I know lighter wheels are better and that is basically where my wheel knowledge ends. I know there has to be a tradeoff somewhere, or else everyone would be running 3 pound 6 inch wheels. I am trying to learn as much as possible about different setups and the search on wheel sizes netted me "will look good on y car" and "can you photoshop x wheel on y car?" So any and all your help is appreciated.

I am currently debating between the 15x7 and 16x7.5 kosei's. THANKS.

 

15x7 on an Integra. Anything smaller (CRX/older Civic) should be running 14".


There is NO real benefit to running anything larger than 15s but what you get is rotational unsprung mass.

 

Just to play silly bugger, has anyone read the latest GRM, where they compare wheel sizes for street and auto-x? Stock, plus 1, plus 2 and plus 3 were tested on the same car, with 5 different drivers. The results were interesting. They found that the 17 inch wheel/tire combo was the best handling of the bunch, and turned the fastest times with them.

I'm not necessarily saying that it automatically makes it right for everyone, but it is food for thought.

 

Is this in the issue with the different car for different price ranges on the cover? I must have missed it. Sounds like good reading though..

TTT

Anyone care to elaborate on the hows and whys?

 

Probably due to the increased sidewall stiffness. Less rollover = more bite at turn-in. That is good for an autocross car but not necessarily for a road race car. At the higher speeds the quick bite and subsequent rapid transition can upset the car and send you into a wall at 90MPH. You will find that most well prepared road race cars will be set up on the loose side and will be set up more to slide than to transition quickly.

Also - I can't believe that a heavier wheel will not hurt our torqueless wonders. Rotational mass is a bad thing. I often wonder why people put in lightenned flywheels but then add bulky pimpy 17s to the car. They are just adding the reduced rotational mass of the flywheel right back in the form of the wheels.

 

Another thing to consider is that you will generally have a wider selection of tires in 15".

 

What about adding size and not weight? Example 16X7 inch rotas are 15 pounds and stock rims are 15 pounds. Don't the speedvision guys run 16's on there ITR's?

 

15" = less weight + cheaper tires = me

 

This is true.

 

doOd.....i went with 20x10's yo dawg my shiz is tizzzite! anything smaller is a waste!

 

were they using the same tire compound on each rim? (of course the tires would still be fundamentally different due to their dimensions...)

another thing in the plus column for smaller wheels is cost....if you're racing, you're going through tires like a ****...and it's much cheaper to eat up 15s than it is to eat up 17s. As long as your overall diameter is preserved, you can do 16s, and possibly 17s, and you might end up liking them more, or finding a combination that works for you wheel-and-tire wise...but big for the sake of big ends up being heavier and slower.

 

I think the series that are running 17's are doing so because it's series policy... looks better on tv ya know...

 

I wonder about this...If you have a 15" wheel weighing 10 lbs with 5" added to its diameter by tire vs. a 16" wheel weighing 12 lbs with 4" added to its diameter by tire, which one would weigh more overall? Often tires are not taken into consideration, but on my stock CRX Si wheels, which weighed something like 14 lbs alone, weighed 28-30 lbs with inflated 185/60/14 tires. Since the alloys used in wheels are less dense than (tires+the air they hold), couldn't 16s or 17s made of the same alloy as 10 lb 15" wheels be an overall lighter package since the wheels weigh more, but the tire makes up less of the overall diameter, so it weighs significantly less?

I guess it's still a bad idea since the rim of the wheel would be further out, right? I don't know...just something to think about I suppose.

 

It's an online article under there Technical Tuning Topics...I read it a while back and found it really interesting.

Here's the link:

Plus Size comparison


[Modified by Vracer111, 11:30 AM 7/11/2002]

 

I saw that article, and thought it was total crap, because each time they plus sized, they went with a wider tire.. Basically started with a 185/14 and moved up to a 215/17...

 

Ah yes, it was an online article, my mistake. And they used the same tire, except for the stock one. They were all Dunlops though. One of the parameters was to stay close to stock TD, though that doesn't necessarily explain why they went bigger.

All the other points are well taken though, it depends on the application (auto-x/road race) and your budget.

At least my intention to spur debate worked well!