[NAC] wide wheels with rather narrow tires

[Peter Berrevoets]

Look at the tires on a Formula 1, Indy car or go-kart and you will see the
same kind of fitment.

For street use directed toward pure handling and performance with the right
suspension set-up, any axial motion of the wheel related to the contact
patch is undesireable (IMO).

225/60 on a 7" wide rim give you lots of tire roll and in hard cornering you
can end up with the contact patch on part of the sidewall. Undesireable to
say the least as this setup will also give you a bit of "wallowing" on the
highway when lane changing or on uneven pavement. Comfortable, soft ride is
the plus as the sidewall flex takes up much of the small shocks from road
surface irregularities.

205/60 on an 8.5" wide rim will keep the contact patch on the treaded
portion of the tire until it loses traction and slides. Desireable for
predictability in hard cornering or even heavy crosswinds! Ride quality
suffers because you now feel every grain of sand as the sidewalls are under
tension and offer no cushioning. My idea of ultimate 'road feel'.

Tire pressures, suspension setup and geometry also have a big hand in this
but I hope this helps clear up the big wheels/narrow tires philosophy.

JM $.02

Peter Berrevoets
1990 200TQ
Toronto, Canada


> >Cc: Quattro List
> >Subject: Re: [NAC] wide wheels with rather narrow tires
> >
> >
> >I call it stupid.....maybe they spent all their money on the
> >wheels and
> >the stereo, and didn't have enough left to buy the properly
> >sized tires.
> >
> >BenediktRochow at oaktech.com wrote:
> >>
> >> >> This is the certainly desired bumper fitted to a B4
> >> >> http://home.germany.net/100-504219/treffen/celle/07.jpg
> >(it looks too
> >> big
> >>
> >> What I've been wondering for years - what is the reason for wheels
> >> as shown/described above, with low-profile tires where (as
> >somewhat visible
> >> in the above photo) the sidewall angles inward
> >drastically, as the tread
> >> is apparently a lot narrower than the wheel.
> >