Did I hurt myself by buying 18's (18 vs 16)

[TurBoGs-T]

Basically want to know did i do more harm than good when i got 18's. I keep hearing that 16's have better traction, of course are lighter, and overall better. I'd rather sacrifice looks for speed. Should i go back to 16's???????

 

[toshi128]

I'll try to answer the best I can. when you got 18's, the rotational mass has increased due to the radius of the rims and tires, however, if the 18's you got are lighter than your 16's, then you might be able to still benefit from having those 18's. But i have no idea how to calculate the rotational mass. People usually say to stay within 17's for rims, or this is what I've read on this forum.

 

[Eagle 5]

the moment of inertia for a disc of radius R is 1/2(pi)R^4 for the tire use the same only use 1/2(pi)(Routside ^4 - Rinside^4)

multiply the moment of inertia by the mass and I believe you et what you need, although i dont have my physics books in front of me so im not 100% sure on this

 

[KRAZYKOREAN]

Or how about this those 18"s are way better then 16's there... 18's>16's

 

[mrecl1pse]

I've read in Sport Compact car that 17s are about the best size for performance (handling and acceleration) for our size car. The 17s probably handle a little better than 16s because of the smaller sidewalls and without much more weight than 16s. But if you already bought 18s, I'd just keep them. 18s do look nicer though.