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Everybody wants more horsepower, but there's a lot of things you can do to go fast around a track rather than bore out your cylinders or crank up the boost pressure.

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WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Everybody wants more horsepower,but there's a lot of things you can doto go fast around a trackrather than bore out your cylindersor crank up the boost pressure.Now here on "B2B",we've talked aboutweight versus horsepower,we've talked aboutsuspension versus horsepower,but there's one moreepisode we needed to make.And that is why your wheelsand tires are more importantthan throwing money under the hood.So today on "B2B",we're gonna get scientific.We got a bunch of experimentswe're gonna run here atthe streets of Willow.See what makes a good wheel,what makes a good tire,and how it can improve our lap times.Pulled the old Catfish out of the garage,got some new wheels and tires on her,bout to let this old girl eat.(mimics eating sounds)Let's go.(serene music)- Inside your car there a creepunlike anything you've ever heard before.But be warned it can be quitetemperamental.Always run an intercooler.Do not use low octane dyno juice.And the most important thing,(engine revving)beware the creep thatlurks within the boost.Donut Media presentsthe new hair raising boost creep shirtavailable right now atdonutmedia.com for just $29.98.Really that cheap huh?That's so much cheaper than 30 dollars.- If you've ever lookedat the sidewall of a tire,you probably notice a lotof numbers and lettersin various positions.Or you looked at it andthen went on with your life'cause you didn't care.But you should care becausethey mean something.But what do they mean?Well, let's start decoding reverse matrix,here we go, tap in.(makes choking sounds)The size of your tires areindicated by three numbers.The first is the tire width,and that is in millimeters.The second is the sidewall heightand this is based on aratio of the sidewallto the width of the tire.So if that number is 35, for example,35% of the width of the tireis the height of the sidewall.The third number is thediameter of the wheelthat the tire fitsand that is in inchesjust to make stuff morecomplicated, I guess,or because wheel sizesare also given in inches.You got your 18, your 19,your 20s, your 22s, your 27s,your 30s.Big rolling on 30s.So on my Catfish from the factory,it uses a 275/40/ R17 tire.A quick little bit of math,animation, thanks to our editor,and we have a 10.82 inch wide tirewith a 4.33 inch sidewallfor total wheel heightof 25.66 inches.And that mounts up to thestock 17 by nine inch wheel.If you're curious whatthe R means in that,well, it's actually pretty interesting.The R stands for radial,and that signifies thetire's internal construction.If it was a B, that would stand for bias.if it was a D, that wouldindicate diagonal bias.And now the internalconstruction of a tireis pretty importantand it helps reinforceand strengthen that tire.The inside of the tire ismade up of plies of cord.Plies which is a fancy word for layers.And this network of cordsis called the tire's carcassand it's made of materialslike steel, polyester,and other types of materialsthat get reinforcedwith rubber.How this network of course is designedis what determines ifit's an R, B, or a D.A bias-ply tire is made up of layersof rubber coated crisscross plies of fabricwhich are typically nylon,and they're placed aroundangles from 30 to 45 degrees.A tire is constructed toform a single working unit.The sidewall of the thetire is interdependentof the tread.And these are friggingdependent on (laughs).A radial tire on the other handis constructed in two parts.The casing has one layer ofrubber coated steel cablesthat go from one bead to the other,90 degrees from the direction of travelperpendicular to the tread face.Then several rubber coatedsteel plies make up steel beltsthat are placed under thetread to stabilize the cramp*.And this type of constructionhelps reduce rolling frictionwhich improves your fuel economy,but more importantly,it improves your traction.Not so much for the bias-ply tirebecause it's constructed as a single unit,when the sidewall deflects,the tread squeezes in and distortscausing the tread to actuallylift reducing traction.The more you know...The construction of the radialtires allow the sidewalland the tread area to workindependently of each other,which allows for the treadto make better contactwith the road surfaceand have a more uniformdistributed contact patch.The alpha numeric code afterthe size tells us two things,how much weight the tirecan carry, the load index,and how fast you can safely goand then the speed rating.In our example, those tires have a 98,which means it has a maximumload rating of 750 kgs.The letter W denotes themaximum speed rating,which translate to 168 miles per.So these are the mainthings that any car ownershould be able to find about their tireif they need to get it replaced.But for anyone lookingfor a grippier tire,there's another numberthat you need to know,treadwear number.The UTQG rating systemis designed to indicatea tire's coefficientof static friction.But the highest rating,an AA indicates that it'scapable of about 0.54G.