Yesterday i swapped my 14inch wheels. The difference is chaotic in acceleration. Just to remind you 14inch k1 are 4 kilos each the s-drives weigh 7 kilos so 11kilos each. Furthermore the transmission is shorter with these tyres (185-55-14). My other set up was 15inch BBS 15x7 9kilos each. Toyos 888 195-50-15 weigh 9kilos each. So we have 11kilos vs 18kilos plus wider tyre and a grippy one.
So almost 30kilos more unsprung weight. As i was thinking this is a huge difference. Now that i can compare directly, the car seems way too faster. Just to tell you i think that the 14inch set up seems faster even with 3 more passengers I know it's not just the unsprung masses but the wider and grippier tyre too but the differences are huge in terms of acceleration.
I will always remember my friend and i having the exact same car and engine and mods ,both running around the same Hp with our D14 engines .When we raced against each other he always winned in the end.Even if i had a better start he could catch up later on.It always bugged me not knowing why he still beats me.But later on i discovered that tire area does make a big difference in accelleration.He had 195/45/15 tires and i had 195/50/15.That is a difference of 3.6% in area ! You can calculate the difference ,you actually have a 3.0% deviation from your 14" wheels.I'm actually thinking of getting some small lightweight wheels back again ,just for those hot summer days and race events.
Quote from Endyn:"The combustion chamber is a better shape than the DOHC.So don't chunk those 1.6 SOHC engines, they can make really good power. For a pure performance application, regardless of application, I'd choose the SOHC. No bull!"
the 2 massive benefits for lighweight wheels and smaller tyre profile can be seen on intermediate acceleration and high speeds! The pull from 150km and on is noticeable.
http://www.wheelweights.net/
Here we can find the weights of almost any wheel out there even the oem ones!
It's very interesting to know that there is a very lightweight stock wheel 13x5 that weighs around 4 kg. There are also 2 different types of oem iron wheels a 5kg one and a 6,8!
