Weight penalty with meaty wheel look
 

I run 225/40/18 size wheels on my car. My rims weigh 21 lb according to Enkei and I am very tempted by the reduced weight of a wheel like RPF1 for example. Almost 5 lb, IIRC. However, wheels are highly individual and subjective, and I would still want to fill out the wheelarch. I really don't like the tiny wheel look. Having said that, I checked out tire rack for tire weights and used a Michelin Pilot Sport 4S for this comparison. I specced it in 225/40/18 and got 21 lb. Then changed it to 245/45/17 (sufficiently meaty?) and got 24 lb. That would almost negate the weight savings. Are people aware of this? Are these weights provided by tire rack correct? Cause that would take a 5 lb per corner advantage and cut it down to 2 lb...

A 225/40/18 is a little taller than stock. A 245/45/17 is much taller. Not really comparable.

245 40 17 4s weighs 22lbs 8.3" tread width 24.7" (stock diameter)
225 40 18 4s weighs 21lbs 7.7" tread width 25.1" diameter


Compare to a Advan Neova ad08R 225/45/17
24.8" diameter 24lbs 8.5 tread width. 180utqg.

Which is a tire that would go on a 17x9 rpf1. So in some cases, lightweight wheels are for heavy racing tires.

Gotta pay to play! My next set will be 17x9 +25 to +35. , possibly 17x9.25. I plan on getting 225/45 or 235/40s.

Are they aware, probably. Do they care, probably not. It's usually either performance or the look here and seldom but sometimes you get lucky and get both.
If you are going to a 245 width, it usually for looks so the penalty will be less performance or not enough to justify going wider. You have to drive pretty hard core on a stock car to
need more tire width when you can just get a stickier tire. If you have the extra power that the 245 would take advantage of, then I'd go for it but no reason to do unless you are needing
the extra grip but again that's just a tire change. You can just push the wheels out with spacers if you want it to look wider. Saves a ton of money that way and is much less of an increase in weight.
I consistently hear in here, with close to stock power, we are fine on 225s so when I wanted more of a flush look but bump in performance, I bought lighter(and even .5" wider) wheels with less offset and even added
a small spacer to push it out even more to make it perfect. I still dropped 5 lbs with a lighter wheel/spacer combo and it definitely looks much wider from the side and in my opinion even the rear too.
It really all depends on where your start point is. If it's a reasonably light wheel/tire to begin with then purchasing a whole new combo will not make much sense to gain 2 lbs a corner unless you are just doing it for the look
which sounds like where you are at. Really comes down to how much money you have to have fun with. People buy carbon fiber hoods in here that are actually heavier that the aluminum stock hood for the look.


:thumbsup: Yeah, that pretty much sums this whole question.

Well I mean the MAIN reason I would consider doing it is weight reduction, BUT it would still have to be aesthetically pleasing to me. But if the result is 2lb per corner for 2K, I'd rather just stick to 18". Was just shocked to find out. Maybe this is the reason why some people swear by lighter wheels and some can't tell the difference?

People are nutty...how about spending $3-4k in heavy rare custom wheels on a $26k car. It's shocking to see how much people spend on wheels just to get a certain look.
There are sure a lot of them always in the classifieds though trying to get close to what they paid new even with dents/scratches too.
If you can sell the current wheels and tires that will offset the cost some but you are right $2k to lose 2 lbs per corner isn't worth it. In my case I kept the still new sticky tires but spent a total
of $600 after buying new wheels, selling off the old, and buying spacers. In the end I lost 20 lbs of weight total and got the exact wheels I wanted though for a fair price.

If you're going for weight get 17x7 to 17x8 wheels that are inherently light and stick with 215 or 225. You will save more weight than 2lbs.




To be honest, $2000 (wheels + tire cost combined) isn't bad if you lose 2lbs/corner, because you can get stickier 245s in case you autocross.


yes you pay to play.
Dry carbon parts, light batteries, carbon driveshaft. If you want the maximum weight reduction that you can get, you will eventually have to spend on wheels. What's more important to you, looks or weight?

Looks, to a reasonable extent. For example, I wouldn't go widebody because of the extra weight of the kit and wider wheels, but I do love the look.

As for going to 17x7-17x8 wheels, would that be sufficiently wide if I went FI, or does that depend solely on the tires?

OE setup is 41.4 lbs. My setup is 41.8 lbs with 17x9 rims and 245/40ZR17 tires. I think the extra grip is worth the 0.4 lbs lol

245 40 17s on properly sized wheels look awesome.... that's my contribution.

it depends on how much boost you are thinking about, and what your final power goals are. And then what you are going to do with the car.

What wheels and tires do you run? Do you have the separate weights?

Just an edelbrock sc. Apparently gas around these parts isn't so hot, so I'm looking at 250-270 whp

i have gramslight 57DR in 17x9 which weights 20.2 lbs... and i went with Toyo Proxes Sport in 245/40R17 which weights 21.6 lbs

As you stated in your post, wheels are very subjective, but for the love of God, don't get the RPF1. IMHO they are ugly.

If you want a lighter wheel, that still looks decent, check out the PF01. It's only 18.25 lbs in 18x8.5.