ORIGINAL: AWDaholic

Jdubb, there are some PRACTICAL reasons NOT to put gi-NORMOUS wheels (they're called WHEELS, BTW, not RIMS... I'll educate you on teh difference, later. back to the lesson at hand) on yur vehicle.

I doubt you'll read the whole thing, becauseI use some big and/or complex words, and there aren't ANY pictures to hold your attention, sorry... [ol][*]Wheels, even alloy wheels, weigh MORE than tires. When you GO BIG you increase the unsprung weight of your vehicle. [ol][*]Unsprung weight is the weight of teh vehicle NOT supported by the suspension [ol][*]Wheels[*]Tires[*]Brake assemblies [ol][*]Rotor[*]Caliper[*]Pads[/ol][*]Wheel Hub [ol][*]Bearings[*]Races[*]Grease[/ol][/ol][*]Sprung weight is therefore theparts SUPPORTED by the suspension [ol][*]All the stuff that goes bouncy-bouncy when you push down on any given corner of teh vehicle[/ol][/ol][*]Unsprung weight, more specifically ADDITIONAL unsprung weight, can adversely affect the performance, handling and ride charastics of your vehicle. [ol][*]Performance [ol][*]Unsprung weight is harder to acelerate, and harder to stop, than sprung weight. [ol][*]Do this: [ol][*]Strap a couple of wrist weights to your ankles. This will represent those 24's you secretly want, but were afraid to ask about.[*]From a dead stop, START RUNNING, as fast as you can.[*]Once you get up to speed, STOP, as abruptly as you are able, without falling down.[*]Now, take thos SAME weights and affix them to your wrists (now it's "sprung" weight)[*]Start running as fast as you can.[*]Once you get up to speed, STOP, as hard as you can.[*]Notice the difference? Notice how much more quickly you were able to get up to speed? Notice how much more quickly you were able to stop?[/ol][/ol][/ol][*]Handling [ol][*]How quickly the steering, and, more importantly, the VEHICLE transitions from left/right, and back again[*]How adroitly the suspension permits the wheels to remain in contact WITH the road, over bumpy surfaces and high "polar-moment" manuvers [ol][*]Polar-moment is best described as that instant when something tips from one side to another, or from front to back.[*]More unsprung weight means the suspension reacts more slowly to these situations. [ol][*]Grab a dumbbell and move your arm up and down[*]Now, put the dumbbell down and move tyour arm up and down[*]Which situation allowed you to move your arm more quickly?[/ol][*]If you don't know what it means, or can't infer it's meaning from my usage, look it up.[/ol][/ol][*]Ride Characteristics [ol][*]How softly, or firmly a particular vehicle rides is ALWAYS a compromise reached by auto manufacturers when designing their vehicles. [ol][*]Soft rides aren't sporty, because there is so much "give" in teh suspension that transitions between polar-moments (see above) take to long to recover from, in some cases, as much as 5-6 tenths of a second between full extension and full compression. An eternity when you're driving hard.[*]Firm rides, while sporty, aren't particulary COMFORTABLE. In a race car (albeit an extreme example) they want EVERYTHINIG as stiff as possible. [ol][*]If the tire hits a bump, no matter how small, they want that tire BACK ON THE ROAD as quickly as possibly (2-3 hundreths of a second, ideally).[*]This would SUCK in a daily driver. Commercial & public roads aren't nearly as smoovf as race tracks, and race tracks are only used a weekend at a time, generally.[/ol][*]What YOU get, when you purchase a vehicle, is a compromise between these two extremes. That compromise will lean more towards one or these two schools of thought, depending on where a manufacturer decides to place their oferings, market-wise.[/ol][/ol][*]For any given volume of metal (at least the ones even you can afford), it generally weighs more than a similiar volume of rubber. More of less. There are exceptions, of course, but this is generally an altruism. [ol][*]Hold a wheel in one hand, and a tire in the other...[*]Even if their weights are close to each other, bear in mind that tires have metal in them, wheels don't have rubber baked in.[/ol][*]BIG wheels/low-profile tire fitments add more metal/less rubber to the equation. Hence, the additional weight mentioned earlier.[*]Low profile tires offer less compliance with road imperfections, due to the reduced sidewall height. [ol][*]Reduced compliance means that those pretty 22"ers will be more prone impact damage. [ol][*]Which also affects road-handling and ride, because the wheel will now be out-of-round.[/ol][/ol][/ol][/ol]
So, what have we learned: [ul][*]Bigger isn't always better.[*]Pretty should be limited to show cars and the women who model around them.[*]LARGE wheels slow you down, and make slowing down take longer.[*]Weight is the ENEMY of performance.[*]JDubbz20 doesn't like criticism.[/ul]
And, while we didn't define it, in the above lesson, we are here, as Audi owners, because we enjoy PERFORMANCE. Spirited performance. We make them look GOOD, to be sure, but not at the expense of PERFORMANCE!

Class dismissed...

ORIGINAL: jdubbz20

wow, you have a great fan clubs, "dick riders" just make sure they zip you back when they are done superstar, by the way Hansbix if you feel likeI was taken shot at ALL U guys. thats fine by me, this is fun as hell. at the end i am still going to hook up my ride and enjoy it. don't hate cause you finaly can effort a car you scare to do anything with it because my warrenty or just my wife won't let me, you ain't no body AWDholic, i c it seems like you have answer for every question. you really are the man in the forum. A again not looking for people to agree, if you know or seem anyone one done it if possible, but do to Awdholic, it just make me want to get done sooner and **** on you.