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Incorrect. There was a video just posted on YouTube. With identical tires the 18 is a tenth of a second faster 0 to 60There will be no difference in 0-60 time. Handling around corners is a different story.
Incorrect. There was a video just posted on YouTube. With identical tires the 18 is a tenth of a second faster 0 to 60
Agree with you there. Generally 18s will be lighter than 20s and if they are the same weight I would say due to better inertia the 18s should be slightly favorable.Sure, but to be clear the difference is not really because of 18" vs 20" - it's because of weight and inertia. If you had a forged 20" vs the 18" in his video, the results would be very different.
Smaller lighter wheels mean less rotational inertia and shorter gearing, those two things always mean faster acceleration. I've done testing on my current car, a tuned Golf R. With the 19" factory wheels at 26lbs vs. the 18" Titan 7's at 17lbs and found similar results as the guy in the video. .02-.03 seconds faster with the 18", you certainly can't feel the difference in acceleration, but I can feel the difference in steering response, with the 19" my car feels more responsive in the twisties. On the flip side, the 18" give a much-improved ride.
The video reported a tiny .02 seconds advantage in acceleration from 0-60 for the 18s, which I defy anyone to notice in real life. The 20s stopped 2 feet sooner, which is significant and could mean the difference between having an accident and not.
Concenus is 18s are about 0.1s faster at 0-60.
...everything else being equal, the bigger wheel and smaller sidewall should improve handling.
Would the car with 18" wheels be faster to 60 because of the less unsprung weight compared to 20" wheels? If that's the case why is Tesla selling larger wheels on their Performance?
Admittedly pedantic, allow me to point out that, while below the limit handling characteristics such as 'feel', 'responsiveness' or 'turn in' are typically increased with a shorter sidewall (and quantified subjectively as 'improved handling'), at and over the limit grip is often better with the taller sidewall. Of course that's a magically all else equal where its the same tire compound and construction, same external diameter, same wheel assembly mass and inertia, same brakes, properly tune tire pressures, properly tuned alignment, properly tuned suspension rates, same impact on vehicle aerodynamics, and same thermal performance (conductive dissipation, airflow through the wheel), etc. Oh, and of course we're talking about something like an 18-19 vs a 20, not a 14-15 vs a 20.
The reason is that the taller sidewall has more compliance and more 'air' volume, both of which will better damp variations in tire load, not just from external inputs like surface imperfections but also just over normal tire dynamics, like temperature variations across the tire carcass/tread over a turn/lap/session. That additional smoothing of load variation from the taller sidewall basically slow down the rate at which the tire load changes. When the tire is at/over the limit of maximum grip that slightly slower rate will allow a driver to better that maintain the knife edge of maximum grip instead of falling off the edge by a few percent and having to climb back on.
So while on a street car the smaller sidewall will typically result in a more enjoyable experience, on a race car the slightly taller sidewall will typically result in lower lap times.
Obviously there are other factors in play that inform tire size...minimum wheel diameter for proper brakes, maximum tire size that fits on the vehicle, gearing impact from smaller vs larger diameter tire, and most importantly...small sidewalls look cooler. The last one is not off the cuff either: One reason touring cars (for instance) are so popular is because the promoting bodies are tuned into what people want to see. One reason F1 is steering to larger wheels and smaller tires is to better align with passenger car visual trends (F1 cars don't need bigger brakes, for instance).
I got forged 19" wheels that are lighter than the 18's but the tires on them weigh more, so I end up the exact same weight as the 18's but I have 19's and PS4S Tires. I guess PS4S tires are just heavier than MXM4s.We're talking about rims, not tires. You can install the same tire on your 18" as on 20".
Can anyone (verifiable) tell me the latest 0-60MPH elapsed trap time for the Model 3 DM non-performance Model 3? I see many "current" postings, Tesla.com included, that state 4.5 sec. Then I read Motor Trend's evaluation of this same vehicle with a 4.0 sec reading. 0.5 seconds faster is a huge difference, especially considering I haven't modified this car (except for the OTA updates). I also realize results depend on battery charge, tires, ambient temperature, blah blah blah. Please advise if there are any other legit links that evaluated and can verify what the true times are. Thank you!!
Yep... What he said. I've gotten 3.9X and 4.0X all day on Vbox and Draggy.
Related question. I'm going drag racing and will be putting my 18" Aeros with winter tires on because they're shorter and lighter.
Should I use the aero caps or not? I realize the difference will be marginal but I want to fully optimize. So do I take them off for lightness or keep them on for aero benefit on the second half of the track?
Thanks!
Best,
Gene
Yep... What he said. I've gotten 3.9X and 4.0X all day on Vbox and Draggy.
Related question. I'm going drag racing and will be putting my 18" Aeros with winter tires on because they're shorter and lighter.
Should I use the aero caps or not? I realize the difference will be marginal but I want to fully optimize. So do I take them off for lightness or keep them on for aero benefit on the second half of the track?
Thanks!
Best,
Gene