For the purpose of getting the wheels to spin, wouldn't 16's with a smaller sidewall be better than 17's? I'd go with 15s, but that just seems like it would be really hard to drive, unless you have really tall tires.

 

huh? whatchu talking 'bout?

 

Instead of 205-55-16 on the stoc tire, why not 205-40-16, or something like that, on a lighter rim. Maybe I'm just completely crazy too...

 

Yea he said it.

 

Ok, this is in reference to drifting. It seems to me that if would be easier to break traction on the back tires if the wheels had a smaller diameter overall.

 

Yes, certainly. It will make the gear ratio shorter, thus giving more torque at the wheels (just like you have more torque at the wheels in first gear versus fourth gear -- not that your engine is making more torque).

-Max

 

Alright, then why do I see so many cars competing with 17s?

 

drifting in japan is also judged on how the car looks...thats why they have the graphics, and the mirrored graphics etc...so im guessing the big rims go along with that..just a thought

 

because when you go for big brake upgrade/kit you need bigger rims to clear the calipers.

That is the original reason why race cars use huge diameter wheels. When you stick a 15 inch disc and have a caliper (slight exageration) your 16 inch wheel isn't going to fit over the mammoth brakes

hence you see hondas with tiny *** brakes which look stupid after they upgrade their wheels.

 

They actually run 18s/19s generally

 

I see, if I had thought about it, I probably would have figured that out all by myself. So aside from looks, and massive brakes, I should be ok with 16s. Or I could just get 17s for the street and use 16s for all the fun stuff...

 

if you don't care about looks, running the smallest diameter (say 15 inch) and then using hte widest rim you can fit will give u the max performance.

That is why u see miatas and autox built purpose cars run like 13 in diamter by 8 inch wheels.

the smaller the wheel the lighter.

 

For autox the smaller tire diameter also increases the gearing along with increased revolution of the tire for a given distance. This warms the tire quicker.

You wouldn't roadrace that way though.

 

You'd think most people would be looking for smaller rims to go drifting then, and that doesn't seem to be the trend.

 

i stand corrected

 

Stock is fine. It's not the parts that matter as much as the driver.

 

Also a valid point, but you gotta know that sometimes the car is really holding people back, like a car with an open diff, or with shitty front tires and just understeers all day.

 

It seems to me that the car really steers itself back straight. At least more than I thought it wouldl. It's probably me, but I thought it might be the rear suspension doing it's thing.