Is the TWS Motorsport T66-F in 16x7 still the lightest?
 

I'm contemplating finally buying a set of good wheels, and I was wondering if anyone has seen anything lighter confirmed to fit on our cars. I don't really care about anything but finding the absolutely lightest wheels I can.

I hope you also have the absolutely lightest tires to go with that, because tire weights are more important when you are looking for the last lb of weight to shave.

Since tires are on the outermost part of the rotational mass, they make the biggest difference when it comes to acceleration and deceleration.

I can’t tell you if they’re the lightest available wheel for our car, but (cost no object) they’re my absolute favorite. They’re tough to justify, but I sure would like a set!

Yes that is true. It is crazy what a lightweight set of wheels and tires can do for a car.

holy crap those are expensive wheels.

Wow. I would love those things. hmmmm.... that would make a super light setup and strong. Tire weight on 16" wheels should be fairly easy to get lightweight versions. Anyone have a go-to suggestion for that?

Hoosiers are super light, but not really street appropriate...

@why?

How about the strongest wheel in 16" size that is not made out of steel instead? This would probably net you a more potentially faster car than the absolute lightest wheel.

absolute strongest would weight much more what bigger stock wheels do. Think of rally wheels, for example. I don't think those it will net one more speed. Their design/strength might get handy for those insane jumps or getting to stage end even on punctured tire, but extra 5kg per corner = extra speed? :/
I also don't think that these are much weaker then stock, as while very light, they also are monoblock forged, so their strength/rigidity imho is not that far off if not comparable to eg. OE 16" of AUDM/JDM lesser trim twins.

If with strongest wheel mention you were thinking along the lines of that Enkei rigidity vs weight test, then imho it should be not "most" rigid/strong, but rigid/strong "enough". And with rest like size/weight being same, imho TWS forged wheels are hardly among too weak with too much of flex under heavy load. Of course at expense of high cost.

:paddle: Don't mistake pedantry for sincere conversation.

Obviously a person with half a brain wouldn't choose or suggest rally car wheels (aka off-road racing wheels) for a discussion about a car likely not leaving the road. Rally intended wheels have features, specs and weight with little use on paved roads and are not useful as an example in this conversation. I agree that surely budget is also factor. Nonetheless all of that doesn't take away from the question,"is wheel strength a more important factor than wheel weight for driving fast around a race track?"

http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorspo...els-explained/

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gIVD1mzM9I"]Rally Wheels Explained - YouTube[/ame]

"strong enough" is right.

Just happens to be that T66-F is also "strong enough" for most applications. Rally excluded of course.

All we need is for T66-F to be long enough in market for classifieds on used wheels of this type to appear :). I'm currently running TWS(Taneisya) older T6 forged wheels that i got for cheap this way, so in few years there might appear these in used sales too, making it affordable choice.

DAEMANO: i didn't intend to be pedant, just telling my thoughts on this. "absolute strongest" left impression that it might assume "no matter what" including too heavy weight in heaviest wheels (like rally ones, where 15" may weight like 17" normal wheel). My own thinking was that wheels just don't have to be too weak to perform well (like some cast wheels that are too overlightened (Kosei K4R might be such imho)), but something like 6kg for good (eg. MAT) cast or 4.5kg forged of 16x7 size imho should be strong enough for rigidity to not be issue. Overstrenghtening above what's needed will be just redundant excess weight not giving anything. Overlightening above reasonable compromising rigidity might cause some issues (eg. mentioned in Enkei test wheel flex/worse tire contact patch). But in my eyes T66 is not the case of overlightening, just elite product of one of few very best vendors in field (google on Taneisya), that is that light due well chosen design and lightening at structural areas where there is excess material (i'm not 100% sure that lightening performed on that Enkei test was to extent or at places for it to not get overboard), not where strength matters and due their top-of-the-line manufacturing process fine-tuned by experience accumulated during many years as one of leaders in forged-wheels market .. unfortunately also too expensive for me at list price for new :(

Despite being slightly heavier than a comparable 17" tire, there doesn't seem to be enough of a difference to offset the difference in wheel weight...Conti ExtremeContact Sport in 225/50-16 weighs 22lbs, versus 21lbs for a 225/45-17. Of course, as mentioned, the weight is at the outside of the entire rotating assembly, so the effect will be greatest there. There's other advantages to going to a 16" though, besides weight.

www.kodiakracingwheels.com


I was looking at a set of wheels that was 12.5lbs each.

