What would be the most aerodynamic set of rims???
 

If there are any, which ones help with airflow the most?

lol...i dont think anyone has ever tested this, or had that much time on their hands to test this. :p:

there is gonna be no aerodynamic difference between different sets of wheels.

I'm guessing the stock rims would be the most aerodynamic since I guess they would've been tested in a wind tunnel??? I dunno hehe

Those really lame looking wheels that look like wheel covers.

The RB FD that raced on the salt flats had them. Other high speed record cars like this also had them.>

If you dont care about looks, go for it

You mean Moon wheel covers?? Like used on salt flat cars?? Yeah they would probably be the cheapest lightest ways to make your wheels aerodynamic efficent..

Are you looking for brake cooling from air flow, or keeping the Cd of the car low? I think the priority of having light wheels is more important, and that should be a larger driver in choosing wheels for a street or track (not salt flats) car.

-Max

that is very wrong.

i would love to be proven wrong by some test data, not by opinion. ;)

if there was a significant difference between the cd of different rims, you would see aerodynamicness right up threre with the claims of strength and light weight for advertisements by wheel manufacturers. i have not seen a single claim of "our wheels are very aerodynamic" by even the top wheel manufacturers in the world (Kinesis, Fikse, Forgeline, HRE, Volk, BBS, etc.)

but...i would love to be proven wrong by some actual data and numbers, not by opinion. also, whats your reasoning as to why i am wrong?? (my reasoning is the paragragh above). ;)

Get wheel well covers like the rear of the SCOOT FD or old-school caddies...&nbsp Who cares what kinda rims you got underneath! :D




-Ted

There is an aerodynamic difference (otherwise why would high speed cars cover the spokes? Same goes for racing bicycles.), but the designers design not for low c.d., but to channel air into the brakes and allow heat to radiator off of them. However I think most cars have the wheels designed with neither in mind, only style and ease of manufacturing.

Go with some really round wheels.:D Seriously though I can't imagine there being any kind of effect on a cars rims, bikes yes, but thats totaly different. Unless the rims have something that stick out into the path of wind resistance.

nice avatar

pictures please!!! I wanna see em!

The thought of aerodynamic rims came to mind when I saw this pic somewhere around the forums...

Thanks Node!! It took me for fricken ever to figure out how to get the program I downloaded to get it to work right. I wanted to put a ton of stuff in there, but it takes up too much space.

Arelli Assasins are really round and have only two spokes so less resistance. :) You should get some 22" Chrome ones, helps the top end out for Salt flat racing.
Now your cooking.

This is more than likely correct, I think the rims being aero dynamic themselves doesn't matter as much on a FD as it would an open wheel car, such as many of the salt flat cars. It has already been said that once a vehicle is at speed that weight matters less and aerodynamic efficentcy matters more and more as the speed goes up. So if I were building a FD for top speed I wouldn't give a real shit about how much a wheel weighs, because that doesn't really apply more to your purpose, making the car more aerodynamic does. And I would do anything possible to make my car more aerodynamic and possibly help me. True with a lighter wheel you have less rotational mass making you accelerate faster, but they have like 3 or 4 miles to accelerate maybe more, so this doesn't apply people looking to break 200+mph.. Most of the people looking to break top speed records are looking for every 1/10th of a mph they can get. Again I don't think aerodynamic efficentcy of wheels applys really to street driven cars, but more to cars built to run over 200mph and break top speed records, etc.

Uh, is this some person's joke of trying to be an aerodynamic engineer?
The pic is WAY off in terms of wheel aero.&nbsp Due to brake ducts, there's a HUGE high pressure area inside the front wheel well.&nbsp If you've ever seen car in the rain, it's obvious where that the high pressure area exits out the front wheel well...



-Ted

Anybody that says the design of the wheel(s) doesn't affect aerodynamics he's an idiot hold something like a fan side ways in 50 mph winds and hold something of the same size and flat and try to tell me it doesn't have less drag? Any patterns in the wheel disturbs air flow. I myself wouldn't worry about it until you go above 170, brake cooling would mean a lot more then the drag caused by the wheels.

Just my 2
Nick.

