Originally posted by CivicSiRacer
That kid and his daddy ae morons. Take for instance an empty merry-go-round and a fully load merry-go-round. Same size diameter but one weighs prolly 2 tons more. Which would take more energy to spin?
Yes wider wheels can be better but then your adding more weight. Bigger wheels have smaller sidewalls (if you want to keep the speedo accurate), which help in cornering, but at the price of acceleration and braking speeds. But a larger wheel can also cause a suspension to move slower and not react as quickly over bumps making the ride harsher.
Smaller wheels have more cushioning (sidewalls), but when I went from 17s to 16s to 15s I gained more cornering abilities and better acceleration.
There is an important distinction you need to make: Assuming that the tire outer diameter are the same, lower profile tires make for a worse ride, mainly due to less flex in the sidewall (it's narrower). But, since wheels usually weigh more than tires do (at least, their mass distribution is further out), more wheel/less tire makes for a slightly heavier setup than less wheel/more tire for the same size outer tire diameter. To nitpick, it takes the same energy to turn the merrygoround, but it does take more power to turn the loaded merry go round (power is energy over time). Heavier wheel/tire combos do make for a slightly harsher ride, too (unsprung weight in suspension components is the culprit there).
There is no less torque on heavier wheels and tires than on lighter ones: The difference is angular acceleration of the tire, which translates into linear acceleration eventually (F=ma, or t=Ia (torque = moment of inertia times angular acceleration).
The only reason why wider tires tend to give you better grip is because road surfaces aren't perfect (and some other ones that involve exactly how a tire gets grip on pavement).