Yeah... I'm a weird lurker who's been around since 2011/2012. But I might just give up on this forum because lately it's become a haven for trolls. It used to be about interesting in-depth discussions but now it seems like everyone just wants to try and troll for laughs since they probably don't have any real life friends and it makes them feel special when they get a "Thanks." As far as I could tell, the OP was asking a serious question and when I give him a serious response, I get criticized for it?

If you've been around for as long as I have, you would know why I haven't bought an FR-S yet and my thoughts on it as I have posted about it many times.

It's nice to get the gears turning, which is why I posed the question.

Thinner you say?

You're probably not going to get lighter wheels from a factory on a car at this price point. If you saw what Enkei/oz/bbs do when manufacturing theirs, you'd know why they cost what they do. It's a much more time-intensive process that's not suited well to mass production on Subaru/Toyota's level, which is why you usually only see lightweight performance oriented wheels on much more expensive cars produced in low-volume. Not on the same level of difficulty as something like carbon fiber/composite brake discs, but same idea.

The stock wheels are designed for minimal machining, cost, and production time.

The single exit exhaust would be nice, and far more efficient, but that's dictated by market studies and focus groups saying people want dual exit exhausts even when they're entirely unnecessary on a 2.0L 4-banger.

I would have liked to see them save some weight on rotational mass like the driveshaft and elsewhere as well. For a lightweight car the sound tube was just pointless, I'm glad I took it out.

There's an awesome weight thread somewhere, where pretty much everything unnecessary or replaceable stock parts was weighed and tallied. If you want too cut weight, start there. It's not hard to cut a lot without buying anything, and without spending a lot either.

Once you get into lighter weight performance parts your wallet is going to take a hit unless you're replacing something that already broke.

Bristecom tldr: He has two whole test drives under his belt, calls the car disappointing, says his Mitsubishi is better and is holding out for a faster version.

Maybe they should make a higher end model with stuff like forged wheels, forged aluminum links, and Brembo brakes for those who value that sort of thing. Aftermarket is not always the most reliable or cost effective way of going about that stuff.

The dual exhaust is likely a consequence of needing a bigger muffler to meet stricter noise ordinances. But I would love to see them design a lighter and straighter exhaust that could accommodate a real rear diffuser for minimal lift.

Three test drives. ;)

I did not say the car was disappointing. I love it. That's why I'm still here. The main thing that disappointed me was the power band and I am still somewhat concerned with reliability. If I buy a new car, I want to try to avoid the dealership at all costs. So I will get one eventually but for now I'm sticking with my Mitsubishis.

At least you've been around long enough to know me strat. :D

Stock wheels are made by Enkei already (well, the STI wheels are... I bet the normal ones are too as Enkei is an OEM supplier).


Driveshaft is what it needs to be for multiple reasons that I'm really not in the mood to get into. It's not a great place to cut weight.


Cast/forged aluminum control arms would have probably cut weight quite a bit too, but it depends on the type of steel they used on the factory parts.


I'm sure some of the FI guys wish they added some weight in the transmission and gave us an overall stronger trans...

On second read I can see that. Guess a little context woudn't hurt. :D

Edit: Yeah, no. You went way into detail basically saying it was worthless to reduce mass unless it was up high, at the ends, or unsprung. I'll stick with B.S. No offense.

Wheels are certainly good for OEM!
I put on RPF1's and don't think I saved much at all.

My point was that it is the least important area of weight as it the most centrally located and not a part of unsprung weight or rotational mass. I didn't say it didn't matter though. But to try to lose enough body mass for a performance gain is silly unless you are overweight/obese to begin with. Then by all means, try to lose weight as there are many benefits in life by doing that. But this thread was asking about how they could have designed the car to have less weight - so that does not include the driver or passengers as they are a variable the designers/manufacturers can't really control unless they refuse selling the car to anyone over a certain weight.

I see your point and true, you never said it didn't matter. And my bringing in driver weight was off topic.

Points well taken. My interpretation and response was pretty coarse. Thanks for your patience - really. :cheers:

drives a mitsu... concerned with reliability..

yea, because being around "longer" than contributing "quality" is the name of the game right? ;)

Between my wife and I we had 7 Mitsus over a 20 year period and other than my Talon (I consider it a Mitsu) that just died of old age we never once had to have one repaired. Not so much as a light bulb required work!

Since the wheel is part of the sprung weight of the suspension, it seems to me that changing the mass of the wheel+tire would require changing the factory springs (and their rate) also. Less mass in the wheels will result in a lack of full compression of the springs and I suspect that the ride will become rather stiff and paradoxically you could lose some control and contact with the road. Am I misunderstanding something here?