- The problem is that load rating changeswhen you put on evenjust a high performanceMichelin 4S, that co-efficientof friction changes to one,and then if it's below a 200 treadwear,it's gonna go to like 1.1, 1.2.And slickier stuff,or at 1.5, 1.8, it doesn'tgo up by a percentage,it goes up exponentially.We actually have load rating stickerson our wheels that will tell youfor tires of this tread,wear rating is this ratingand slick it's gonna be this rating.- This rating system isdesigned for road use though.So us track rats, we have torely on the treadwear number.The treadwear number is an estimationof the amount of wear a tire might have.A hundred is the baseline,but for most road cars,they run a 400 or 500 treadwear tire.It's not very grippy,but it's resistance to abrasionmeans you can put more miles on it.That's great for your mom's minivan,it's getting ton ofmiles put on that sucker.Soccer practice, home,soccer practice, home,soccer practice, home.my house, home.(makes clicking sounds)Now for most track applications,people use a 200 treadwear tire or lower.The lower the number,the more rubber the tireis losing as it goesaround the track,but the more grip it is generating.But here's the thing,the biggest problem withtreadwear rating though,it's not actually ameasurement of anything.- What?- It's an estimation basedon testing by a companythat is trying to get you to buy it.The treadwear rating numbers mean nothingin terms of the actual rubber compound.It's a great indicator,but by no means a hard fact.And we're not even gonnatalk about compounds of tiresbecause that is a whole nother dark art,and actually a secret art.We tried to talk to Falkenabout tire compounds,and there just they'reclosely guarded secret.It's what makes a tire.It's like going to McDonald'sand be like, "Hey man, give me the recipefor that yummy chicky nugg."And they're like, "Dude,we're not giving youthat chicky nugg recipe."And you're like, "But I want it."And they're like, "Dude, this is howwe make our money, man.Get the (bleep) out of here.Do you want me to go get(bleep) Ronald McDonald, (bleep) Grimace?You want me to go get (bleep)Hamburglar out the back?All these are coming here to smashing youif you don't leave me."And you're like, "I justwant the chicky nugg recipebecause I want to just beable to make chicken nuggsat home."And he's like, "(bleep)bring out Grimace!"And Grimace comes out,and he just starts smashing.(Jeremiah laughs)But tires are only onepart of the equation.The wheels you mount them on,they make a huge difference.Like tires, not allwheels are created equal.Once you've picked outthe right size though,the biggest difference comesin strength and weight.Wheel weight is one ofthe most important placesto look when counting pounds in your car.Not only does a one pound lighter wheelmean four pounds lighter in total,but the rotation of the wheel compoundsthe effect of that weight.All because of a little law of physicscalled conservation of angular momentum.Let's say this is the wheel of your car.If I spin it, it rotates freelypushing you down the road.But the faster it spinsthe less it wants to change direction,and I can prove thatby cutting this string.The wheel is spinning so fast,the force of gravity isnot enough to overcomeits angular momentum.Now, imagine how muchforce you need to changethe direction of a heavysteel wheel at 80 miles per.A lighter wheel can make acar more nimble in the cornersbecause it has a betterability to change direction.It would also mean that your drive trainuses less power to turn themand more power can make it to the road.Forgeline sent me a setof wheels for my Camaro,and even though they'rea bit wider and taller,and I'm running a bigger tire with them,they're still lighterthan my old stock wheels.Which means if I were toput the Catfish on the dyno,I would get more horsepower (claps).Jerry Bear, are you seeing thatyou can get more horsepowerby just having a lighterwheel and tire setup?I don't have to touch the engineand I could get more horsepower?Yeah, that's right, it's called physics.(Jeremiah laughs)But there's a lot more settingup your wheels and tiresthan just picking the right specs.Even a car with the samedriver, same wheels and tires,and just a different setupcan have an effect on performance.Tire pressures are a big factorwhen it comes to grip levels.On track you want the tiresto make as much contactwith the road as possiblewhile still holding its shape.- Running your tires at a lower pressureultimately increases thecontact patch for more grip,however, going too lowcan have a negative effecton performance as you can experienceexcessive sidewall rolloverand potential tire failures.- For track day,drivers they'll run theirtires at lower pressuresthan they would on the road.This flattens out the bottomof the tire for maximum grip.But if you go too low,it can cause moremovement in the sidewall,which generates friction,which brings me to my next big factor,which is heat.Heating it up.Every tire has an optimumoperating temperature.200 treadwear, 100 treadwear,and race slicks are designedto work best at a temperatureconsistent with the abuse ofgoing over around the track.- And then based on the temperatures,then you can kind of dictatewhere your pressures need to bewhether up in pressureor down in pressure.So typically you just wannabe always at a safe threshold.You don't wanna be too low in pressurebecause then that's whenyou start to have issueswith failure.