14" rims and thinking about 185's on the rubber - can i get some feedback pls

so i really like the look of the fast essen 14" rims, pretty much sold on them, as they are 12lbs. i was thinking of trying out the rarely seen but available 185/55/r14's, the slightly smaller circumference should give me 5-6% more torque in the mid gears over stock if my reasoning is right. i know a lot of you forum members are on much bigger and much wider tires, is it needed?? with the coilovers and the strut tower bar, the car seems to have more than enough traction with my current setup (14" steelies, 185/60/r14 winter tires), and this rim and rubber combo would be really lightweight, and mass centralized for best rotating mass improvement.. i want the higher sidewall because i do deflate the tires and run on fire/logging/gravel roads from time to time

You are correct about the torque. I found this on physicsforums

Quote:

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The force at the rear tire equals the rear wheel torque divided by the radius. With the same rear wheel torque, if the radius is smaller, the force is larger. However the engine speed versus car speed is higher with a smaller radius, so you reach red-line rpms in the engine at a lower speed in each gear with a smaller radius.

Reference https://www.physicsforums.com/thread...-a-car.271592/

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Personally, when I bought my wheels, I got a ratio that is about closest to stock I could. It's a bit wider that was an issue when I was running coil-overs. So my wheels are about 3% smaller.

And that 3% smaller is way better than 1% larger, i bet than 4% change in the torque is noticeable. see 195/60/r14's are 1% larger, id go for 195/55/r14
also 3% smaller helps out in braking as well to a smaller but probably noticeable degree

Ya the wider tires thing ive read 205's even - how do you even do it? You must have to put spacers in or get rid of the wheel wells or something. in my situation, the CAI filter is scrubbing the tires at about half-lock on the steering it gets pulled and then it thwangs back after the tire moves over it... have to refit the filter or maybe try a cone style to clear the wheel well plastic. or i could raise the car another inch. we set the drivers side an eighth of an inch higher to account for the driver, seems pretty great

the alignment was out by 1.25 degrees, thats fixed now. im posting the lowering session pictures, take a looksie when you get a chance

well i've done some more research and phone calls and whatnot.. if i were going for a street setup, and autocrossing, probably 16" rims and 195's, but because of the occasional dirt road use, i'm sticking with my original post. the rims dont have a 'winter' finish on them, i don't really know how big of a deal that is but i really like the look..

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