RE: 30v "sport" pkg -- and lighter wheels

[Tom Haapanen <tomh@metrics.com>]

Yes, lighter wheels are better, as they reduce unsprung weight.

HOWEVER, the difference between the 5-spoke and 7-spoke wheels is
unlikely to have any perceivable or measurable impact on your handling.

When shopping for wheels, I considered the ultra-light BBS RC (vs the
BBS RX that I ended up buying).  I discussed this with a friend who's a
senior engineer on Swift's Indycar project, and who also used to design
wheels for VW.  According to him, the difference of 5 lbs per wheel is
so small when you take into account the total weight of the unsprung
components (wheel, tire, hub, brake discs and calipers) that it's not
really worth paying extra for a lighter wheel.  On a racing car, yes,
but not on a street car ...

Now, that's only an opinion, but it's from someone who has experience
with *designing* wheels and suspensions, and racing experience to boot.

-----
Tom Haapanen -- Software Metrics Inc. -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
A Microsoft Solution Provider Partner -- http://www.metrics.com/

>-----Original Message-----
>Date: Tue, 3 Jun 97 15:43:01 EDT
>From: dan_masi@MENTORG.COM (Dan Masi)
>Subject: Re: 30v "sport" pkg
>
>On Jun 3, 11:59am, Scott Stiles wrote:
>> Regarding point #4: I assert that a lighter wheel is *ALWAYS*
>> better, assuming constant stiffness,  durability, etc..
>> However, I don't know if the sport wheels *are* lighter, so this
>> may be a moot point.
>
>They are.  By how much, I don't know.
>
>