Changing Rims? Think Twice!

[rev210]

I noticed today that the factory stagea alloys are in fact lightweight forged units.

Although a little on the narrow side at only 7" wide , a true performance upgrade is going to have to be forged. Will have to see how well the 205's cope with planned power increases.

[Ska]

OK I can categorically tell you this as a fact. I had 18" 235's on and went back to the stocker 15" with 205's

The amount of grip I lost was phenominal! And not just in one place, lost in acceleration, braking, cornering.

The 235's I had on had SOOO much more grip!

And dont even start with me and how the 205's performed in the wet................ Only thing keeping them on is that I have not yet worn through them, which is surprising, going to a skidpan in July but.............

[rev210]

The alloy units on mine are 16 inch as opposed to 15's. Look like baby BBS rims.

[yokotas13]

i mean, this isnt really a serious post right?

becuase a 9 inch definately offers no advantage over a 7 inch lol

[rev210]

Should have clarified a tad more for some.

At present I have no issues with traction at all with the 205 tyres (this includes corenering), so I don't need wider rims to increase grip right now.

Put simply going for a heavier rim & tyre combo 'generally' means;

* slower accelleration

* slower decelleration

* poorer handling

* poorer braking

* decreased fuel ecconomy

* increased load on drivetrain

yokotas13,

The only advantage for me going from 7inch to 9inch wide rims is 'bling' (not knocking the bling ,just not as important to me). Hope that helps clarify a little

[overpowered]

you would be suprised at how much difference there is in handling around corners with high profile and low profile tyres, the low profile are wayyy less prone to rolling around and making the car feel like its on jelly so 17s or 18s with 35 profile etc will be wayyy better than 15 or 16s with 55 profile.

[captinsane]

ummm NO... going to 235 or 255 and bigger size rim (so lets say 17 instead of 15's or 16's[optional factory wheel] are going to give you

.more traction (braking, accelerating, cornering WHATEVER!!) because of more contact with the ground

.less tyre roll on cornering (cause you have less tyre wall on which to roll)

.The mags i borrowed off my mate for a few days were noticably lighter than the stock ones... so it makes everything yuou just said a moot point.

Edited June 4, 2007 by captinsane

[rev210]

ummm NO... going to 235 or 255 and bigger size rim (so lets say 17 instead of 15's or 16's[optional factory wheel] are going to give you

.more traction (braking, accelerating, cornering WHATEVER!!) because of more contact with the ground

.less tyre roll on cornering (cause you have less tyre wall on which to roll)

.The mags i borrowed off my mate for a few days were noticably lighter than the stock ones... so it makes everything yuou just said a moot point.

Hi,

Couple of things;

I don't want to start a pointless argument about tyres and handling, there are plenty of books written and people about to ask. I was trying to point out that perhaps some stageas have these 'forged' alloy rims and that they are more valuable than most might realise.

As it's pretty common in my experience to hear similar things to what you are saying about tyres I can only try and suggest the info you have is somewhat incomplete and a little incorrect. A big patch of rubber contacting the road is great but, thats not the actual goal nor is it by itself the fastest way to that goal.

Racing tyres and for that matter any decent brand of road tyre, have rather good sidewalls as a feature of each tyre whether they be a small 205 16 50 series like the ones I have or a 255 18 40 series (actually they both have exactly the same sidewall height of 102mm -- suprised?). The 'radial roll' you reffer to isn't a bad issue on any well matched set of tyres and rims. The sidewalls do alot more FOR handling and traction (corners and straight line) than most realise.

Do a little reading and have a chat to Sydneykid or someone who sets up race cars about the topic, you can really benifit from it.

For the record I will be happy to demonstrate how my 'povo' 16 inch forged alloys equiped with a good set of rubber outperform the 'bolt on boy' patrol with 18x10 cast alloys be they jap or bobjane ones, some time in the not too distant future (again).

Happy to take more technical rebutal's anytime

[wolverine]

my money is on rev210.....again.

[mitchy_]

Hi,

Couple of things;

I don't want to start a pointless argument about tyres and handling, there are plenty of books written and people about to ask. I was trying to point out that perhaps some stageas have these 'forged' alloy rims and that they are more valuable than most might realise.

As it's pretty common in my experience to hear similar things to what you are saying about tyres I can only try and suggest the info you have is somewhat incomplete and a little incorrect. A big patch of rubber contacting the road is great but, thats not the actual goal nor is it by itself the fastest way to that goal.

Racing tyres and for that matter any decent brand of road tyre, have rather good sidewalls as a feature of each tyre whether they be a small 205 16 50 series like the ones I have or a 255 18 40 series (actually they both have exactly the same sidewall height of 102mm -- suprised?). The 'radial roll' you reffer to isn't a bad issue on any well matched set of tyres and rims. The sidewalls do alot more FOR handling and traction (corners and straight line) than most realise.

Do a little reading and have a chat to Sydneykid or someone who sets up race cars about the topic, you can really benifit from it.

For the record I will be happy to demonstrate how my 'povo' 16 inch forged alloys equiped with a good set of rubber outperform the 'bolt on boy' patrol with 18x10 cast alloys be they jap or bobjane ones, some time in the not too distant future (again).

Happy to take more technical rebutal's anytime

but you get more style points with the 18x10 cast chromies

question for the rest of you, if lower sidewalls are so great, why do drag cars usually run ~15" rims? and race cars ~16/17" rims?

[Al]

but you get more style points with the 18x10 cast chromies

question for the rest of you, if lower sidewalls are so great, why do drag cars usually run ~15" rims? and race cars ~16/17" rims?

Drag cars need ALL the side wall they can get, to flex on take-off and gain "off the line" traction. Getting them to turn a corner, at speed, is another story.

Race cars that use 15" or 16" rims still have a low profile tyres, with thick side-walls, to help cornering. Smaller rims with low profile tyres equates to a smaller rolling diameter: faster acceleration, better braking and better handling.

Rev210: If you know anyone that runs 255 with 40 profile, on a 18" rim, smack 'em in the back of the head . I think 18x30x255 is recommended, at worst 18x35x255.

Believe it or not; 16" rims with tyres, generally have the same rolling diameter as 18" rims with tyres. You have alot more side-wall flex with 16" tyres, thus resulting in a degraded performance. The extra rubber on a 16" tyre will almost equate to the same weight as the extra alloy on a top quality 18" forged rim. But if you go wider you are also getting more rubber and alloy.

Bottom line: If you are concerned about performance and handling, spend at least $3k on top forged rims and another $3K on good quality rubber. This only really applies to about 5% of enthusiests, as the rest of us will never really justify the differance.

[ssshonky]

One of the things to keep in mind is:

if your using smaller rims ( say a 16 /17 inch vs 1 18/19 inch rim )

you can afford to buy " better rubber " for the same price as buying cheapish tyres for the larger rims..

so you might be able to get some really well contructed and grippy tyres in a 15/16/17 inch rim when you can only afford el cheapos in the larger rim size.

[BoyWhoCriedWolf]

I run Sp3000's 235 40 17. They are great.