David_viny
David_viny New Reader
10/19/21 8:31 p.m.

Same tire, same track width, how does wheel width effect grip?

For instance, a 275width tire has a recommended wheel width from 9.0" - 11.0".

Grip, feel, camber needed, ride quality, something else?

 

SkinnyG (Forum Supporter)
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) UberDork
10/19/21 10:11 p.m.

I would imagine that the more stretched tire would be more responsive, but less forgiving.

Patientzero
Patientzero Dork
10/19/21 11:24 p.m.

A wider wheel will give you more contact patch which should correlate to more grip.  I see more and more people putting 315's on 12" wheel now instead of 11's wheels which has been common.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=200

RacingGeek
RacingGeek New Reader
10/20/21 5:46 a.m.

I think GRM had an article on this many years ago from a tire test which concluded a slightly stretched tire was more responsive.

buzzboy
buzzboy Dork
10/20/21 6:44 a.m.

I recall Terry from Vorshlag doing some A/B testing on this topic years ago but I can't find the post he did. He's a huge propenent of using a wider wheel to get full tire width.

dps214
dps214 Dork
10/20/21 7:40 a.m.

Just want to point out that recommended rim width is an industry standard based on nominal tire size only, not an actual recommendation for that specific tire. Especially in the high performance tire sector it's pretty common for tires to be their happiest on wheels even wider than the upper end of the recommended range.

Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
10/20/21 8:39 a.m.
David_viny
David_viny New Reader
4/22/23 1:41 p.m.

Well this vid pretty much answers most of my original questions.  Seems that wider wheels/more tire stretch is generally faster and has a more direct feel, at least in this test.

 

 

Rodan
Rodan SuperDork
4/22/23 8:47 p.m.

No big surprises there, but I hope they distribute their test results to their bosses over at Discount Tire, who refuse to mount 225s on 9" wheels...

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