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Benefit to a wider wheel?

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 12:09 pm
by FastBuick
Is there a benefit to running a 15" wide wheel with a 14" wide treadwidth and 16.2" section width tire? And if so what are they?

Re: Benefit to a wider wheel?

Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 11:53 pm
by Greenlight
1) The contact patch tends to be larger and remains larger for a longer period as you go down the track. Imagine if you had a two inch wide rim. The outer portion of the tire would tend to curl up and make the contact patch narrower as the wheel RPM increases.

2) The tire growth will be reduced, which will act like more gear (higher RPM) at the finish line. Again, imagine you had a two inch wide rim. As the wheel RPM increases, the narrow rimmed wheel will result in a much higher tire circumference at the finish line. This effect is exaggerated with a light car (dragster).

Re: Benefit to a wider wheel?

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:39 am
by FastBuick
Greenlight wrote:1) The contact patch tends to be larger and remains larger for a longer period as you go down the track. Imagine if you had a two inch wide rim. The outer portion of the tire would tend to curl up and make the contact patch narrower as the wheel RPM increases.

2) The tire growth will be reduced, which will act like more gear (higher RPM) at the finish line. Again, imagine you had a two inch wide rim. As the wheel RPM increases, the narrow rimmed wheel will result in a much higher tire circumference at the finish line. This effect is exaggerated with a light car (dragster).
Makes sense. So do you think there is a way to figure out how much growth you will lose? Do you think if you go from a 14" to a 15" wide rim you lose 1" of tire growth?

Re: Benefit to a wider wheel?

Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2016 10:49 pm
by Greenlight
The change in tire growth will depend on the vehicle weight and tire speed.