What are the effects of increasing wheel size?
1 Answers
Here are the impacts of increasing wheel size on a car: 1. Larger wheels have stronger load-bearing capacity: Wheels are usually made of steel to save costs, but larger wheels often use aluminum alloy wheels, especially those made by forging processes. The load-bearing capacity of these wheels is five times that of ordinary steel wheels. 2. Larger wheels improve cornering performance: After wheel modification, the contact area increases, enhancing the vehicle's stability during cornering and significantly improving cornering performance. 3. Larger wheels may reduce ride comfort: Large-sized wheels can affect ride comfort. Generally, the outer diameter of the tire is a fixed value, meaning the larger the wheel, the thinner the tire's sidewall. This leads to poorer isolation of road noise, increasing cabin noise and affecting interior quietness. 4. Larger wheels may reduce car performance: Large-sized wheels can impact acceleration and braking performance. As wheel size increases, the width also increases accordingly. Larger and wider wheels naturally weigh more, requiring more power to drive them, which affects acceleration performance. 5. Larger wheels may increase fuel consumption: Large-sized wheels can raise fuel consumption. Larger wheels have an advantage in diameter, and the corresponding tread width is also larger. The benefit is that the increased contact area between the wheel and the road can enhance grip, improving vehicle stability. However, the trade-off is increased friction, which can lead to higher fuel consumption to some extent.