Can anyone give some ride/wear characteristics with say a thinner sidewall for a 17" rim, or a thicker sidewall?

I'm assuming a bumpier ride with the thinner sidewall and a softer more absorbed, so to say, ride with the thicker sidewall. I was having a converstaion with a friend, and he was saying how suspension components begin to wear out on a thinner sidewall. Before calling him an idiot and jumping to conclusions, I began to think about it and it made some sense but I'm still doubting the validity of it.

Edit: Friend drives a S14 with a blacktop SR20DET swap on springs. That's why I ask for the 17" example.

Comments anyone?

Ed

 

A tire will act as a spring, and it is undamped. I would think that the wear rate on your suspension components would be closer related to how you use the vehicle than what the tire sidewall height is. However as the level of grip on the tire goes up (non DOT slicks for example) the suspension will take a beating.

Sidewall stiffness should also be taken into consideration as well as sidewall height - Ride on my 205/50/15 Falkens was noticeably harsher than my 195/60/15 all seasons.

 

definately a harder ride

 

also the thinner the tire the more sound on the road it will pick up.......weird but it does

 

Your "turn-in" speed will greatly increase with a significantly lower profile tire.
There will be less tirewall to flex when you yank the wheel.
This was the first thing I noticed when going less aspect ratio.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by oryanh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Your "turn-in" speed will greatly increase with a significantly lower profile tire.
There will be less tirewall to flex when you yank the wheel.
This was the first thing I noticed when going less aspect ratio.</TD></TR></TABLE>

when you made this change, did you change tire type/width/compound also?

 

In my previous ride? no.
Recently, yes.

 

I was just wondering since its often hard to find a tire that has the same section width with more than one aspect ratio... changing section width and/or tire compounds makes it hard to get a good comparison for aspect ratio and vehicle performance.

My 205/50/15 falkens turned in better than my 225/45/15 kumho ecsta v700's. While the r-tires are faster, the falkens 'felt' better.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I was thinking more towards the wear side of things, like suspension components needing to work more because of less absorbtion by the tires...

Ed

 

Unless you're running full non-dot slicks, you really dont have much to worry about