I'm having a brain fart at the moment, but would you say that a slightly smaller diameter steering wheel compared to the slightly larger stock steering wheel take less turns to make a turn and in turn react/handle better to road conditions?

I ask because the new lightweight steering wheel that I have is slightly smaller than the stocker.

My Grant is a bit smaller and works/steers great w/a manual box........

That's what I wanted to hear.
Wait till you see my wheel made with the DNA of a Grant. Replacing another light wheel on the car with an even lighter wheel that is super trick.
Will post on the other thread and also talk in text.

Sounds cool just like the rest of your "tricks"..........

Unless you changed the gearbox at the same time, it takes the same number of turns of the steering wheel to make a turn as it did before. That's easy.

You did gain a smaller circumference, so if you keep the rim speed the same, the shaft turns farther. Also the smaller wheel probably has a smaller moment of inertia so it should be marginally easier to move the wheel from rest.

R.

This is what I was presuming as also confirmed by a friend Special K.

Yes, the smaller wheel is easier to spin when it's in your hand. However when it's trying to turn a manual box/linkage/tires through the column, the effort goes up because you lost leverage on the steering shaft by reducing the diameter of the wheel.

That part of the mechanical science is true My current bracket car with a quick ratio rack and pinion steering with a removeable small diameter racing steering wheel is a real bear to turn when stopped in the pits, not bad once it is rolling

I had a smaller wood grain wheel on my GTX,i got tired of looking at it so I put the stock wheel back on.MAN, do my elbo,s thank me.it is man. steer,i don't think power would matter much.

Even easier when up on milk crates...

I am not a proponent of smaller than stock wheels for straight line racing, especially if the rest of your front suspension is relatively stock. Steering wheel size is just one component of the front suspension, and it ties in with steering axis inclination / scrub radius, etc to give you the steering input feel that the engineers want you to have. Changing wheel size can change that input - and possibly cause you to over/under correct on a needed mid course correction. That can be a bad thing over 100 MPH. As straight line racers, we get away with a lot of stuff that round-e-round guys can't, but just adding more caster aint a fix for a lot of our own induced ills when it comes to an ill handling race car. Staying in the 14" to 16" steering wheel range is usually pretty close to stock. 13" and under belong on a modified / non stock front suspension - pro-od, dragster. Over 17",you are a bus driver.

No, No, No guys. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here, I'm just stuck with a little under stock size here for what I am doing so far.
Barely under stock size what I am talking about. Pardon the confusion since I've might have sounded like I was going with a 10 inch wheel, No way Jose. It is 15" inches in diameter.
Hand built and half the weight.
Here's a sneak peek at the ultra trick wheel and no more as ya'll will see more in dept soon.
I personally love stock steering wheel sizes and design as they give forth the true character of the car and do what is being implied here, good handling.

Thanks for the feed back.

Awesome looking wheel!

I like my stock wheel alot and wont change it as it works good for me. Ron

Wait till you see this new wheel finished, Horn ring and all.
I also love my stocker, but once I had it off a few years back, I said someday it has to be half the weight and still look the part. Now it will be just that and just a tad smaller since that was all I could find on the market to work with. If I could find a Bus wheel, I would have used that. LOL.
Trust me, I looked every where, even in the marine sector.

i know what you are doing ! all i will say is, a few years ago, my cousin had a model "A" roadster pick up and a friend and i built it into a fenderless hot rod. when it came time for the steering wheel, what my cousin wanted wasn't produced by anyone. i picked up a swap meet wheel and did "the deed" and came up with the perfect wheel. i can't wait to see the result of your "deed" !

Ya'll will be the first to see of course.
Necessity is the Mother of............reinvention.
This is just all part of another forum here by ThumperDart that started peoples wheels turning.