Location: Rosamond, CA - Home of Willow Springs Raceway
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If we switched to 16" wheels/tires on our Sol's, what do you think would be the performance gains? 0-60mph? 60-0mph? MPG's?
You wouldn't see any appreciable gains in street driving. And I doubt you'd see any MPG gains either. A 16" wheel, if lighter than stock, would make the steering feel a bit lighter though. On the track, a lighter wheel by itself wouldn't show much gain either but, if combined with other mods that lighten a car, would show some gains. Mainly in the steering feel and braking departments.
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2007 Cool GXP with Darkside Top, 5 spd, Ebony Cloth, Monsoon with Single CD, Sport Pedals, XM, A/C
Mods - Solo Street/Race Exhaust, K&N Drop-in Air Filter, EDAL
RADRIV : If we switched to 16" wheels/tires on our Sol's, what do you think would be the performance gains? 0-60mph? 60-0mph? MPG's?
Years ( I mean YEARS) ago, Road & Track tested a Corvette with a donut spare tire and it performed very well.
With $4.00/gallon gas, maybe it would make sense that we have smaller tire/wheel options going forward from Detroit (OEM) or aftermarket? I suppose the ROI on that smaller tire/wheel purchase would be twenty years! But, just an idea.
Smaller diameter won't make a difference in mileage, but narrower will.
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John
Lexington, KY
Sky VIN 00252
5-Sp Manual
Midnight Blue
Form before function. The only practical reason for larger wheels is to fit bigger brake hardware to the hub. However, that's generally not the reason for larger wheels.
They are, basically, on the car for styling. Since the larger wheels look better with the styling of the car, they win out. Even on the Solstice, the 18's are there because the wheels are a big feature of the car's visual appearance.
I don't think I would want a car with factory 20, or larger than 20 inch wheels. Jimbo, you mentioned $400 a year for a new rim dented on a pot hole. The cost of the tires go up a lot with the larger sizes too. Those musclecars should do fabulous smokey burnouts, but if the tires are going to cost $500 each at the local tire shop... who would even want to smoke them? (Especially since they probably won't last that long anyway!)
Location: Yuba City, California .... The BIG Cowpie!
Good points.
About brakes, I'm pretty sure the Camaro doesn't need brakes any bigger than a 5600 lb Chevy Suburban, which comes with 18" wheels stock. So brakes are not an issue. It appears to be style and style alone. I'm really unhappy about the decisions to put 20" wheels on the Camaro SS and Challenger SRT8. I mean, do they really think the 18-24 year old kids that love these big wheels are going to be the main market for these big, heavy, retro cars or do they not realize that the boomers reliving their youth will be the main market?
OK by me if anyone wants to put 20s on their Camaro, but I vehemently disagree with the Pavlovian response to make them stock on the SS, especially when the OEM 18's on the base V8 will do just fine indeed. If I got an SS, I would have to downgrade to the base wheels. Just my luck I would love the pattern of the 20s and hate the pattern of the 18" wheels.
Good points about tire cost as well as replacement wheels. Tires are a consumable and WILL be replaced regularly so that extra cost is baked into the cake.
__________________ Solstice GXP Coupe You still don't need a trunk to haul ass...
even at Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas!
Location: Rosamond, CA - Home of Willow Springs Raceway
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I mean, do they really think the 18-24 year old kids that love these big wheels are going to be the main market for these big, heavy, retro cars or do they not realize that the boomers reliving their youth will be the main market?
A lot of older guys like the big wheels also. It's not just a youth thing. A lot of these cars are going to older guys not younger one's. If big wheels were a turn off to older guys as a whole, GM wouldn't offer them standard.
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2007 Cool GXP with Darkside Top, 5 spd, Ebony Cloth, Monsoon with Single CD, Sport Pedals, XM, A/C
Mods - Solo Street/Race Exhaust, K&N Drop-in Air Filter, EDAL
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