Where do you get all your grip from? I run 8" wide wheels and can still spin them up if I'm a bit eager with only around 115bhp on tap (but shed loads of low to mid range torque). I suppose that if you have something like a Vtec then you don't get into the power.
If I remember correctly there was a big ass arguement about this, wider doesnt mean more grip since its just the same weight spread out over a larger area. It also depends on how heavy your car is, I think if you run your tyres at a lower psi you get more grip too.
Thats the spirit :)
-- Chet
215/45/17 budget rubber, and TorSen diff is all I have.
If I'm cruising along at 10mph in 2nd gear, I can floor the throttle and accelerate upto 70mph with no loss of traction at all.
Rubber-band effect of the Turbo, smoothes the power sufficiently to allow the wheels to keep up, I guess.
Engine is ludicrously heavy cast-iron block, so there's a fair bit of weight over the front wheels, and according to Doki, my double-wishbone suspension does a good job of keeping the tyres on the road...
Mine will only light up the tyres if I'm on a slippery surface, or I do silly things with the clutch :)
Mine's 240Nm at 2100rpm as standard - I estimate it's currently 280Nm at ~2500rpm as it is now with the limiter removed.
Eugh ! Yuck !
Yes it does.
No - the AREA of the tyre's contact patch remains the same, no matter how wide they are (within reason obviously) - but the SHAPE of the contact patch changes (becomes wider and shorter as you increase the tyre width). It's the wider, shorter SHAPE of the contact patch which gives you more grip - the actual amoumt of rubber touching the road, doesn't change.
The heavier it is, the more momentum you have, so effectively you're gonna get LESS outright grip !
Upto a point. Once they start significantly rolling on the rim, then grip is drastically reduced. It pays to run your tyres slightly HARDER than the manufacturer's figures - outright grip is very slightly reduced, but everything else is increased - tyre life, fuel economy, top speed, acceleration etc.
As an aside, I don't do any accelerating at all in first gear.
Reasonable Power + FWD, relegates 1st to nothing more than the moving-off-from-a-standing-start gear - as soon as I actually want to go anywhere, I change to 2nd.
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