Grinder34
Track Monkey
I was in a discussion yesterday with another forum member, and we were talking about the performance gains of a lightweight wheel/tire setup. I thought i'd share my thoughts on the matter, and open it up to discussion with everyone.
My thoughts:
(ALL ELSE BEING EQUAL) As long as wheels/tires aren't ridiculously heavy, you'll notice no real performance gain from a lightweight setup.
The truth of the matter is, you're far more likely to change *other* factors when making a switch to a lightweight wheel, and those factors will likely effect the performance more than the wheel weight. Things like offset (track width), tire width, sidewall, compound can all make a big difference.
Here's something i posted a while back:
The extra amount of power required to spin the wheel, (or stop it when braking) is really quite minimal compared to moving the car. You'd notice almost 0 improvement in 0-60 time with a lightweight wheel/tire setup (on a glassy smooth road). The big reason why lightweight wheels make a difference in lap time is because they're unsprung. (lighter brakes, for example, will have almost the same effect as lighter wheels/tires in terms of lap time improvements). Lighter unsprung components let the suspension do its job without all the inertia of pieces in contact with the road.
Now wheels are like a "best of everything" improvement because it lowers total weight of the car, unsprung weight of the car, AND rotational weight. And it's true, that wheels are the worst kind of rotating weight due to their high polar moment of inertia (compared to say, a crank pulley or drive shaft)... but rotational weight really isnt helping you anywhere near as much as the unsprung weight savings. But unsprung weight has virtually the same impact as sprung weight on a smooth road--so you're only realizing the full benefits on bumpy roads. Consequently, for something like Rally (bumpy roads, long suspension travel) it probably makes more difference than tarmac racing (smooth roads, stiff springs with little travel).
I'm not saying there's no difference in performance, just that its negligible compared to the performance gains you'd get from nearly anything else for the same money. Unless you're highly competitive and need that extra 1/10th of a second, or severly limited by mods due to classes, i'd look elsewhere for performance on a budget.
My thoughts:
(ALL ELSE BEING EQUAL) As long as wheels/tires aren't ridiculously heavy, you'll notice no real performance gain from a lightweight setup.
The truth of the matter is, you're far more likely to change *other* factors when making a switch to a lightweight wheel, and those factors will likely effect the performance more than the wheel weight. Things like offset (track width), tire width, sidewall, compound can all make a big difference.
Here's something i posted a while back:
The extra amount of power required to spin the wheel, (or stop it when braking) is really quite minimal compared to moving the car. You'd notice almost 0 improvement in 0-60 time with a lightweight wheel/tire setup (on a glassy smooth road). The big reason why lightweight wheels make a difference in lap time is because they're unsprung. (lighter brakes, for example, will have almost the same effect as lighter wheels/tires in terms of lap time improvements). Lighter unsprung components let the suspension do its job without all the inertia of pieces in contact with the road.
Now wheels are like a "best of everything" improvement because it lowers total weight of the car, unsprung weight of the car, AND rotational weight. And it's true, that wheels are the worst kind of rotating weight due to their high polar moment of inertia (compared to say, a crank pulley or drive shaft)... but rotational weight really isnt helping you anywhere near as much as the unsprung weight savings. But unsprung weight has virtually the same impact as sprung weight on a smooth road--so you're only realizing the full benefits on bumpy roads. Consequently, for something like Rally (bumpy roads, long suspension travel) it probably makes more difference than tarmac racing (smooth roads, stiff springs with little travel).
I'm not saying there's no difference in performance, just that its negligible compared to the performance gains you'd get from nearly anything else for the same money. Unless you're highly competitive and need that extra 1/10th of a second, or severly limited by mods due to classes, i'd look elsewhere for performance on a budget.
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