The Cobalt?

[schmidty9497]

Halla Back if any ya'll have raced any style cobalt. I need to know if i will have my ass handed to me at Rogers ville next week.

[Vita]

ummmm.... no

the only cobalt that will hang is the SSs/c, period. same car as ours

[Sp00ner]

I made a U turn in the middle of a road and chased down what I thought was a Cobalt SS, but it turned out to be the regular LS. The Cobalt SS is the same as our Redlines, any advantage we have in one spot, the Cobalt will have somewhere else.

[jpapa]

Since our cars are basically the same, it will come down to who the better driver is. It may also help them if they have the LSD in their SS's.

[schmidty9497]

LSD? And are the cobalt ss's heavier?

[Steviepc7]

LSD limited slip differential....in our redlines if u floor ur car only one wheel will spin the lsd makes sure both wheels are always moving....and no they are not heavier.... they do have 18 inch wheels however which will slow it down by a split second.. but dont be scarred of them if ur a better driver than the guy in the ss he will lose 100 percent of the time....i actually saw one a few days ago the first ss ive seen

[TXRLU]

Originally Posted by Steviepc7

i actually saw one a few days ago the first ss ive seen

are you sure it was an SS?? I read somewhere that they're having difficulties w/releasing those as well. Will the 18" wheels give it a higher top speed? I've always heard different stories as to the addition of bigger wheel/tire combo as to whether it will help with acceleration or top end and have never heard it explained well. Anyone have a good explaination on the relationship between bigger wheel/tire combos and acceleration and top speed?

[XeroState]

I don't know if tire size makes a difference in acutual speed, but I do know that changing the tire size can screw your spedo and tach if you don't adjust them (or get a bigger rim and a lower profile tire so they are the same size as stock). But what I was wondering is that in Canada (maybe North Amercia), if a car can reach speeds higher than what the factory rubber can handle (tire speed rating) than a governer must be in place. Since our cars have 'Z' rated tires, we do not have this governer. I was wondering if the cobalts do, since they have all-season's on them (not sure of the speed rating tho).

[Sp00ner]

Originally Posted by XeroState

I don't know if tire size makes a difference in acutual speed, but I do know that changing the tire size can screw your spedo and tach if you don't adjust them (or get a bigger rim and a lower profile tire so they are the same size as stock). But what I was wondering is that in Canada (maybe North Amercia), if a car can reach speeds higher than what the factory rubber can handle (tire speed rating) than a governer must be in place. Since our cars have 'Z' rated tires, we do not have this governer. I was wondering if the cobalts do, since they have all-season's on them (not sure of the speed rating tho).

Changing to a larger tire and rim does in fact decrease you accel. Just depends on the amount you change them. Much easier to spin a smaller tire and wheel than a larger one, particuarly the wheel. That's one reason that dragsters use that itty-bitty rim on the drive tires. With the small change from the Ion to the Cobalt, it should be noticable only to a stopwatch.

That is a good question about the governer. Are you sure that the Cobalt is coming with all-season tires? I didn't think that it was. Our cars originally were going to use the Continental all-season tires. I'm not sure what prompted the switch to the Dunlops that we have now, possibly the very point you're making. What's the highest speed rating on an all-season tire? There have to be some that are around 150+, right?

[Sp00ner]

Originally Posted by TXRLU

are you sure it was an SS?? I read somewhere that they're having difficulties w/releasing those as well. Will the 18" wheels give it a higher top speed? I've always heard different stories as to the addition of bigger wheel/tire combo as to whether it will help with acceleration or top end and have never heard it explained well. Anyone have a good explaination on the relationship between bigger wheel/tire combos and acceleration and top speed?

No, they're out there, just a couple right now, rarer than our Redlines, not for long though. There are a few pics on the Cobalt forums of people taking delivery and Blu_Redline posted a pic of his sitting next to a Cobalt SS on the dealer's lot, so they are out there.

I have a partial explanation for you, the wheels are acting as a final drive of sorts. So the size of the wheel, is modifying the force and drive ratio coming from the axles. Then, you have the issue of locating the weight of the wheel/tire package farther and farther from the center of the rotation. This requires even more energy to spin at the same rate as a smaller one. For instance, if you have two wheel/tire sets in front of you, both identical total sizes, and one is using a 10" rim, and one is using a 20" rim, even if both packages had the same weight, the 20" rim would take more force to spin compared to the 10" rim. Exactly like a figure skater pulling her arms in to spin faster. The techie term is Conservation of Angular Momentum. Now since the 20" rim and tire would weigh signifigantly more than the 10" combo, the problem would be increased even more. Make sense?