BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....

Subject: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Jul 13 - 09:16 PM

Here in North Carolina it's the craze... Doesn't much matter what kind of car or truck or SUV it is seems that about 10% of all of 'um have like 20-22" wheels and tires that are all but non-existent...

How about in your neighborhood??? Or is it just a NC thang???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: pdq
Date: 07 Jul 13 - 09:26 PM

Been going on in the barrios of California for about 20 years...right along with "boom box" cars making awful thumping noise at about 120 dB.

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Jul 13 - 09:44 PM

Guess we are about 20 years behind California...

BTW, being an old "car guy", I like the look...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Jul 13 - 11:42 PM

I don't get the "tiny" tire thing. Are you saying the wheels are almost steel-tired?

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 01:16 AM

I've seen them in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Charlotte, Macon and Atlanta, Soooo many in Atlanta!

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 02:16 AM

Until some years ago, most tires were at about 70% cross section. The height of the tire, from rim bead to ground at "standard" inflation and load was about 70% of the width, at the "maximum" bulge excluding the "wear bead."

With the more common use of "radial tires" load capacity at a given level can be achieved with "less tire," and with the incentive of reducing weight "lighter tires" became popular. (If the vehicle weighs less, it's even more important to reduce the "unsprung weight" to maintain ride quality without expensive road shock compensation.) Tires at 60% and in some cases down to 35% cross section became more popular, or at least more available, for some kinds of vehicles.

The "very low profile" tires, in conventional usage, have recently been seen most often in "police vehicles" where 50% sections have seemed common, and some departments (highway patrol?) may be using even lower profile ones. For very high speed use, a low profile has some advantage. The tread does deflect at the ground contact point, and with a "tall" tire what's sometimes called "tread flop" can affect steering stability, and a low profile tire may (some disagree) produce less heating at sustained high speeds.

An "arguable downside" of very low profile tires is that they have less flexure range, so they may be more prone to "curb damage" and "stone bruises" so in police and similar use they nearly always incorporate additional features such as "run flat" provisions and may be mounted with unusual "rim retention" features.

As to why the Chicano culture likes them, the availability of a wider variety of profiles makes them obtainable (although sometimes with difficulty and significant expense) and within the culture (and a few others) they're considered "cool."

It may be noted that some of the more extreme setups may actually be using "motorcycle tires" on their autos. It is unlikely that several I've seen have been verified as to load ratings according to existing design standards, but it's not the only place where "beauty" takes precedence over healthy living.

But the basic answer to "why do they do that?" is "because they want to."

John

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 04:51 AM

Low profile tyres are used in racing, because they give greater tread stability. They are therefore adopted by those who want their cars to look fast, even if they are not fast.

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 04:54 AM

I should have said that "big'n'littles" are used in extreme dragsters - big tyres with low pressures to increase contact patch and therefore traction at the rear, and skinny wheels on the front to reduce rolling resistance and indeed lighten the car possibly to get the front end up in the air, to maximise rearwards weight transfer and thus traction.   People may copy the look on their road cars - again to try to look faster.

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 06:58 AM

The impression I get from the "ethnic" (?) use of the skinny tires is that it's not much related to trying to look "fast." Most of the skinnies I've seen don't have any other "go-fast" junk on them.

It's more akin to "why did they wear the "zoot suits" way back then?."

Of course that won't be much help to the majority of people too young to have been scared by a "zooter" as a youngster, so maybe it's more like why some people dress up like clowns to scare the little kids.

(just to be different?)

I've seen only a few of the skinnies in my area, but there were quite a few "hi-jackers" around a few years ago. The jackers were less conspicuous on the street, so many people never recognized them for what they were, unless they passed a rally in the park and saw them jumping.

Locally the "blasters" with the 12 KW sound systems were/are more obvious, since you can hear them from far away, but that particular perversion seems less confined to any ethnicity and afflicts lots of kids who've just been to too many rock concerts and can't hear what ain't really loud. (And they take less mechanical skill than some other "effects" - you can buy one professionally installed for a few bucks.)

These three (and probably a few other) fads don't seem to have overlapped much, but appeared and then faded sort of in succession - so far as I can tell; but "combinations" or "overlaps" may have been more common elsewhere.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 08:30 AM

I think it looks bad, goofy really as do the tuner guys with their black wheels......I'm from the muscle car days with polished aluminum and 60 and 70 profiles with raised white letters or outline white letters.

Additionally the extremely low profile do away with an important part of tire design which is heat dissipation. Note that you never see extremely low profiles in any form of racing.


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 09:37 AM

I suspect that the fad comes largely from "he did it and he's got a girlfriend, so if I do it more so I'll get a hotter chick," but of course I'm not socially connected with any who are doing it so that's sort of guessing.

If that does have anything to do with it, there's no reason to expect a "rational" or "logical" explanation - just a little heavy breathing maybe.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Bobert
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 10:14 AM

The first ones I saw here in Charlotte were on older US large bodied "hoopties"... You know, Crown Vics and Caprices... That was 2 years ago... Now folks are putting them on anything that drives, including practically new BMWs...

To answer your question, EB... Yeah, at a distance it looks like there isn't even a tire on the wheel and the wheels are monstrously large and shiny...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 10:50 AM

Goofy looking piece of shit

A Nice Ride


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Greg F.
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 11:05 AM

I'm with you, Spaw.

But then, too, there's the Austin Healey 3000......

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: frogprince
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 11:59 AM

I'm seeing a lot of the friggin' things around too, and this locale is about as white as wonder bread soaked in skim milk. One local genius, in my own geriatric age range, keeps mentioning "the bigger the wheel, the better the ride"; yeah, right...Why not just go back to the original ultimate "run flats": hard rubber tires. The ride difference between that and the kind of thing 'spaw linked has to be just about negligible.

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Greg F.
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 12:07 PM

Well, we could go back to pennyfarthing bicycles, too - whoops! wrong thread.....

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 12:34 PM

IMHO its about the rims. How do you put a 22 inch rim in a wheel well built for a 26" wheel? 2" profile tires. I've talked to two car owners about their skinny tires on their cars. For both it was the rims.


I blame "Hot Wheels" and the difficulty some males display in growing up.

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 12:59 PM

A reason for larger rims is to get larger brakes inside them.

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 01:06 PM

Maybe big money in replacing big wheels.

My daughter just bought a new vehicle. The big wheels don't take snow tires, so she demanded the smaller wheels and had them mounted.

They still have winter snow and gravel roads in some rural areas.

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Greg F.
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 01:14 PM

People shouldn't be driving in snow without snow tires PERIOD, gravel road or paved.

The "all-season-tire" is a delusion, and a dangerous one at that.

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 03:39 PM

Soft snow is not too difficult so long as it is not more than 6 to 8 inches deep. Packed ice can get quite exciting without chains or spikes - one has to drive with great delicacy if the pedestrians cannot stand up!

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: frogprince
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 03:51 PM

"IMHO its about the rims."

I can't even imagine anyone claiming any other reason for the ones 20" or more.

"I blame "Hot Wheels" and the difficulty some males display in growing up"
            BINGO.

Subject: RE: BS: Big Ass Wheels 'n Tiny Tires....
From: Bobert
Date: 08 Jul 13 - 07:49 PM

Yo, Spawzer...

I thought that ol' Caprice you put up with the big wheels looked real rad and real cool...

B~