why do I need mountains? I've taken it on a track (much faster and tighter corners and much faster and broader sweepers)... and mine were 2 sizes up (from 17 to 19).

The overall diameter is still the same - the total weight of wheel and tire is almost the same... so the idea that smaller heavier wheels are better (in the context of this subject) - simply isn’t true.

 

I might agree if you were talking about two wheels of weight and one was 17" and the other 19". But we are talking about ~6-7 lbs of unsprung weight per wheel for the forged 19 and ~8lbs for the forged 18. WAY too much weight gain for a spinning wheel to make your case.

 

.what post are you referencing Jeff?... I'm not following your point

 

From what I remember, the tires don't matter here since the flex or something, not really sure why... look for articles yourself, it should be all over google.

But it all has more to do with gear ratios, engine speed and wheel rotation...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying a larger diameter wheel is always a bad thing, the thinner sidewall you're probably installing on the larger wheel is going to give less flex, giving you better response, while also being less affected by slightly bigger road bumps

 

^^^ you're bringing things to the discussion that have nothing to do with the subject.

I mean - tire pressure (regardless of size) will affect rolling resistance and therefore acceleration too (as will a wider tire)... but this is not the point.

The entire discussion is moot anyway because the vast majority of bigger wheels in fact are heavier than smaller... most people don’t bother to find light-weight bigger wheels. In those cases it’s the weight more than the size that is killing their acceleration (but I think most don’t care).

 

Tires do matter!

If anything the weight of the TIRE will matter the MOST because it's stuck on the end of the rotating mass in question.

I don't know how many times I've mentioned the looney reason Nissan/Infiniti chooses to use the heavy cast wheels with the lighter michelin pilots while putting the anchor heavy re050s on their expensive forged wheels. Stupid

 

So how does gearing, and engine speed not matter when it's all affected by the rotation of larger wheels?

OK, yea, I guess tires do matter.

 

the shorter sidewall of the tire on a larger rim makes them less heavy than perceived... the 19" wheel/tire combo I have overall is lighter than the wheel/tire combo on my 17" OEM... (some same size tires are lighter than others too).

The weight difference between tires with the same OD (on different size rims) isn’t enough to show much difference... most people wouldn’t feel it and in many cases, 1/4 ET wouldn’t show it.

 

affected by larger tires, tires, tires, tires.

 

I was reffering to these parts of your post:

*the tires don't matter here since the flex or something
the thinner sidewall you're probably installing on the larger wheel is going to give less flex
while also being less affected by slightly bigger road bumps*

 

Either way, why is this kid proud of owning POS, way overpriced ADR aka Sterns? Those things were only good as a foot rest under my desk when I used to work there...

 

Wheel weight / tire weight / overal tire diameter / are not all tied together in the context that you are dicussing.

We are discussing wheel weight vs size only. There is no gearing in this context because there are no tires or tires sizes being discussed (the thing that would determine the final diameter and the resulting final drive gear ratio)

 

Ah. It's been a while... it now takes a minute for me to remember what's correct and what isn't... but when I was talking about the thinner sidewall, I was talking about the benefits of a larger wheel...

 

I'm trying to think back to physics here... so say gearing and engine speed is out of the question, the wheel is still rotating unsprung mass... I just can't remember the rest right now...

Damn this thread... this is bugging me, now I have to ask...

 

this thread has gone so far OT - I had to look at the title to remember wtf it was about