- At ambient temperature,the tire compound isn't properly activatedand the tire generates less grip.In top tier motorsports, you'll see teamsusing tire blankets tokeep the tires warm,and cars weaving in and outof laps to generate heat.And tire temperature isn't just aboutactivating the rubber compound,higher temps will raise the pressurewithin the tire meaningthe contact patch changes,which means the tire would lose grip.So low pressures can lead tofriction, which leads to heat,which leads to high pressures,which leads to less grip,which leads to sliding,which leads to more heat.It's cyclical.It's a snake eating its own tail.- Ultimately, the tires'number one job is to carry air.If it can't hold air,then all the other technologieswe implement in a tire whetherit be grip, tread design,water evacuation, all thosekind of go out the window.So the tire has to be able tofirst and foremost carry air.- Even your alignmentcan have a big effecton grip levels and temperatures.An alignment setup to scrublike a toe in or toe outwill help generate heatif you're not able to findthe temps you want.Camber is a common site on race prep cars,and the idea is get thetire square and flaton the track when you need it the most.In a corner the car leans to one sideso the weight transfersover the outer tire.If the alignment is set upfor a little bit of camber,it compensates for that extra leanand gives extra grip to the tiresthat are doing the most work.Last episode we did with the Catfish,we talked all about this.We did a whole suspension setup,click right here if you wanna know more.Even though a tire may bevery gripping in theory,the setup can make all the difference.But if the setup is thatimportant on the tire,well, what about the wheel?Well, wheel setup startsbefore you get to the track,before you mount them on your carand even before you buy them.There are a bunch of thingsthat manufacturers can dothat may not show up on the spec sheet.- Well, yeah, the forgingprocesses is quite complex,but the way we make wheelsis we're taking that forginglike a cast where you'regonna pour it on a mould,and pour hundreds ofmoulds at the same time,and pull the wheels out when they're done.But we're machining each oneof those blocks of aluminuminto a specific designwhere when you forge it,you're actually forcingall those moleculesall to line up into a nice patternso they can get super denseand you have a nice grain structurewhich makes it significantly strongerand better fatigue life.- Cast wheels are cheapand easy to produce,but because they rely onmelting the metal first,the grain structure of the metalisn't kept intact.But with a forge wheel,the shape of the wheel is forged,moulded out of a solid chunk of metal.And because of that, it has amuch better grain structure.We did a whole episodeabout grain structure too.Click right here, man.You're about to frickinggo to school, man.All these videos is likegoing to school, baby.(Jeremiah laughs)- The product starts out inthe basic shape of a wheel,but they are quite heavy.They're about 110 poundsand we're machining them downto sometimes 16, 17 pounds.- It's kind of like how wood is strongerthan particle boardor how hamburgers fallapart easier than steak.In the forge wheel, themetal was also denser,which means that a wheelcan have the same strengthwith less mass.But where that mass iscan also be important.I'm sure you've donethe thing on a swing setwhere you twist the swing up,and let it unwind as you sit there.And if you lay back,the swing spins slower.If you scrunch in, the swing spins faster.You aren't getting any lighterso why does the swing increase speed?Well, the gravity is theonly force at play here,and since the force isthe distance over time,by shortening the distancemy body has to travel,the time will also be shorterwith the same amount of forcetherefore I'll spin.Now, if we apply that to wheels,if there's more weight onthe outside of the wheel,it will spin slower.The barrel of the wheelis the heaviest partand it's the furthestthing from the center.So having a really light, thin barreland a beefier mounting point is the goal.Forgeline they even have wheelsthat use carbon fiber barrelsin some of their competition wheels.Dude, that'd be sick.Maybe should've got those.But I've spent a lot of time talkingand playing with bike wheelsand riding swings this video.What do you say we actually get out thereand put some of this stuff to the test.So here's what we're gonna do.I'm gonna go to the streets of Willow,and just see how much grip can changewith a different set of wheels and tires.We've got my Catfish and a big old circle.Now, the plan is todrive around that circleas fast as grip will let me,but at the limit of gripwhere static frictionis just barely strongerthan the centrifugal forcewanting to throw me wide.We're gonna try it ona stock set of wheels,and then the Forgeline.And we're gonna use theexact same tire compound.These are Falken FK 510s,they are 300 treadwear tire.On stock wheels, we'regoing with 275/40 R17s,and with the Forgelines,we're going with 295/30 R18s.From a size perspective,we're going from a 17by nine, to an 18 by 11.But still we're goingfrom 23 pounds per wheelto 19 pounds per wheel.We get bigger but we're getting lighter.We're also gonna change the tire pressureto see how much additionallateral accelerationwe can achieve when we air down a bitto show you the importanceof tire pressure.