Wow, were those 16x7 or larger?

Kodiak's 16x7 with custom offsets at $558 each would be a good value for custom 3-piece modular forged wheels. Weight of the 16" needing confirmation.

To contrast Evasive has TWS-T66Fs in 16x7 et48 for $608 each monoblock at 10.62 lbs.

Modular multipiece forged ones are not that far off cast ones weight wise. Luckily they also often cost less then single piece forged wheels (don't know if the case with mentioned ones). But given little difference from cast price&weight wise i'd rather get good cast wheel, eg. RPF1 (IIRC 13.7lbs), and call it a day, if price is an issue.

Seems like spending $3K on other things than super lightweight wheels can net more bang for the buck.
Changing final drive, header and tune for about $2k and spend the other $1k on lightweight but not super lightweight wheels.
But I guess if you got money burning a hole in your pocket to gain bragging rights for an uncommon lightweight wheel setup...:iono:

Hell - I'd pry the wallet open and for an extra 6 bucks, get 16x8...much better size for anything 225 or larger...

You might be surprised. Sure final drive will make a difference, and it is something I'm probably going to do, but wheel and tire weight is a big deal, and reducing it as much as possible makes the car feel lighter and if they are good forged wheels they will last forever.

I have a Yaris with 14x5.5 Volk CE28n's that weight 6.5 lbs each, and that really changed the character of the car while also taking a beating through the grind of daily driving for almost a decade and 70,000 + miles.

I've zero interest in a header because you need to go catless to get good gains, and at some point they will start cracking down on that and I have no interest to be the first to get into trouble. And a tune will only do so much.

Yea but look at the weight of the tires. They can vary by as much as 5 lbs a tire for that wide. If I wanted autocross tires I would stay with a 17.

I guess you didn't read this..

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...7&postcount=12

And I'm not sure what your point really is...are you saying 16" tires have variations in weight between brands, but 17" tires don't? I autocross and track on 225/50-16, and I wouldn't go back to 17s now for any reason, at least if I stay at a 225 width. If I wanted to move to 245/255, well that'd be another story, but only because you can't find good 16" rubber in those sizes any more. 225 has PLENTY of options.

Better to invest on tires and a cheaper set of wheels of same size. At least on the 86/BRZ Gazoo races, tires make the difference. Not wheels!

Another thing you need to consider... With this wheel size (16x7) you'll need to fit a 205/55 tire which has a very big sidewall. This will give you a high flex (try to do a slalom) and the only way to solve it is to use a tire with very strong sidewalls. Usually, a tire on the track or UHF category. On stock suspension such tire will provide much body roll and you'll need to change also the suspension.

Actually, taller sidewalls and wider tires on a narrower rim will better tolerate long travel and more camber change associated with stock suspension than a lower profile tire on a wide rim..

nikitopo: Why one needs 205 on 16x7 (as wide as stock 17")? You are not mistakening 16x7 of this thread with OE 16x6.5 by chance? 16x7 should be fine with 195-(205-215 optimal)-225.

Yes, there are more options for tire width. It is just that 205/55 is a more common size and you have more tire choices. As you said, 205-215 is optimal and there aren't too many options for 215/50 or 215/55. At least not on high performance tires.

The set I saw on Craigslist was 16x6.5. Not ideal, but 5 rims for $1500 that were 5x100 was interesting...


10.62 is crazy light!

I did. I'm not autocrossing or racing at all. They are just too far away for me. I'm looking at 195 or 205 tires at the absolute widest. Hell if I could find a 15" wheel that was lightweight I would go for it, those tires would be even lighter.

More importantly, I don't care about ultimate grip. The stock tires are far gripper than I can use on the street., and I like sliding around when I can. Slipping and sliding is more entertaining too me.

There's probably 3 times the selection in 205/55 as there is in 225/50.. Regardless, you're not going to get a tire that fits this car much less than 20 pounds, so that value has a fixed threshold at some point very close.