Joe-D you are wrong.Sorry to say this but there can be significant gains in rim aerodynamics.I don't know how to explain it but NICK makes the point I'm thinking of.I'll try to find a wheel that would be superior to the stock FD's.

i think Ef-Dee's orignal question was regarding wheels made for the street, not wheels for cars that only run at the Bonneville Salt Flats. ;)

BTW, when is Kinesis someing out their new K-58As?? (A for Aerodynamic) :)

can someone please prove to me that there are differences in aerodynamics between wheels made by Kinesis, Fikse, HRE, CCW, Volk, BBS, and other street/race wheels??

put some knock offs on your wheels. :bigthumb: When your wheels are moving really fast, the knock offs act like propellers and make your car faster. Theyre stylish and are a great performance mod! :D

yeah, i meant rims for street use

That picture is from the website www.autospeed.com. They are aftermarket rims, and it's an aftermarket wing.

The test was run to determine where the turbulance is, and direction of airflow, when the car is at speed..no other reason. The test was conducted by taping many many woll tufts to the body of the car (very similar to how Mazda did thier testing)

I wish I could link the article for you guys, but it's a subscription based site.

Here's a picture:
http://a1501.g.akamai.net/7/1501/550.../1080_10mg.jpg

anyways, JoeD, your logic is quite flawed. Because companies don't advertise that theier wheels are aerodynamic, they must not pay any attention, or do any testing to that?

Even IF Ef-Dee was talking about street wheels, and not bonneville wheels, doesn't make the point that the bonneville wheels are engineered to make the cars more aerodynamic any less valid.

Anyways, here are a couple links for you:
http://p-car.com/aero.htm
This article talks a little about the Audi A2, and it's aerodynamic wheel discs:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/RoadAndT...ersand_p3.html

Any and every item that lies within the air flow of a moving vehicle will affect the aerodynamics. As much as you may not want to believe it, JoeD, wheels have an effect on aerodynamics.

But I will agree that a wheels aerodynamics isn't exactly high on my list of priorities when choosing a new wheel. And I don't suspect it's a very high priority for very many people, which is perhaps why it isn't advertised or developed as much as by the wheel manufacturers as other considerations (weight, aesthetics, strength, etc, etc)

Seems like some people tend to believe that aerodynamics of wheels doesn't matter simply based on the reasoning that Volk, Fiske, HRE, etc. don't advertise how aerodynamic their wheels are. :rolleyes: I think martini actually does have a point which was close to my point.

Too bad they didn't run the smoke streams down the SIDES of the car!&nbsp That would've given you a better idea of what's happening from the front wheel well.&nbsp Right now, my newbie eyes only catch vague hints of turbulence in the front lower rocker panel...




-Ted

Yeah, I wish people would pay more attention to the aerodynamics of a car before adding huge rims and wings on it

umm not trying to flame or anything but those wheel arint spinning. when the wheels are spinning and the wind is hitting them like that they'll make a whole lot more turbulence.
Just my 02 cents,
Nick

i know wheels have an effect on aerodynamics, but i highly doubt the effect is significant.

i know rims on cars that only compete at salt flats are designed for aerodynamics. and i know that cars un the MPG battle use aerodynamic wheels and covers to rid the air of turbulance off the wheels (ala Honda Insight). but is someone gonna put flat, ugly wheels that do not flow any air to the brakes on their street car just for the added aerodynamics of the rim?? or is someone gonna put wheels covers on their RX-7?? get real guys.

i have seen no evidence whatsoever that proves different wheels are more aerodymic than other wheels. have you ever seen someone compare the wind resistance of a Volk TE-37 to an HRE 540?? yes, there might be a slight, insignificant difference, but thats it. like i said, if their was a difference in the aerodymamics of street rims, you would see manufacturers advertising that as a way to make more money. you think companies are hiding the data on their wheels?? no. why would they hide it if it can lead to profit??

i have not seen one single comparison of aerodymanics of different rims that are sold to the public. how will people know which rims are more aerodymic than the other if there is no evidence to support it?? by design?? :rolleyes:

yeah...and where is your reasoning that shows one set of wheels that someone can buy for their street car is more aerodymanic than the other?? :rolleyes:

and i never said the aerodynamics of a wheel does not matter.