Wheel width
 

Whats the ideal wheel width for a 106/saxo in terms of handling and speed. deciding on what track wheels to get but need to figure out what will be the ideal width that will give me the best comprimise between handling and drag... Im feeling 7J?

Not bothered about anything apart from pure perfermormance gains

or 8j with a lower offset like 0? would that aid handling or am i talking bullshit? this is hyperthetical asi know 8j wheels with 0 offset would stick out of the arches and not be road legal

"Not bothered about anything apart from pure perfermormance gains"
,
that will depend on tyre size and how deep your pockets are .
7" are plenty big enough for most usage 195 x45 xa5 or 7-22 racing size ,std offset ,
lighest wheels will be under 5kgs each --maybe ubder 4kg ,but think around £300 a wheel .
you can save at least 30kgs over std wheels +tyres,which aprt from the grip will lower your unsprung weight and make suspension work better
tyre weights also if you go for acb10,s they are less than half the weight of normal road tyres +are road legal ,but will cost you over £100 each,
so how serious are you in your statment

its all hyperthetical hence i didnt mention cost. What i was getting at is ive hyperthetically i put some 8j lower offset wheels on would this benefit or ruin the handling. Its just something i was pondering lol. Theory is that wider wheels = more contact area = more grip but lower offset can have detrimental effects to handling cant it? altering the scrub radius and increasing bump steer????

Suspension blows my mind :p

if its theroretical then fit 10j rims .
but what point is there in this question as 8j will not fit correctly -7j is largest to fit without screwing up suspension geometry .
you cannot expect a sensible answer as even theroretically all the other parts of the steering +suspension will have a great effect on the outcome
.your question was aimed at performance gains ,so the answer is NO -not without looking at everything else and modifying to suit .
you did not mention cost ,but if cost was not a problem you would have a wide track kit fitted and have all the grip you can use
If you feel this answer is too agressive -I,m sorry but i tired to answer all the other related questions you should have didn,t asked in my first reply to give you the yes or no answer you wanted

yes thats what i was getting at, obviously wider wheels offer more grip but after a point it will have adverse affects on suspension. So in your opinion the widest you can go before this is 7j without major suspension work.

I dont understand the last sentance but thanks, or fuck you i dont know i cant understand if your having a dig or not haha.

Tbh mate like i said i was pondering it and wanted to start a little discussion up about it in the quest of knowledge, im not planning on piling thousands into mine to make the use of 10j wheels lol but i can deam :)

wider wheels will change the contact patch shape but only adding or removing weight or tyre pressure will increase or decrease the contact patch size.

Surely not?

On that basis a bycicle wheel has the same size contact area as road car wheel.

Thats one theory. Apparently there are only small differences in the main contact patch size. My bike wheels are completely different shape and construction to any car tyre which will have a big effect, and certainly would change shape significantly if I attached them to 1 ton of car. You have to use some sensible basis.

The shape of the contact patch makes a difference. At some point there will be an optimum where going wider will see no benefit but what that is would take some investigation. There are also disadvantages in some situations