How much rwkw is lost going up in wheel size?
Bigger the rim the smaller the sidewall.
Smaller rim, bigger sidewall = better launch.
Smaller rim, better acceleration.
Bigger rim, better top speed.
Marginal differences but every bit helps.
Bigger sidewall better quality ride also. Also the smaller the rim the cheaper the tire. Big rims cost way more to put rubber on.
Thats about it. If your not worried about every 10th of a second and don't hit the track 10 times a year go with what you think looks best because the performance difference wont be that noticeable on the street.
Intertia = mass x radius^2 so the radius of the weight is actually exponentially more important than the mass itself (literally).
It is a delecate balance of the two that will determine the exact difference. On larger wheels with lower side walls more of the mass is concentrated at a larger radius hence the reduction in performance even if overall tire diameter is the same.
Hope that helps
My car did a run with standard tune of 348.5 rwhp on the 20" wheels and after tune with the 20's it did 398 rwhp. I haven't measured the difference of overall diameter between the factory 18's and my HRE 20"s
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Bigger the rim the smaller the sidewall.
Smaller rim, bigger sidewall = better launch.
Smaller rim, better acceleration.
Bigger rim, better top speed.
Marginal differences but every bit helps.
Bigger sidewall better quality ride also. Also the smaller the rim the cheaper the tire. Big rims cost way more to put rubber on.
Thats about it. If your not worried about every 10th of a second and don't hit the track 10 times a year go with what you think looks best because the performance difference wont be that noticeable on the street.
The Best of Mercedes & AMG
Bigger the rim the smaller the sidewall.
Smaller rim, bigger sidewall = better launch.
Smaller rim, better acceleration.
Bigger rim, better top speed.
Marginal differences but every bit helps.
Bigger sidewall better quality ride also. Also the smaller the rim the cheaper the tire. Big rims cost way more to put rubber on.
Thats about it. If your not worried about every 10th of a second and don't hit the track 10 times a year go with what you think looks best because the performance difference wont be that noticeable on the street.
Going back to the weight issue, it is not neccessarily always the case that the bigger rim is the heavier one. For example, many people switch from 18" AMG rims to 19" HREs or BBS yet still save on rotational weight due to the wheel being made out of much lighter material. However, if the new wheel/tire combo does indeed weight more than the old wheel/tire combo, then your drivetrain loss percentage would become "slightly" higher since the car would now have to spend more energy accelerating the heavier wheel/tires, and similarly, the car would have to spend more energy stopping the heavier wheel/tire combo. And even though one may see a loss (or gain) of power on the dyno due to heavier rotational parts, it is important to note that the power loss (or gain) is not changing the crank horsepower output.



