Hey fellas, I remember when I first bought my car that I was able to chirp the tires @ the launch. Not to mention that my car was stock at @ the time. Now I have all these mods, but I also added 17x7 wheels. Now the wheels won't chirp no matter how hard I try. I was wondering what would happen if I put my stock wheels back on? Will my 0-60 & 1/4m be faster?? I can see myself lighting up the stock wheels considering the mods I have!!

Thanks,
ICE

 

it's not the large wheels that are causing it, it's the sticky tires you NOW have on it that have better traction than your old tires.
of course the rims do play a little in the game, but I also have problems lighting up my 16s and they're noticeably lighter than my stock rims, with pirelli P7000SS tires.
on my stock rims with cheapo tires, I cold smoke the tires on a whim.

[Edited by Matt93GXE on 12-11-2000 at 02:39 PM]

 

I have to agree that its the tires. At normal altitude (Not 6000ft like where I am now), and my stocks, I could light em up too, but with Matt's old wheels which I have now, I can't, but my 0-60 and 1/4 is a little quicker cause I get a nice clean start.

 

I never thought about the tires. I thought it had to do mainly with the weight of the wheels.

Take care,
ICE

 

It's the whole lighter flywheel concept thing. The less the rotational mass, the greater the acceleration. If you put 17" rims on your car which originally had 15" rims, you'll gain between 5-15 lbs PER wheel. Not only is this unsprung weight which will degrade your suspension performance (damping mostly) but it'll be harder for the engine to accelerate the wheels. This is much more noticeable in lower gears. I remember reading in SCC once that 10lbs more per wheel at high RPM in 1st gear equals like 10-15HP LOST. So if you're going to upgrade your wheels for performance, get the lightest wheels possible. Now, for looks, that's different, get what looks best to you

by the way, I hope you guys hav automatics, cause I can light my tires all the way through 1st and part of 2nd gears!!!

 

bigger rims reduce handling capabilities????? why is this. i always thought that less sidewall flex meant better handling.

 

The handling problem with heavier wheel assemblies (bigger and heavier tires and wheels: it's easy to add 10 lbs) is unsuprung weight. It's harder to keep the tire on the road; the worse the road surface, the bigger the problem. Not a problem where the roads are smooth, but I'll keep my 15" wheels here in NYC.

 

unsprung weight is BAD!!!!! take if from an SCCA Racer. we do everything possible to avoid it. i don't think it's your sticky tires man. you should still be able to chirp em. It could be alot of things. Your right, stiffer sidewall does help performance, but you don't have to have larger wheels to get stiffer sidewalls. i have 50 series tires on my stock rims and i'm VERY happy with em.