It's something you hear people talk about quite often, so here's the difference between sprung and unsprung weight. Check out our range of suspension parts here: uk.carthrottle... ______________ Footage credits: Thomas Sanchez Josh Lacko
Getting lighter wheels, tires, and brakes actually also gives you more wheel horsepower. Think of it like moving your arm around in a circle fast. If you add a bunch of hula hoops to your arm, you will move it around slower due to added weight. Same concept. I remember I purchased a car a while back that had beautiful after market replica wheels and I decided to change them to the original wheels and I'm glad I did! My 0-60 mph I'm proved by over 1 second and my 0-100 mph improved by over 2 seconds!
Kind of freaked out about this showing on my recommendations, I was talking about this with my dad and have never googled it or anything, one and a half days later this shows up in my feed..
Also add that unsprung weight is 7-8 times that of sprung weight.. 1 pound loss of unsprung weight is equivalent to 7pounds of sprung weight. Lighter wheels. Rotors. Driveshafts. Etc. very effective for going fast.
I think ye are wrong about the lighter wheel imparting more motion into the cabin. What ultimately effects how the cabin reacts is the force applied. Say for the same bump and speed of the car the force will be less for the lighter wheel as force = mass x acceleration. The distance travelled at the same speed will be the same, so the acceleration is constant, all that changes is the mass of the wheel which means the force overall will be less for the lighter wheel. However, because the wheel is lighter it may react to imperfections more severely as there isn't the same weight pushing down on the TIRE. This means the tire not the wheel itself is less likely to smooth over bumps. You'll find you have much less body movements with a lighter wheel, however, you might find some more vibration.
Uhh... What about rotational mass? I just can't see someone doing a video for sprung/unsprung mass without also explaining rotational mass - easily one of the most confused concepts in vehicle dynamics.
iDennis95 same weight reduction size in unsprung weight is likely to have 2 or 3 times the effect in the unsprung weight. For example if you reduce unsprung weight 10 kg is have the same effect of reducing 30 kg of sprung weight.
A Kei-car assuming that's what you meant is a Japanese car designed to fit certain size regulations for tax benefits. They can't be any longer than 3.4 metres, any wider than 1.48 metres, and must have a max engine size of 660cc, and a max of 63 horsepower. More famous Kei cars are Suzuki Cappuccino, Honda Beat, Mazda AZ1 and Daihatsu Copen. Because most of these only get the tax benefits in Japan, you don't see many outside of Japan. Alternatively, Americans gave the nickname K-car to any Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge running on the front-wheel-drive K-chassis that some argue saved Chrysler in the 1980s.
1:18 Wrong, it's the complete opposite. Low wheel weight improves BOTH ride and handling. It's easily proven with simple math, computer simulation or butt dyno so please stop spreading BS.
