reps 17inch

You cannot compare the 2 runs. There are other factors to consider.

eg. reaction time and your ability to get off the line.