Tire size changes range?

[Jkhood]

Somewhere on this forum, I read that the range for a given car was less if the car was equipped with 21" tires as opposed to the 19". Is this true? I would have thought that Tesla would use lower profile tires with the larger wheels, making the overall height of the two the same.

 

[bpjones]

I've seen the same specs and figured that the difference is range is due to the increase in weight of the larger rims.

 

[tjkessler]

The composition of the tires, recommended pressure, and rolling resistance make bigger differences than the diameter. Remember all of the these different size rims come with vastly different tires.

 

[MarkJ]

I thought the bigger wheels had lower profile tyres so the total diameter is skills for wheel sizes. It is the weight of the wheels and rolling resistance that seems to be the main factors.
I see between 10 & 20% difference in range between my 19 & 21 wheels though in my situation I can't be any more precise than that

 

[N..8]

In "General" low profile tires are more efficient but the Tesla is not a normal car. The outside tire size is the same between the 21 and 19s. The problem with running low profile on a Tesla is the weight of the car. We are putting low profile tires on a car that weighs about the same as a mid size SUV. Tire pressures are lower on the 21s by 4psi this causes the contact patch to length past what the tire was designed for. Normally on a low profile tire you have a short but wide contact patch which makes for good cornering but if you squish the tire it lengthens causing more roll resistance. If you stiffen the side wall to take the extra weight of the car then you sacrifice the tires performance. In the future I see the tire companies fixing this issue as more EV's weighing in heaver than normal cars takes to the road.