Does rim and tire size mater for drifting

I was wondering does the tire and rim size mater when Drifting? I read somehere that 15's were the bigest you could use. That doesn't seem Right thogh. Can anyone elaborate some more on the subject

You can drift with any size wheel and tire just like you can drag race or autocross with any size wheel and tire. The deciding factor is how you want your car to handle and react.

With wheels, the larger you get the heavy they're going to be. Heavier=more mass. The more mass you have to move the more force you need to move it. Acceleration = Force/Mass.

Therefore You can drift with 18"x10" wheels, you'll just need lots of torque to make them spin and lose traction. Thats why D1 cars have so much power, it's not for speed it's to break traction whenever they want.

Tuning a car for drifting, be it engine or suspension is no different than tuning it for anything else. You still have to follow the same guidelines, manipulate the same factors, theres nothing special about it.

If you want to learn to tune a suspension I suggest you pickup a book on the subject. www.amazon.com carriers a bunch of great ones. I recomend:

"Chassis Engineering" By Herb Adams. It's great for first timers and explains all the basic theory and how most types of suspensions work and how to exploit they're strengths and minimize their weaknesses. And Herb Adams was one of the guys who helped create the Firebird so his credentials are good:smile:

"How to Make Your Car Handle" by Fred Puhn. This is one of my favourites. It's more indepth than "Chassis Engineering" with more focus on the practical and real world. How to setup a car for the drag strip, oval, road course or street.

Also, pretty much anything on cars by Carrol Smith is great.

cool books thanx

Nah it doesn't really matter what size rims you use. Just like CAptynCrunch said it is harder to break traction when you have huge, wide wheels under your guards. But the main reason I wouldn't drift with big rims is fear of ruining them. Big rims are expensive and I wouldn't want to dent them all up.

another large factor is the size. it takes longer for an 18 inch wheel to do a full revolution because of it's size. a 15 inch wheel spins alot faster since it's smaller.

I'd run 17s, personally.

I'd run 17s, personally.

Can I ask why? Tyres for 17's are not exactly cheap. I tend to use 15's and even 16's sometimes. Sure you can have bigger wheels on the front but you won't catch me drifting with 17's on the rear. Just my opinion.

I had always seen 17's on drifting cars...with the occasional 15-16's. I would have thought to go with 17's also because it seems the right size for the car not too big not too small. I know tires aren't cheap for the wheel but when I get my car and when i change out my wheels I would have gone with 17's which would you perfer 16's or 17's?

Well IMO you can't go past some 18 inch Volk's for ultimate Drift style. But I would only put these on my car for cruising or show. My new car has lightweight 16 inch Blitz rims which I will use for Drift.

I'd reccomend sticking with 15s or 16s, but it's all about your budget. If money isn't tight then just get what looks good as long as it has proper offset and clears your coilovers and brakes. It's going to be a bit harder to break them away than a 15 or 16 inch wheel (but that's already been explained so I won't go into that) but if you've got the money then you can afford to make the neccessary power. Tires for 17+ inch wheels are also expensive and you're going to be going through plenty of them.

Also, when you're buying wheels the width is very important. I like 16x8s personally but I'd consider something a little wider. The wider the wheel the more tire you've got making traction, and traction equals control.. even when you're drifting and purposely "losing" traction.

Im not planing on going over 16's Ill most likey be using 15's cuz it's cheaper.

Is a tire prifile of 60 too much?

Rim size doesn't matter..Rim weight does, and rim center of balance does...but size of the rim no..because you can always get a bigger tire..


p.s.

I was bored, what can I say..:cwm27:

http://www.angelfire.com/alt/gt3/images/S15Silvia2.gif

Size does matter.....:iceslolan

Originally posted by Corey I RanciD
I'd reccomend sticking with 15s or 16s

:werd:

Theyre smaller, so you can break traction easier, and often you can use steel wheels and crap tires, and bingo, no traction in the back.

When you have 350+hp THEN you can step up to 245-275 18X10

tire compound is pretty important too.

try drifting with r-rated tires.
then try it with all season tires.
i'll let you decide this like a news channel.

yup u can drift with practically any size
but like mentioned above, it's genarally easier with a smaller size

kay

this is how i see wheel diameters......you should run the smallest you can fit over a really good brake system aka big rotors and calipers.....i think a lot of people tend to overlook the importance of brakes.....

brakes are about as important to winning races as engine power and handling are.....

Originally posted by Impreza STi
yup u can drift with practically any size
but like mentioned above, it's genarally easier with a smaller size

You cant drift on 19"s or 20"s. D1 drivers get away with 18"s only when they have enough power(400+hp) to break the traction and require huge stickies to keep grip.

The drift competitions around here, no one is really concerned with rim diameter or with the braking power of the car (typically there are no hard, long braking manovers while drifting). However people are concerned about how hard (rubber compound) the tire is and what pressure the tire is run at. We typically overinflate the tires by about 25% over the normal pressure to reduce the tire's footprint and to reduce the amount of effort required to overcome the tire's static friction.