Rims - opinions please!

[Thunf]

What are your opinion on large rims?

I'd say the only positive is that they are beutiful and makes your car have a bit better grip the few times you really need the extra grip.

I would even choose 16' rims over 17' on an ordinary car. Cars that is even designed to have 21' rims I'd pick 19' with the extra rubber between the road and the wheels, like the BMW 745i. It's incredible how much noice and bumpyness 17' inch wheels makes when put them on a Toyota Avensis for example. In a TV program they called large rims for "Idiot-tires"! Ofcourse you are getting a bit better grip, but what I'd like a car more to be able to do is to get you a nice quiet ride with enough stiffness so you can go also fast enough when the road turns. And you are able to go extremely fast with 16' as well...

[Anzeige eBay]

Hallo Thunf,

 

kennst du schon Rims - opinions please! (Anzeige)? Dort ist vieles zu finden.

 

Verschiedenes über Autos Ersatzteile (Anzeige) | Verschiedenes über Autos Zubehör (Anzeige)

[cstavaru]

There are people who want the absolute best handling and grip. They choose the big rims. There are people like you who want a nice quiet ride. They choose the small rims. And there are people who want their car to look bad ass. They choose the big rims too. So...big rims win !

How about everyone posting pictures of the sleekest rims they ever saw ?

[LateNightCable]

16" was all you really needed for years. Even the legendary E30 BMW M3, which was a handling god came equipped with 15" wheels standard. The move for big wheels has only happened within the last 10 years or so, with cars getting heavier and becoming larger.

There is benefit to be had with 18"s and even 19"s, but wheels in the 20" and up range are mostly for show. 24" spinners are deffinately for show, I'm not into that goofiness. The new Chrysler 300 is one of the few cars that I think could actually use a 22" wheel, at least for asthetic purposes. Even 18"s look small on that car.

I like a nice combination of rim diameter and tire profile. Like if you have a large sedan with 18"-19" wheels, I would choose nothing less than 50-55 series rubber to preserve ride quality. Nothing too extreme.

And no Cstavaru, big rims do not automatically translate into superior grip and handling. And certainly not ride. This has more to do with suspension tuneing and tires than wheel size.

[Thunf]

I read that by having 18' wheels on a car instead of 16' I read that with the 18' your car need more fuel, have nearly half a second slower to 100 km/h but stops 2 metres shorter from 100 km/h. I know a friend who have sportsuspension and have 15' wheels on a A3, he still corners extremely fast as more rubber flex a bit to prevent sudden griploss. Lowprofiles 18 have more grip but when you loose grip with them you are almost thrown sideways! Therefore I'd like 16' to prevent too much flex as flexing sometimes feels like the tire coming off the rim. But then again when the roads are bad, you don't want too large rims.

Rolls Royce, doesn't they hve an image that the rims should be on third of the cars height or something?!?

(Also moderators!!! Wouldn't more 'Emoticons' touch up a bit? The size of them are great, but they are few in comparison!)

[LateNightCable]

(Also moderators!!! Wouldn't more 'Emoticons' touch up a bit? The size of them are great, but they are few in comparison!)

There are very few in comparison to the German forum, in fact some have been taken away. This has been made note of in the past, I will pressure the Administrator to do something about it some time.

[skyline_r34v]

I read that by having 18' wheels on a car instead of 16' I read that with the 18' your car need more fuel, have nearly half a second slower to 100 km/h but stops 2 metres shorter from 100 km/h.

If nebody had on 18 foot wheels they would all lose gas mileage and be prolly half an hour slower in 0-60.

' = foot

"= inches

[wanderer]

As for what I think are the best looking rims witch are nice and simple,

I'll go with the HRE 547's

[skyline_r34v]

Sport Edition Fox 2's **drool**

Thinkin about puttin these on the Eclipse.

[Thunf]

If nebody had on 18 foot wheels they would all lose gas mileage and be prolly half an hour slower in 0-60.

