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?

 

For performance wider tires will always give more grip. assuming you are placing them on an appropriate rim. drivetrain wont factor into this.

 

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.

 

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?

 

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.

 

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.

 

What you gain in the dry, u lose in the wet. Weigh out your priority and decide which to use

 

F1 cars use 13" diameter wheels if remember correctly.

 

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").

 

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.