Will fitting a smaller wheel size burn out my clutch?

benskia

benskia

benskia

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Joined
6 Oct 2005
Posts
576
Hi,

I just switched my wheel to a spare set of alloys that have got some winter tyres on.

They dont look as great, but the car still drives okay.

The guy at the garage reckoned I would burn my clutch out because the wheels are smaller than the ones I have taken off. Is that just bull **** or does he have a point?

Thanks.
 
I doubt you're going to do anything to your clutch but you should be aware that unless your rolling radius is the same, your speedo could well be miles out, and your speeds in any given gear may leave the engine at much higher revs than intended.

What tyre sizes have you changed from and to?
 
Need tyre sizes, the tyres will be different profiles on the wheels which is what ultimately effects the end rolling radius.
 
Was the bloke trying to sell you Winter tyres for your 18's at the time. :p

No worrys about the Clutch but your acceleration & top end will be effected, So will your speedo but as Kenai says it depends on the rolling radius.
 
benskia said:
Thanks for the quick replies.

Gone from 18" to 16".

Will the speedo be showing high or low?
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Smaller size wheel increases road speed so speedo will show slightly slow, but bare in mind what size the factor fit wheels were, also take into account that the rim may be 18" but the side wall may be a lower profile, thus the radius maybe the same
 
Depends on the tyre size. Engine RPM translates through the gearbox and then to the wheels as wheel RPM. If the outer diameter of the tyre has not changed then the speed at an RPM will be the same. If the diameter decreases then the distance the wheel travels for each revolution is less. This means the car will have a high reading on the speedo. Larger diameter the wheels travels more for each RPM and therefore the speedo will read lower than your actual speed.
 
Arguably smaller wheels (smaller diameter tyre) will be easier on the clutch because the torque at the wheels is greater which means it is easier to pull away.
 
Won't affect the clutch. If anything, it's easier on it as said above.

If you upgrade your tyre size, your speedo will be showing speeds slower than what you're actually doing.

If you downgrade your tyre size, your speedo will be showing speeds faster than what you're actually doing.

Though as said, if the rolling diameter is the same, you won't have a speedo difference.

Hope that helps.
 
"andy" said:
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Well, the VW "scene" seem to like fitting ugly tiny wheels with tyres which don't fit right along with other silly fads - roof bars, bonnet bras on old polos, toys dangling from the towing eye.....rust!

And if the silly wheels caused problems with the clutch, then it obviously doesn't stop them. As they're obviously a bunch of enthusiastic and knowledgable car owners, we should take solace in the fact that no harm will come to the OP's car
 
Was Just wondering how you stick much smaller wheels on an old vw than what they came with . I always thought it was big wheels that 'chavs' stuck on and then the thin tyres even out the radius
 
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