Brandon706
Member
rims look great
Yes. ButI kinda like the 20" rims although I will stick with my stock style for my GN. Glad others are doing what makes them happy. FWIW the math behind the extra brake load is complex but here is a basic pass at it. As mentioned earlier the moment of Inertia (I) is what is important here (rotational not reciprocating). Basic formula for a cylindrical disc is
I=mr^2
and is a function of the wheel mass (m) and the radius (r). Those with keen eyes might say that a wheel isn't a a true cylindrical disc, and you would be right, as there are mass variations, but for the purposes of showing the effect of wheel diameter and because the actual math is stupid crazy this is the simple version.
Let's assume you can find a 20" rim that weighs the same as a 15" steel wheel that the stock brakes were designed for so the mass (m) is the same. This means that the moment of inertia for
Factory approximation:
m= 15 lb
r=15" or 1.25'
I= 23.4 lb-ft^2
Sweet looking 20's
m=15 lb
r= 20" or 1.66'
I= 41.7 lb-ft^2
This means you increased the moment of inertia with the same weight wheel by 77% by simply changing diameter.
Now this doesn't include the tires and it is unlikely you will find a 15 lb 20" rim, and when the weight of the tires works in it gets worse, but basically because the radius (r) works on the square, moment of inertia goes up rapidly.
Now the last formula to relate moment of inertia to torque can be basically represented by
T=I*alpha
where:
T= Torque
I= Moment of Inertia
alpha= angular acceleration (deceleration in our case)
without going into meaningless sample calcs, your brakes create a fixed torque and since the brakes are the same with only a wheel upgrade you can see an increase in moment of inertia translates into a decrease in the amount of angular acceleration which basically means more time to stop.
Time for a beer.
Yes. But
215/65/15 = 26" overall dia
305/30/20 = 26.5" overall dia
So not much difference?
Yay more maths! Anyways, I had to edit my above post for a miscalculation, but I will take a stab at the tires. Keep in mind this is an approximation as the tire sidewalls and tire tread have different mass distributions. This time the formula is
I= 1/2*m*(Major Radius^2 - Minor Radius^2)
Here is the math done in excel so I don't have to type it all out. Keep in mind in this example to show how the radius effects inertia I have kept the mass of the tires the same. Generally tires for 20" wheels tend to weigh more than tires for 15" wheels of similar diameter so just for kicks I tossed that into the calculations at the bottom. I don't have good information on how much a 20" wheel weighs, but this example was never meant to be anything other than an approximation to help with understanding the effect of radius.
Stuff from other post=
View attachment 231527
Just the tires, both at 21 lbs each:
View attachment 231528
Now with more probable tire weights courtesy of tirerack.com and my own tire weight for the 15"
View attachment 231529
Looks like roughly a 50% total increase when you look at realistic tires.
Hope this helps.
It's a bad idea if you don't like the idea of your car having no traction and looking like crap.
20" ride quality suffers a little. A little stiff for everyday. Just do the gnx fender mod's. Adjustable shocks would be a good up grade. I only went with 20's because the wheel style I really like that was the smallest diameter. View attachment 231489
I've heard of it. I'm in AZ now. Mom lives in Olympia!40 miles north east of Seattle. Little town called Sultan.
Don't get that far south very often. Where in az. Heard of kingman. My Parents retired there.I've heard of it. I'm in AZ now. Mom lives in Olympia!
Don't get that far south very often. Where in az. Heard of kingman. My Parents retired there.