(upbeat music)It's like I always tell you,safety second fun first.(upbeat music)All right, so now this is stock tires.(upbeat music)Right there.(upbeat music)Right there.(upbeat music)Right there.(upbeat music)- This is 300 treadwear,18 inch rims, 32 PSI.(upbeat music)That's the limit.Right there.(upbeat music)Right there.Same tires,25 PSI.(upbeat music)Right there.Right there.(upbeat music)So after going in acircle a bunch of timesand looking at all the data,a few key things stand out.The first is that whenyou go from 40 to 25 PSI,we gained about one mile per hour morebefore the car broke loose.And that makes sense.That lower pressureincreases our contact patch,which gives us more traction.The second thing is is that the Forgelinesgave us anywhere from1.1 to 1.6 miles per hourmore speed compared to the stock wheelsfor each corresponding PSI.Which would also makesense if you're thinkingwell, it's a wider tireso it has a bigger contact patch,and therefore you get more traction.Well, not really.Also it's interesting to notethat vehicles have of the same weightand the same tire pressure,have approximately thesame contact patch arearegardless of width.What changes is the shape of the patch.In our suspension episode,we talked about what happensto your contact patchwhen you go into a corner.It goes from a rectangle into a triangle.The outer edge of the tire is doingthe majority of the workas there's less contacton the inside of the tireto the track.You fix that with camber gain,but the shape and more importantly,the change in area from a widerversus longer contact patchof the same area differs greatly.A longer tire going into a corneris going to lift moreso as the patch begins to change shape,proportionally you lose more of that areacompared to a wider contact patch,which is really hard to quantifythat in a dynamic setting.But we can look at lap timesas well as the skid pad datato see what's going onwhen we change tire size.Here's a little sneak peek.I don't wanna spoil it,but the wider tire does better.Now here's the thing.One to one and a halfmiles per hour differencemay not sound like a lot,but when you apply that to every corneraround the entire track,that can shave seconds off your lap time.How many seconds?Well, let's see.(upbeat edgy music)Okay, so we've laid down a couple of lapson our stock wheelswith 300 treadwear tire.Now, we got the old Forgelines, 18 by 11,same tire compound, bigger size.We're gonna go see if I'm gonna put downsome faster laps with a bigger tire.And then explain why I can do that.Entertainment plus learning.Welcome to Donut.(upbeat edgy music)- Hey, Jerry.- Yeah.- No pressure,but just remember weinstalled these parts,but we are not professional.(Jeremiah laughs)Beautiful.I have all faith in us.(Camaro engine starts)(upbeat edgy music)- But we are not professional.- So if we look at the GPS data,my fastest lap at Willow Springson stock wheel setup was a 1:32.Using the same Forgelineswith the same tire compound,I did a 1:28, four seconds faster.And you can feel thedifference in your butt too.Right there.The taller tire has the car rolling more.That taller sidewall has a greater rolein the suspension departmentand you don't want that,at lease in our case.Now, if all this issounding like too much workto get to the grocery store and back,don't worry.For every average dailydriver or (indistinct),the wheel and tire specsare all you need to know.Get something that fits and looks sick,but on the track,the minor gains that tire pressuresor temperature can makeare very important.For accurate temperature readings,race teams use a probe style thermometer.But the problem isis that as much as we knowabout the numbers of size,pressure and temperature,there's no great way toquantify the componentsof a tires compound.The rubber's actualreaction to track conditionsis kind of a mysteryuntil it's been tried.And a tire that's good one year,might not have the sameconstruction the next,which means that beyond just measuringand calculating the best tire,race teams need to dowhat we did here today,go out and do some testing.Frigging science, man.Practical versus experimental.Sometimes you can't solve allyour problems with equations.I know, I'm bummed too.But if you can't, go into the race trackand doing your own testing,is pretty frigging cooltoo, which is what we did.The racetrack laboratory, racelaboratory.Thank you guys so much forwatching this episode of "B2B".If you could please hit thatlike and subscribe button,that really helps us out.And you'll see morecontent with the Catfish,more motorsports stuff.Leave a comment down below.I like doing it, do you like doing it?I like the science ofmotorsports, it's fun.I wanna thank Forgeline formaking these sick wheels for us,these things are ridiculously nice.So if you want a set of your own,there's a link down inthe description below,go check them out, forgeline.com.We wanna thank Falkenfor letting us have some tires today.We ran through a lotof tires, so thank you.And we wanna thank you guys for watching.Till next week,bye for now.(music crescendos)