slicer questions -

[shobikes]

Hey y'all-

I just picked up a set of 16x6 slicers for my '89 ('cause they just look COOL!) They came shod w/GY 215/60 GT II's with much wear left, so I will be riding those for awhile.

My questions are these:
1. After telling the tire place where to put them, thinking I had it figured out, I later noticed the little direction arrows in the bolt circle, and also noticed I had got them exactly backwards. doh Does it matter? I of course thought to orient them to pull cool air IN, and it seems the wheels should be installed to push hot air OUT. Then I noticed some "backwards" slicers in some of the sig pics. What's the deal?

2. Someone here in another post claimed to not want 225's on slicers. Why? Too much sidewall flex? I was entertaining thoughts (already) about some 225/55's when the GY's wear out.

Thanks!

 

[pjtoledo]

Slicers work just fine which ever way they are pointing. During tire rotation I regularly put them on backwards as I use the X pattern. On the use of 225s, you will get many opinions. In my opinion even the 215s are too wide for a 6" wheel. I feel a 215 tire would function better on a 6 1/2 or 7" wheel. I have 225-55/16 on 7" wheels on the 92. Handles great.

Perry

 

[K-Dawg]

The direction shouldn't matter on the wheels. If the tires are directional, then they have to be facing the right way.

The bad thing about a 225 tire on the slicers is that you get more bulge, which eguals more squirm when turning. The main advantage to a 225/55 or 225/50 is that you can get a high-performance summer tire, where you're limited to all-season tires with the stock size. IMO, a 6" rim is too narrow for a car as big as the SHO.

 

[shojuan]

pjtoledo:
Slicers work just fine which ever way they are pointing. During tire rotation I regularly put them on backwards as I use the X pattern. On the use of 225s, you will get many opinions. In my opinion even the 215s are too wide for a 6" wheel. I feel a 215 tire would function better on a 6 1/2 or 7" wheel. I have 225-55/16 on 7" wheels on the 92. Handles great.

Perry

A 215 tire will function even better on an 8" wide rim. What's the rule of thumb, 5mm tire section width increase for every .5" rim width increase?

Before anybody crys that an 8" rim is too wide for a 215 tire let me point out that I ran a 205/50-16 tire on a 7.5" rim on my old Toyota Camrys that had far less in the way of suspension mods than my current SHO (except for the fact that I'm still on weaves doh ). Those camrys could hand my SHO lunch any day of the week in the handling department and I have to give a large amount of the credit to the tire/rim pairing. The tires looked outstanding on those cars too. I'll have to dig up a picture or two.

 

[JoeHoe_SHO]

I've heard that Slicers suck out air from under the front and back end to prevent lift...who knows if its true, but I guess if it were true, if they were backwards, it wouldn't work as well shrug

 

[Shoaz]

JoeHoe_SHO:
I've heard that Slicers suck out air from under the front and back end to prevent lift...who knows if its true, but I guess if it were true, if they were backwards, it wouldn't work as well shrug

The slicers do move air, which can contribute a bit to brake cooling, but you'd need a lot more than that to change any lift characteristics on the car.

I did try to start that idea as a rumor on the SHOtimes list many years ago, though, but at the time it was in the context of jokes people were making up about lowering SHOs.

The bottom line, though, is that I've never seen anyone notice an appreciable difference in braking cooling running the slicers forwards or backwards. Somebody did some measurements with an air vane a long time ago and showed that the slicers do move quite a bit of air when they're mounted forward, but it doesn't seem to make much difference practically.

FWIW, Bondurant's place was never careful about how they mounted the rims. Half of the SHOs there had various slicers on backwards, it was totally random.

 

[92sho16]

JoeHoe_SHO:
I've heard that Slicers suck out air from under the front and back end to prevent lift...who knows if its true, but I guess if it were true, if they were backwards, it wouldn't work as well shrug

if you want cooler brakes n such then listen to this man.

 

[drivinhard]

The slicers are a terrible wheel for brake cooling. They don't have a ton of spoke to caliper clearance (being a 6" wheel) and they aren't very "open". A thin 5-6 spoke wheel would be a lot better.

 

[91 SHOplus]

shobikes:
... Then I noticed some "backwards" slicers in some of the sig pics. What's the deal?

There were 2 sets of slicers. One set came from Canada, and another was Italian. The canadian slicers, found on 91 plus' and 92's, were non-directional. The Italians found on 93-95's were directional. That is why some appear to be backwards.

Now then, how functional the directional rims are in one position or another is another debate.

<small>[ September 04, 2003, 01:35 PM: Message edited by: 91 SHOplus ]</small>

 

[sdpatt]

91 SHOplus:
One set came from Canada, and another was Italian. The canadian slicers, found on 91 plus' and 92's, were unidirectional. The Italians found on 93-95's were directional. That is why some appear to be backwards.

I think you meant to say, "non-directional" for the Canadian slicers. They had no arrows on the hub.

 

[91 SHOplus]

sdpatt:

91 SHOplus:
One set came from Canada, and another was Italian. The canadian slicers, found on 91 plus' and 92's, were unidirectional. The Italians found on 93-95's were directional. That is why some appear to be backwards.

I think you meant to say, "non-directional" for the Canadian slicers. They had no arrows on the hub.

doh Thanx Scott, I'll go back and edit that.

 

[pjtoledo]

Before we get carried away with how much air a slicer pulls, let's stop and remember the brake rotor and splash shields pretty much close off the inside of the wheel. Especially in the front with a 96 upgrade.

The "what width works best on what" is interesting in that as the aspect ratio goes down the allowable difference between the wheel width and tire section width becomes less. It stands to reason that while a 215mm 60 series tire will fit on a 6-8" wheel, the narrower 205mm 50 series tire will require something in the 7-8" range. And yes, a .5" change in wheel width results in approximate .2" change in cross section width. But I don't drive on the sidewalls. Getting a good match between tread width and wheel width is what matters. That relationship changes with the aspect ratio. Tall (performance) tires have tread that is wider that the wheels. Very low tires, say 35 series, have tread that is equal to or narrower than the wheel. Food for thought, what else is for dinner? How about a debate of straight line vs twistie handling? I'll concede that a wide tire on a narrow wheel is ok, even prefferred, for the straight line stuff. But on a twisting road a better matched tire/wheel combination will provide the squishy guy with a good view of somebodies tail lights.

Perry