What are the impacts of increasing wheel size?
1 Answers
Below are the effects of increasing wheel size on a car: 1. Larger wheels have greater load-bearing capacity: Wheels are typically made of steel to save costs, but larger wheels use aluminum alloy wheels, especially those made by forging processes. The load-bearing capacity of such wheels is five times that of ordinary steel wheels. 2. Larger wheels improve the vehicle's cornering performance: After wheel modification, the contact area increases, thereby enhancing the vehicle's stability during cornering and significantly improving cornering performance. 3. Larger wheels 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 thickness. This results in poorer isolation of road noise, leading to increased cabin noise and affecting the vehicle's quietness. 4. Larger wheels may reduce car performance: Large-sized wheels can impact acceleration and braking performance. As the 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 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 surface can enhance grip, helping to improve the vehicle's stability. However, the trade-off is increased friction, which can lead to higher fuel consumption to some extent.
