Rotational Mass
Posted by calicab on April 9, 2008
Suspension geometry is a crucial component in the inner workings of your babies (cars not real babies…) but also just as important as your suspension are your wheels and tires. They aren’t there for just looks. Newton’s second law of motion states that:
The relationship between an object’s mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma. Acceleration and force are vectors (as indicated by their symbols being displayed in slant bold font); in this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector.
Is that set of 17’s you’ve had your eye on for a couple months going to really help your performance, or help you in the opposite sex sector? Rotational mass for dummies means that if you keep going bigger and bigger with these tires, it’s going to be harder and harder to stop because there will be more mass (metal in your rims and rubber in your tires) rolling forward and not wanting to stop… if your are like much of your fellow car enthusiasts that are more GO then SHOW. Then this is something that will weigh very heavy on your heart. So next time your thinking of going big or going home….maybe just keep your eye on those JDM 15’s that would just make you “look better” maybe your wrong…and in the long run it could help save your life.
Photo courtesy of robmcm, used under Creative Commons license.
