Another curious question

[Drewcrane]

Where did you find these tests at? Id like to see them.


BTW, theres not a Lambo currently made with 17" wheels, they all have 18's or 19's on them now.

Yes you must post these tests for a better discussion

[DLinson]

Are 18" wheels a compromise? Kyle and Bryan are running 18" front and back on their Camaros and the they took 1st and 2nd in the autocross ate RTTH6. Driver skill has a lot to do with that too but they are both great handling cars with 18" wheels. The suspension was designed to work with those wheels.

If you keep the same OD tire but move from a 17" to an 18" you loose sidewall compliance which may hurt. If you keep the same sidewall height and go to a 1" larger OD tire then you won't affect that. The added unsprung weight will be an issue but thats where shock and spring tuning come in.

It's also getting harder to finde 17" tires. BFG cut back on their 17" offerings and are stepping up to 18" and larger for the wider tires. The tire manufactures also follow the automanufactures for tires sizes.

A guy at my work owned a Mini Cooper and was in a Mini club. Their concensus was that the Mini's with 15 inch wheels with more tire sidewall compliance handled better than the 17" wheels and tires.

I run 17" wheels on my Nova but back when I got the wheels, 17" wheels were considered big.

Dennis

[a73formula]

QUOTE: If you keep the same OD tire but move from a 17" to an 18" you loose sidewall compliance which may hurt. If you keep the same sidewall height and go to a 1" larger OD tire then you won't affect that.


I have to agree with dlinson, its more the amount of sidewall that makes the bigger difference than the rim size. I also have to argue with the statement that the lamborgini's are out handling the corvettes, from what I've seen racing the corvettes are even if not ahead. Just my opinion though.