The older and more in to proper sports cars I get, the more I appreciate the benefits of smaller wheels. I like precise steering but there's absolutely no denying that it's far easier to slide the car around and really enjoy it with smaller wheels and narrower, higher profile tyres. There's just so much more movement, progressiveness and frankly warning that you get from smaller wheels.
That and the mathematical fact that smaller wheels have much less rotational inertia due to the ring of metal that is the rim being a smaller circumference (so physically less metal) and closer to the hub, both of which compound to make it much easier to increase or decrease the rotational speed of the wheels and therefore the car. With the same car and same overall rolling radius and same width of tyre, smaller wheels and higher profile tyres accelerate faster.
I gave John a passenger ride in the TVR at Scotfest this year on borrowed 18" wheels and it wasn't a particularly good performance by myself. The car felt slow on those and they utterly ruined the ride whilst tramlining like an utter pig. OK the TVR is especially sensitive to this as it's so light, and the weight difference between my own 17s and those borrowed 18s is rather larger than normal so the inertial effects are magnified even more. The tramlining was a combination of the low profile and Toyo T1Rs which I loathe. I'd like to drive John again on my own wheels for comparison.
The Cougar isn't as sensitive as this, and the 18s do look good. I had 18s myself on my first Cougar. 17s work better from a functional point of view though. 19s can be done but they're not for me. Every Cougar I've been in with 19s has been ruined as my Cerb was on 18s.
That and the mathematical fact that smaller wheels have much less rotational inertia due to the ring of metal that is the rim being a smaller circumference (so physically less metal) and closer to the hub, both of which compound to make it much easier to increase or decrease the rotational speed of the wheels and therefore the car. With the same car and same overall rolling radius and same width of tyre, smaller wheels and higher profile tyres accelerate faster.
I gave John a passenger ride in the TVR at Scotfest this year on borrowed 18" wheels and it wasn't a particularly good performance by myself. The car felt slow on those and they utterly ruined the ride whilst tramlining like an utter pig. OK the TVR is especially sensitive to this as it's so light, and the weight difference between my own 17s and those borrowed 18s is rather larger than normal so the inertial effects are magnified even more. The tramlining was a combination of the low profile and Toyo T1Rs which I loathe. I'd like to drive John again on my own wheels for comparison.
The Cougar isn't as sensitive as this, and the 18s do look good. I had 18s myself on my first Cougar. 17s work better from a functional point of view though. 19s can be done but they're not for me. Every Cougar I've been in with 19s has been ruined as my Cerb was on 18s.
