How Does Wheel Size Affect Performance?
One of the first and easiest modifications to a car can be to slap some larger wheels on, but what what affect does it have on acceleration and overall performance?
Newton’s Second Law dictates that the force on an object is equal to
its mass multiplied by its acceleration. So, increasing your wheel size
will decrease the driving force from your wheels which will culminate in
a decrease in acceleration of said wheels.
To summarise, a car’s engine finds it more difficult to
rotate larger wheels, making for a decrease in overall acceleration.
This is all assuming that every other component like the engine,
driveshafts, gears and differentials are kept stock, making them
specifically engineered for the original wheel size. Fuel economy will
inevitably suffer as well due to the engine having to work harder to
rotate the wheels, but I’d imagine that’s the least of worries for the
generic modifier.
(CarThrottle.com)
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