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Tires for Front Wheel drive - is bigger better?

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Old 06-28-2007, 02:35 PM
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Tires for Front Wheel drive - is bigger better?
For performance and styling big tires are great for rear wheel drives - but what about front wheel drive?

Smaller but wider?

Taller but thinner?

What are the opinions and why?
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Old 06-28-2007, 04:02 PM
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For performance wider tires will always give more grip. assuming you are placing them on an appropriate rim. drivetrain wont factor into this.
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Old 06-28-2007, 04:17 PM
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Yep. Some FWD cars, like the Grand Prix GXP (I think that's the trim, anyway), come with larger front tires to help with front end grip when you get on the throttle.
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Old 06-28-2007, 08:28 PM
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O.K. so wider tires - but how about size?

Is there some best in the range between 13-17"?

Smaller easier to turn and larger are faster? What are the physics here?
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Old 06-28-2007, 08:34 PM
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less weight, closer to the center of the circle will always accelerate quicker. Larger overal diameter will give you a gearing advantage biased towards top speed, if you have enough power to spin them.
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Old 06-28-2007, 09:47 PM
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Originally Posted by Winfree
O.K. so wider tires - but how about size?

Is there some best in the range between 13-17"?

Smaller easier to turn and larger are faster? What are the physics here?
The smallest rims that will fit over your brakes will be the best. You can change the gearing by switching out your rear end for a different one, but the weight advantage of smaller rims will be there regardless. Smaller, lighter rims and tires decrease the amount of mass your engine has to accelerate and your tires and steering wheel have to turn, which will help both performance and gas mileage. Some of the Lotus guys actually will run smaller rims and tires than stock for these reasons. This works for any car, not just FWD ones.
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Old 07-01-2007, 09:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Winfree
For performance and styling big tires are great for rear wheel drives - but what about front wheel drive?

Smaller but wider?

Taller but thinner?

What are the opinions and why?
What you gain in the dry, u lose in the wet. Weigh out your priority and decide which to use
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Old 07-02-2007, 02:41 PM
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F1 cars use 13" diameter wheels if remember correctly.
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Old 07-02-2007, 03:16 PM
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Originally Posted by MazdaMonkey
F1 cars use 13" diameter wheels if remember correctly.
Required by the rules.
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Old 07-02-2007, 04:18 PM
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Originally Posted by OldCoot
Required by the rules.
Have a link? I can't find anything in the rules that limits rim size, just that overall tire size is limited to 660 mm (26").
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Old 07-06-2007, 04:04 PM
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Originally Posted by OldCoot
Required by the rules.
Yeah, but i doubt they would use much bigger if they rules allowed
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Old 07-06-2007, 05:35 PM
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Originally Posted by MazdaMonkey
Yeah, but i doubt they would use much bigger if they rules allowed
I would bet they would run as large as they could get away with. The larger the rims are, the more brakes they can fit under there.
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