Wheel width, ITB, again

[MarkyMark]

i sure do wish it would go to 7". alot of cars now come from the factory with 7" rims. just make it 7" across the board.

[lateapex911]

What do you say to the hundreds (or over a thousand?)of guys with investments in 3 sets of 6" rims...and tires?
And what do you say to the guys who CAN'T fit 7s, and will go backwards in the result sheets because of it??

[Knestis]

What do you say ...??

7" wheels are cooler...?

K

EDIT - To the MkIII Golf question earlier, we did back-to-back testing and determined that the best combination was 225s on the front and 205s on the rear (running Hoosiers). Some tracks would probably favor 205s all the way 'round. Mid-O isn't one. I gave Tristan a pair of 225s to use to beat me at the 'fest two years ago.

[MarkyMark]

i dont think thousands out there would be affected. i see plenty of cars with tires that should be on a 7" rim but are on 6". with todays wheels there are so many with the right offset i dont see a problem with fitment. i really dont think the 1" difference will make you go backwards in the result sheets. i see so many cars running like 225/45/15 tires on 6" rims when they should be 7". just my .02. dont mean to offend anyone

[Chip42]

I don't think anyone around here is thin skinned enough to be offended...

anyhow, the wheel width limits the section width of the tire. by capping the class at 6" (which really is NOT out of line with the OE fitments on the VAST majority of the cars in ITB and C) the tires are limited to 225, and then the section is smaller than it would be on a 7" rim. there's an overall performance limit here that we don't need to mess with. if ITB goes to 7", why shouldn't we change ITS to 8? and ITR to 9 or 10? wheel availability is not the point. the wheels are out there, in ALL cases and for all classes as currently specified. yeah, some aren't cheap, but they're out there. just because you can't get a konig rewind or Enkei RPF1 in 6" width doesn't mean there needs to be a fundamental performance envelope rules change.

[gran racing]

i really dont think the 1" difference will make you go backwards in the result sheets. i see so many cars running like 225/45/15 tires on 6" rims when they should be 7".

This isn't the case. When front running cars are built, they are doing anything which might result in even a small performance increase. Things that are a major PITA to install such as crank scrapers, lots of dyno time and tuning, and so forth are done. People would change to a 7" rim for reasons more than just because of wheel availability.

[Flyinglizard]

The Prod guys are discussing the tire width rule, disregarding the wheel size.
That may help the IT guys also.
Spec the max tire section, without a rim size rule.
Makes a lot of sense, IMHO. MM