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An
important part of the Electric Imp's mission is to bring the power
and excitement of electric cars to the public. To do this, the car
needs to be street legal. Therefore, it's tires need to be DOT approved,
but we would like the closest thing to racing tires that we can
get.
We
speak to Hoosier
Tires about our project. They have some tires that should fit
our needs.
The
minimum wheel size that the Impreza L can fit is 13 inches. Any
smaller and there are problems fitting over the brake calipers.
The largest rim is 18 inches. This is where the tire diameter begins
to become too large for the wheel well.
Larger wheel rims allow you to
fit bigger brake calipers to improve braking. Since we expect to
do much of our braking with the Regenerative system, this should
not be something we need. A larger diameter tire also means more rubber
and slower wear than the same tire in a smaller diameter.
The
Electric Imp will be heavy for a race car and might use up the tire
quickly. On the other hand, The smaller diameter the wheel tire
combination, the lower the center of gravity. Lower center of gravity
generally means better cornering.
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