Are alloy wheels a performance upgrade

[thexav]

Most cars come with alloy wheels and lot of people upgrade to larger rims.

Are these just cosmetic mods or do larger wheels and fatter tyres give a performance gain?

I've always understood that a lot of unsprung weight is a bad thing, surely adding larger alloys will hinder perfrormance.

 

[davalav]

In a way, yes.

Standard wheels are often designed to reduce road noise and are very heavy. Putting a set of lighter wheels on helps with overall weight saving and provides more responsive steering.

 

[old-git]

Only if the new set of wheels AND tyres are lighter than the orignals.

Very few people, if any, replace their wheels and tyres with a set of the same size. Therefore the chances are that there will be no weight saving and more likely a weight gain. Performance will, obviously, suffer.

 

[davalav]

Only if the new set of wheels AND tyres are lighter than the orignals.

Very few people, if any, replace their wheels and tyres with a set of the same size. Therefore the chances are that there will be no weight saving and more likely a weight gain. Performance will, obviously, suffer.

Indeed. I few people I know use Compomotives for example or wheels an inch smaller and there choice of tyre and are still several Kg's lighter then stock wheels with the same tyre.

 

[old-git]

Narrower in width? I didn't know this sort of person existed.

 

[davalav]

Narrower in width? I didn't know this sort of person existed.

Dang, it would appear I'm confused. I meant rim size!

 

[old-git]

Still confused, who puts small diameter wheels on their cars?

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

As O-G says only if the tyre and wheel package is lighter.
Heavier takes longer to spin up and slower to slow down .A bit like a light flywheel vs a stock heavy one.

 

[obi_waynne]

Lighter = better for performance. Most alloy upgrades are purely cosmetic though.

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

Narrower in width? I didn't know this sort of person existed.

I an fairly sure that the WRC cars fit them with narrower snow/spiked tyres.

 

[old-git]

I an fairly sure that the WRC cars fit them with narrower snow/spiked tyres.

Yes, but that is racing and is different. F1 use 13" wheels