' = foot

"= inches

whohohoo!!! I'm sorry!! Talk about Bigfoot!!!

[LateNightCable]

People, contain yourselves. Posting pics of your favorite wheels is fine, but the topic of this thread is what your opinion is of large wheels.

I've already put in my 10 cents, so heres my pic.

Old Skool playa! - 36" 14-spoke rims.

[Anzeige eBay]

Hallo Thunf,

 

schau doch mal hier zum Thema Zubehör für Verschiedenes über Autos (Anzeige)? Eventuell gibt es dort etwas Passendes.

[skyline_r34v]

Looks like it needs one nem ole spit shines therr LNC "spits tabaccy juice inna bucket hearin it PPIIINNNNGGGG" *wipes lip*

Thatter fix er up riiiiight niiiiice.

[bleh]

And no Cstavaru, big rims do not automatically translate into superior grip and handling. And certainly not ride. This has more to do with suspension tuneing and tires than wheel size.

most definitely. the tire has the most to do with the grip, then the wheel width and weight. then finally the diameter.

but consider this: from wheel weight charts i have seen comparing tires weights of equal width (7in) and different rim diameter(14-18in) the change in tire weight is minimal compared to the change in rim weight as the diameter is decreased. there was a more of a change between tires brands than there was rim diameters of tires.

the biggest factor in grip has to be that the larger the diameter the more costly the tire and most of the time rim.

my conclusion is that the biggest advantage to a bigger rim is a bigger rotor, which in many cases is very necisary. pretty straight forward

another advantage that a friend of mine had pointed out was that although smaller rim sizes tend to grip better they are less predictable. this is a good thing for me though, in a car the understeers like it is its job, i can have the front tires fully inflatted and the rear around the upper 20s psi range and get a lot of side wall flex...helping my highknee rotate coming out of turns w/ throttle mashed.

thunf as far as using more fuel and having slower acceleration: that totally depends on wheel width and wheel weight. nothing to do with diameter even though the big name street brands tend to have wider rims with larger diameters.

concluding thought: i like the warning received from larger sidewalls and am more than happy with 15in rims

i didnt really look over this post so im sorry if it doesnt flow and is lengthy. feel free to correct me tactlessly.

[reggid]

bigger rims (as long as overall tyre diameter and pressures remain equal) may even give better acceleration because there is less rolling resistance which is a significant energy loss at low speeds. It also depends on the make of the rim ideally you'd want all the mass to be closer to the center of the wheel to give less rotational inertia but this kind of contradicts using a larger rim. So i guess its not black or white.

As bleh said bigger rims would give better handling and control but not neccesarily better grip or ultimate corner speed.

[Thunf]

bigger rims (as long as overall tyre diameter and pressures remain equal) may even give better acceleration because there is less rolling resistance which is a significant energy loss at low speeds. It also depends on the make of the rim ideally you'd want all the mass to be closer to the center of the wheel to give less rotational inertia but this kind of contradicts using a larger rim. So i guess its not black or white.

As bleh said bigger rims would give better handling and control but not neccesarily better grip or ultimate corner speed.

when overall tyre diameter is the same when comparing large rims and small rims, small rims with the same grip make better acceleration. That is due to the fact that the more rubber bufferts up more power that having less rubber. Big rims transfers all power almost directly to the ground, if it comes a small peak in the powerdevelopment the wheel looses contact. When having more rubber, the rubber flex somewhat when the same peak comes and is bufferted. Therefore dragsters got enourmous tyres! Also F1 and NASCAR cars got pretty much rubber because it's simply smooths out peaks.

[reggid]

when overall tyre diameter is the same when comparing large rims and small rims, small rims with the same grip make better acceleration. That is due to the fact that the more rubber bufferts up more power that having less rubber. Big rims transfers all power almost directly to the ground, if it comes a small peak in the powerdevelopment the wheel looses contact. When having more rubber, the rubber flex somewhat when the same peak comes and is bufferted. Therefore dragsters got enourmous tyres! Also F1 and NASCAR cars got pretty much rubber because it's simply smooths out peaks.

