Al brings up the other really good reason for increasing the wheel diameter- you can fit bigger front brakes in there! The Van Cafe Big Brake Kit makes a big difference in stopping ability - not only are the discs 1" and vented, the pads are soooo much bigger! Jake On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Al Knoll <anasasi@gmail.com> wrote: > As Evan mentions below, the change in effective wheel/tire diameter gives > less 'thrust' at the road surface since the torque is acting over a greater > moment arm (distance from the center of the wheel to the ground). There is > also the inverse problem, the braking force/torque is also reduced by the > same amount, so your braking, already a bit iffy sometimes gets worse. > Pensionerd. (Al Knol) > > > > > There are downsides, also, that need to be watched out for. Increasing > tire > > diameter lowers your effective torque at the road surface. Since we are > SO > > torque limited to begin with, you may not want to go to the biggest tires > > you can fit in the wheel wells. There are wheel bearing life issues, not > to > > mention speedometer accuracy problems. > > > > Ask careful questions, decide on your trade-offs, and make your change. > Any > > increase will help. And even if you keep the same effective rolling > > diameter, but on 15" or even 16" wheels, it will be noticable. > > > > Evan Mac Donald > > >
-- Jake 1984 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX 'The Grey Van' 1986 Westy Weekender/2.5 SOHC Suby 'Dixie' Crescent Beach, BC www.thebassspa.com www.crescentbeachguitar.com http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27 |
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