Re: Power versus wheels.

["Wm. Josiah Erikson" <josiah@gsinet.net>]

Will you actually gain handling with a 215/40/16 over a 195/50/15 of the same kind
of tire? Anybody have more than just seat of the pants experience to back it up
either way?
    -Josiah
    '84 GTI
    '86 Scirocco 8v (buy me!)
    '87 QSW
    http://www.gsinet.net/~josiah

James Tuan wrote:

> Bradley Peet wrote:
> >
> > Let's get one thing straight:  larger wheels don't reduce the power your car
> > has.  They do hurt acceleration because they have more mass and it takes
> > some additional power to spin that larger mass up to speed than a smaller,
> > lighter wheel/tire combo.
>
> Don't forget about overall size diameter of the tire combination. A
> taller combination will raise your overall gear ratio thus the seat of
> the pants will be slower feeling car. But if you stay with the same
> overall diameter then the only way to test "larger" mass it to weigh the
> tires.  Generally you can buy lighter and larger rims thus actually
> reduce overall mass yet preserving factory diameters. Of course there is
> a premium $ associated with this type of purchase. The benefits of the
> larger diameter rim is less tire side wall thus better overall handling
> but harsher ride.
>
> you can do the opposite of course, you can reduce the overall tire
> diameter and gain
> a seat of the pants feel.
>
> --
> James K. Tuan                                   Ph: 203.961.1686
> PetroChemNet Inc.                               Fax:203.357.7011
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> Stamford CT 06902                               URL: www.petrochem.net
>
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