That then would only be true for cars whos acceleration is traction limited ie cars with lots of torque.

For a "normal" car this would not be significant.

Also a car may tend to "bounce" over undulating surfaces if the the tyre profile is low.

[bleh]

bigger rims (as long as overall tyre diameter and pressures remain equal) may even give better acceleration because there is less rolling resistance which is a significant energy loss at low speeds.

no, width is the key factor with rolling resistance. rim diameter does matter but nowhere near as much as width since diameter also depends on tire pressure.

also rolling resistance has effects at all speeds

[Thunf]

It's a world of science in this too.

[reggid]

no, width is the key factor with rolling resistance. rim diameter does matter but nowhere near as much as width since diameter also depends on tire pressure.

also rolling resistance has effects at all speeds

yes, but if we only discuss in terms of rim diameter with recommended pressures then my statement applies.

It would be harder to push a dragster with standard tyres than one with low profile tyres of the same width.

Lower pressures increase rolling resistance as do high profile tyres because the sidewalls are less stiff and tend to flex.

I said rolling resistance is significant at low speed but relatively insignificant at high speed. Relative to other things it is small but not zero as you said.

[bleh]

so is it safe to say that rim diameter not as important as rim width? i do agree with you to some extent. but the real focus should be on width the rolling resistance is smaller at higher speeds on relative to air resistance, but it definitely matters at all speeds. my car with 17x7s loses a 10mph top speed over my stock 14x5.5... 2nd hand experience of course ...never inhaled

[reggid]

I agree that resistance is more from width rather than diameter its just that both would have an effect.

The resistance due to width would probably be almost proportional to width where as for diameter it isn't likely to be proportional to diameter.

One of the reasons for narrow front wheels on a dragster is to reduce rolling resistance.

The air resistance is proportional to velocity squared (Force = 0.5*p*A*C*V^2) so power is velocity cubed (Power = Force x Velocity). But i would think that power loss due to rolling resistance is proportional to velocity. Both are always there and must be considered if you want speed as you said.

[RemdA]

for good handlin' you need quality tyres, for better "feel" in ur hand wheel you need bigger rim, the car will react faster with bigger rim!!! but it will come on the expens of comfort in ur car!!!

less tyre more rim = means there less room for reflex of the tyre. so it hurt the comfort, but it also means that the tyre will get faster back to grip!!!

[zit]

i think there is a limit on some cars how big the rims are but they make a car look sportier and more menacing if they are bigger my old e46 had 19'' instead of 18''s and it looked a lot better and at the moment my 993 turbo runs on 18'' it all depends i think that different sim sizes effect different cars looks so i would go for slightly bigger than normal

[LateNightCable]

* For RemdA -

Big rims do not automatically translate into superior grip and handling. And certainly not ride. This has more to do with suspension tuneing and tires than wheel size.

Also, there are many advancements that have gone into tire technology, meaning that ultra low profile tires and big rims do not guarantee superior anything. There are SUV's with 24" wheels and wide low profile tires, and they still handle and feel like trucks.

As far as there being a limit on how large rims can be on some cars, that would apply to all closed wheel cars. I don't think you could fit 18"s into the standard wheel wells of a Ford Focus for example.

[bleh]

you could fit 18s in a focus or civic... you just wont be able to lower it unless you cut out or roll your fenders. i would rather lower my car and rock out 15s

but back on topic, the only real reason you should get larger rims is to fit larger rotors/calipers. grip is good. if you want the car to feel like its on rails then up the tire pressure

[zit]

18'' is probably the biggest you would get on those without having to enlarge the sideskirts it would look very good i must say though late night is right low profiles do not always translate into supereior grip thats what people are being led to believe but when i was working with mitsubishi in last years wrc i knew low profiles were not going to be a good combination on mexico and yet gilles panizzi did not listen to me