More Discussion About Wheel Size

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liquid00meth

Senior Member
I have a 95 civic coupe, DX, similar to the guy a few posts down who had the poll. I have 17 inch AR tourings (simple 5 spoke) with 45 seriers Falkens (I forget the type). I contest that anyone with 15 inch wheels, the same car as me, will not outperform me in any significant way, if it all. I think the incresed handling and tracking that low profile tires offer is far superior to shaving 2 pounds per wheel. At the same time, I understand that hondas fundamentally have a problem with torque, so I can agree that for race prep car, 17s are ridiculous. (As your extracting as much as possible from the car). But as far as a street driven car, I'd rather be satisfied with the clean look, as well as the performance, than 3 inches of horizontal fender gap for .09 seconds off my 1320.


my .02


This link is to the wheels on my car right now, they are the silver clearcoats, not chrome. Jesus help us all not chrome.

I'm intersted in if you guys still think *all 17s* are gay and riceish. I'll try and get a pic of my car up here soon.

the rims on my car
 
I used to have 17" Enkei RS6s (20.3 lbs each) with Yokohama A520 205/40-17 and handling was pretty good but the car felt slow, I now have 15" Rota Slipstreams (11.9 lbs each) with Kumho Ecsta 712 205/50-15V and the car feels a lot better, better acceleration and handling feels the same as before, plus I don't have to worry about all the potholes fucking up my tires anymore.
The 17" looked way too big on my Honda...I much prefer the look of the 15"
 
you can't argue this point. your 24 lb wheels are in no way superior to a wheel that weighs less than half of that. slipstreams weigh 11.5 lbs btw, i called rota and asked and they told me 11.5.

and you refer to the low profile tire enhancing your performance...

my 16's have 215/45/16
but my 15" slipstreams have 205/50/15...

however... the rota's are 6.5" wide so 50% is 3.25"

however, your 17x7 rims with a 45 aspect ratio would give you a side wall would net you a height of ::drumroll:: 3.15"

so that 1 tenth of an inch will do nothing for you in helping handling, but your extra 2 inches and 100 pounds of unsprung weight will hurt your performance... .09 seconds off??? try more like .5 seconds
 
15's are infinitely better, as was just posted. the weight of the wheel and decreased rolling diameter makes a big difference...especially under braking and acceleration.

i have 15 x 7's, you have 17 x 7's with lower profile tires. yet my falken azeni's have extremely stiff sidewalls and i'm positive my car will easily outhandle your car.

sell your 17's, get some 15's, and get some falkens and you'll be much happier.
 
Well, I can see all your points clearly, and I guess im basing my opinion off the fact that my smaller (14'') rims have poor rubber on them, and I almost laugh in turns noticing how awful they are. The only car I have been in that handles perfectly with smaller rims and larger tires is my dad's corvette. So since I'm biased, I suppose later on I'll try what you guys say and get the slips. 1320 with 15s and equal rubber, and 1320 with 17s to see how much it matters for straight line. As far as on the street, I'll just have to drive and see how it feels.


At the time of purchase for the wheels, also, my car did not have a suspension kit in it yet, so it was going to remain stock ride height. And in my opinion, people who put 16s and 15s on hondas and don't modify rideheight end up with an ugly ass car. Again, while I'm all about super-clean look and having my car be exceptionally quick, I don't want an ugly ride. It's not only important to me to like it, but you can't look like a chump in front of the ladies :p
 
When I want to pimp I will roll the 17x7.5 Volk LE37's .When we head out to the races Im putting azinis on my type r rims.I think 17s are just for looks the smaller wheel and tire combo(15s) are when you want to get serious about driving.My .02
 
simply answer.

Moment of Inertia

I=(.5)mr^2
 
Originally posted by CRX-YEM@Feb 25 2003, 06:20 PM
simply answer.

Moment of Inertia

I=(.5)mr^2

That's the simple equation- if you really want to see how the larger rim size affects you, find the weight distribution of the rim/wheel by polar coordinates (distance from center), then calculate rotational moment of inertia based on multiple rings- one for the tire, one for the outer rim, and a disc for the spokes and hub.

I'll dig up my textbooks when I get home and hopefully get some real math up here about rotational moment of inertia.
 
:werd:

I didn't feal like bustin mine out.

didn't feel like explaining centroids etc...
 
Originally posted by CRX-YEM@Feb 25 2003, 10:25 PM
didn't feel like explaining centroids etc...

I'll take care of that if it needs it, don't worry. :)
 
drop it low and see what ahppens to those 17.....it will tore your internal fender when you turn.....this is why i hate big wheels...you have to lift your car so it won't tear, but your car will look like shit
 
lets see the math calesta, i'm anxious.

BTW anyone know the weight of civic hx wheels?
 
Originally posted by civicSiR1@Feb 26 2003, 11:17 AM
drop it low and see what ahppens to those 17.....it will tore your internal fender when you turn.....this is why i hate big wheels...you have to lift your car so it won't tear, but your car will look like shit

Ummm... lol. A reasonable 1.5 - 2'' drop will leave my fenders plenty of clearance.


also calesta, im interested in seeing the math, I was doing some figuring in my head today about rotational momentum and how that could work, but it seems like where your going matters much more in the discussion of exactly how much your losing with a bigger rim. I was thinking along the lines of in between shifts, how much moentum the wheels would carry, without power. Concluded it was negligable though.
 
Guys, I got home at around 5am last night... long shifts. I'll try to see if I can dig up all the stuff tonight- I'm going to try to leave work by midnight.

Pills- call me if you've got free long distance, or I can call you. It'll be easier than trying to coordinate an IM war, especially when I work at night. I was asleep when you posted that! I'll PM you my number.
 
PM me a good time to call you.. i am available usually all the time
 
Originally posted by Calesta+Feb 25 2003, 05:03 PM-->
@Feb 25 2003, 06:20 PM
simply answer.

Moment of Inertia

I=(.5)mr^2

That's the simple equation- if you really want to see how the larger rim size affects you, find the weight distribution of the rim/wheel by polar coordinates (distance from center), then calculate rotational moment of inertia based on multiple rings- one for the tire, one for the outer rim, and a disc for the spokes and hub.

I'll dig up my textbooks when I get home and hopefully get some real math up here about rotational moment of inertia.

man, i hated polar coordinates in calc II, thank god i'm done :)
 
Originally posted by one zexy crx@Feb 26 2003, 11:23 AM
lets see the math calesta, i'm anxious.

BTW anyone know the weight of civic hx wheels?

Yeah I wanna see how Calesta explains it, should be very interesting to get the scientific explanation

As for HX wheels, the wheels weights reference section says 11.75 lbs for the 14"x5.5" Civic HX wheels
 
Originally posted by pills_PMD@Feb 26 2003, 07:50 PM
PM me a good time to call you.. i am available usually all the time

Ok- call me whenever. I'm about to head out to dinner in about 15 minutes... so 10pm Central time would be good. :)
 
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