Light vs. Heavy wheels, Does it make a difference?

[Burton]

Heres some info I came across. Weight has always kept me from pulling the trigger on wheel's I really liked. But now I'm not so sure it will affect preformance as much as I use to believe. Check out the article here
http://www.carcraft.com/projectbuild...son/index.html

The test shows that even after removing over 80 lbs from the wheels (between rims and tires), only about .1 sec and 1 mph were picked up in the quarter on a 12 second car. That's the same differential one would expect from removing that amount of sprung, non-rotating mass. This suggests there are minimal, if any, extra benefits coming from the fact the weight reduction here was to unsprung, rotating mass.

Opinions???

[bannonm]

Interesting. Sounds like we should send this to Myth Busters and have them test.

[Sir Nuke]

and if you are wanting to make your car faster.....if that was your goal, then YES it would matter.....if you picked up that .1 second.....it COULD made the difference of willing and losing a race....if it really matters that much to YOU. but if this was the ONLY thing you are going to do to lightn your car for racing....it truley won't make enough difference in the big scheme of things. You would need to lighten a LOT of other things.....like a REAL race car does.

[SGOS252382]

Here's what I got for that. (and its only 1 test)

Also, important point they used 15" wheels for all tests. Larger wheels would have moved the center of gravity further away from the center.

82 lb reduction in rotational mass = .11 sec and 1.12 mph trap speed.

That's equates to around 110 lbs static weight or about 11hp gain (give or take).


That might not be as much as some might want, but its still a nice reduction. A
12.10 @ 110 mph car would run 11.99 @ 111.12 mph by their math.


There's also the Car and Driver test where they took a car and dropped from
19" wheels down to 15" wheels.
The car went from 16.1 @ 86 mph to 15.90 @ 88 mph.
So the gains are there when you drop to smaller and lighter wheels. They just might not be as great as some might think.

[mntgome1]

Put enough TQ behind those wheels and the weight=slow discussion goes out the window..... Jus sayn.

[SGOS252382]

Originally Posted by mntgome1

Put enough TQ behind those wheels and the weight=slow discussion goes out the window..... Jus sayn.

One of the biggest issues besides weight is traction. That's why guys with big wheels usually run relatively slow times at the track. Those high profile tires with little sidewall just can't handle the power.

I've seen guys pushing 550+hp at the track that can do any better than high 12s running 22" wheels. That same car would be running deep in the 11s with some 18" drag radials on the car.

[alanhurst]

Originally Posted by mntgome1

Put enough TQ behind those wheels and the weight=slow discussion goes out the window..... Jus sayn.

hardly, nomatter how fast you go with big wheels you take that same car 5 min later,put smaller/lighter wheels on it,it's gonna be faster every time.

big wheels/small sidewalls are great for autocross where corner grip is king but for the strip it's trash.

it's just a matter of what you want to do with your car,personally i think it's counterproductive to bolt a bunch of stuff on your car to boost the speed then strap on the biggest wagonwheels you can find.

[BronxxBombers213]

on my g35 coupe, I went to TSW Vortex 20" (cast) from the stock forged 19"... Acceleration didn't seem too much different... braking and handling is where I felt it most... So I bought sway bars and a 14" F and 13.8 R BBK setup and all was solved

[So Cal Camaro]

My Camaro feels much more nimble running lighter 19" wheels and tires, it brakes better, and handles autocross course much better. I'm not looking for drag racing time improvements, looking for overall handling and the smaller lighter wheels work better....

[Fraxum]

Like global warming, this question has already been answered. Physics.

[grocerygetter]

Oh lord...don't equate it to global warming.
When I dropped the weight off mine it was so noticeable when accelerating and stopping. Worth it for sure.