On 3/30/02 10:52 AM, "Tom Huebner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Cris, or who ever might know... > I just saw that the OZ Supperleggras' are 15.1 lbs at > 17". Now with the suggested tire size from Tire Rack > my overall wheel/tire size would be increased by > .041".(205/45-17=24.264? vs. stock 195/60-15=24.213?) > How much could the performance be affected by this > size/tire/weight change? 15.1 pounds for the wheels is about the same as stock. Stock wheels weigh between 13 and 19 lbs depending on the year. That�s actually pretty light for a 17-inch. .041 over stock size is basically nothing. Under inflation or tread depth could make up that difference. The tires probably weigh more than stock as well but probably only by a few pounds. > Also wouldn't the larger > rim/shorter side wall have a positive affect on the > handling characteristics of the car over the smaller > rim/larger side wall of the stock size? Yes. Your handling characteristics will change. The shorter sidewall will give the tire less room to absorb bumps, basically you will feel the road more. However you will probably notice an increase in turn-in response at the same time. Depending on the tire choice you may also be pushing more mass to the outside of tire/wheel circle. The further to the outside this mass is the harder the engine has to work to turn it. Changing things by a few pounds here and there over stock is not going to make that big a difference. One thing to remember though is that this is all unsprung weight. This is weight that the engine has to really work at to move because it is not supported by the suspension. The reason I keep bringing the weight thing up is from my own experience. I had a set of inexpensive 17-inch wheels with a set of inexpensive 17-inch tires. Total tire and wheel weight came to about 42 pounds! Stock is somewhere around 30 I think. When I switched back to 15-inch light weight wheels and a light tire I dropped over 50 pounds of unsprung weight from the car. The difference I experienced in performance was like night and day. If you end up a few pounds over stock you probably won't even notice it. If you end up way over the stock weight you may notice it but if you car looks real good you may not care. > To go along > with this thread of thought: which weighs more; forged > aluminum or vulcanized rubber? In that if I have two > sets of rims that are equal in size to weight ratio > (ex:15"=15lbs and 17"=17lbs) and add tires to these > wheels which set will weigh more assuming that the > outside diameter is the same for both sets? Ahhhh, good question. You may be able to get an answer by doing the math but in the real world tires are just weird. Two tires of the same brand/model but of different sizes can have widely different construction techniques, different rubber compounds, and different handling characteristic, not to mention different weights. One other thing on this subject. Everything you ever wanted to know about Saturn wheels can be found here http://www57.pair.com/lane/wheels.htm Also there are several links on the bottom of that page that will take you to all sorts of other information. - Cris _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com SPOC NE web site: http://www.spocne.org
