Hey does anyone know.... I have 205/40/17 kuhmo's and i got them on the car, so i never saw wether or not it made the car slower to have 17's on it... has anyone put 17's on thier car with that tire size? what happened? did anyone notice a big differerence? anything will help! thanks! -R (I put one of the stock tires next to my 17" w/ the tire on it and they were both the same hieght and width.... so i dont know why people say it will slow your car down with 17's... just wondering... )

 

I think it has something to do with the weight of the bigger wheels/tires. The heavier wheels will hurt your acceleration because they require more force to get them moving. Most 17 inch wheels are a lot heavier in comparison to 15 inch wheels.

 

a 17'' rim is slower, due to rolling mass, it takes alot more to get a 17'' rims rolling that it's smaller counter part.. also with a 17'' wheel will have more rolling mass once rolling, so in theory a 17 rims will give yoiu alittle more top end and take more to stop. i hope this helped some, or at least maid some kinda sence

 

It will al make sense if you try to run with a pair of combat boots vs. some Air Jordans. Both the same size. I'm sure your 0-40 yard time will be different. Notice how much more effort it takes to move your legs, AND when it makes the difference.

 

if you find set of lightweight 17's, you won't lose much in the interest of power. Otherwise, what has been said here is true, for the most part. For example: If you have a 15" combo that weighs say, 33 lbs.(wheel and tire), then you move to a lightweight 17" wheel and tire combo that could weigh close to the same or lighter than that 15" combo. Not much, if anything, lost.
btw:
205/50-15 =23.07" overall dia.
205/40-16 =23.46"
the overall dia. will change your gearing, hence making the car slower from the "longer" gear ratio.




[Modified by jg, 10:28 AM 3/13/2002]

 

didn't someone prove that even you have a light weight 17 vs a similary weight 15, that you'll still be a bit slower at a 1/4 mi due to the fact that you have pushed the weight more to the outside of the wheel, hence still needing more power to rotate the wheel forward?

something like that.

 

"didn't someone prove that even you have a light weight 17 vs a similary weight 15, that you'll still be a bit slower at a 1/4 mi due to the fact that you have pushed the weight more to the outside of the wheel, hence still needing more power to rotate the wheel forward?"

Yes, this is true. BUT, i'm thinking the difference wouldn't be noticeable. I doubt it would be anything more that 1/10 of a second. I'm only guessing though.

 

WOW... where did you get these figures? I find them inaccurate.
205/40-16 =22.5"
That combo will yield a much smaller diameter than stock

Leif

 

I definitely noticed a difference when I pulled out of the tire shop when I got my 17s put on, My car felt slow. I also have the Kumho 205 40 17s on motegi mr7s They are heavy as hell, this winter when I put my stock 13in steelies on my car felt like I just found an extra 20 horses under the backseat or something. To answer your question if you have heavy 17s YES it will make the car slower than if you had a lighter wheel.