I'm thinking about wheels & tires for my IROC. I'd planned on 18s, but not only is that going to cost me quite a bit more than 17s, but I'm concerned about the weight increase. I'm not really one to sacrifice performance for appearance.

What kinds of real world differences have some of you guys seen when going to a larger wheel?

 

You'll not only gain weight but lose sidewall height also. If you drag, this is not good.

 

i cut 2.1 60fts on hard *** yokohama es100's(18s) on a COLD night...some of my buddys with 17s were doing worse

 

For road racing, a smaller sidewall is prefered due to less sidewall flex when going into turns. A larger width is also good to increase the foot-print of the tire on the ground.

In drag racing, you want a larger sidewall to create sidewall flex. The sidewall flex helps the tire dig into the pavement. A larger width is also good to increase traction off the line.

Just for suggestions, I would get a cheap set of 16" wheel and put drag radials on them for when you goto the track, and keep your 17"/18" for the street.

 

I'll have the stock 16" wheels for the drags.

I'm mainly concerned about the weight issues, not the sidewall issues. I'm afraid that the unsprung weight is going to effect handling and braking.

 

I always thought that a larger sidewall was better (ie. F1)? The main advantage for road racing with larger wheels is the ability to carry larger brakes.

 

The stock weight for a 16 inch is around what,19 to 25 pounds right ???

You can buy 18 inch wheels with the exact same weight.I ve bought some 18"X9.5" and they weight 24 pounds/each.

When your gonna shop for your wheel , just ask for their weight.

Thats it

 

Perhaps, but generally I've found that the light weight wheels are the most expensive, or don't suit my tastes. I like TT2s, Boyd Junk Yard Dog, Foose Nitrous, and all of those type of TT2 knockoff wheels. I get the feeling that they are heavy.

Likewise, I'm also looking at 17" and 18" IROC wheels, but I think those get very heavy.

 

If you have 16's for drag, I wouldn't worry about the weight.

 

For a given wheel, you can expect an 18" version to weigh a few pounds more than a 17" version. But there are so many different styles, different metals, and different manufacturing techniques, that some 18" wheels will be lighter than some 16" wheels.

Always Faster got it right -- when you're shopping for wheels, find out what they weigh. Steel wheels are heavy but incredibly strong and cheaper than aluminum. Forged wheels are both lighter and stronger than cast wheels, but they cost significantly more. I think forged aluminum wheels are best, but your options are pretty limited with F-bodies because we have an unusual bolt pattern and require very wide wheels.

For a street-driven car, I feel that 17" wheels are the best. A small enough sidewall that you'll see good performance with minimal deflection during cornering, but a large enough sidewall that potholes and other road hazards aren't going to wreck the wheels.