Quote:
Originally Posted by Weasel Soup
The steel belts (woven strands) are still lighter than the aluminum (solid). I've dropped from 'Extreme Performance' summer tires on 18" wheels down to studless snow tires on 16" wheels and been 10 lbs lighter per wheel. I know that's not a 100% fair comparison, but even a gravel rally tire on the same 16" wheel resulted in 5 lbs less per wheel than the 18" setup.
As with any car modification, its all about what the owner wants from the change...
Just for the sake of debate (educate me), why would someone on stock brakes get a benefit from a set of 18x8" wheels over a set of 17x8" wheels?  I know that a car with 50% more power than stock usually needs bigger brakes, which can make bigger wheels necessary, but any car at near stock power w/stock brakes? Why would bigger wheels benefit them? |
You can look up tire weights on tire rack and you'll see steel in tires can easily outpace aluminum in wheels especially once you get to 18". Just check out how heavy Bridgestone REs are.
18x8 offers a larger contact patch than 17x8 based on the trigonometry of the extra radius. Whether that gets you shorter or longer distances is a question of balance with the rest of the car. Traction wise, 18s get you more potential grip from more surface area. I say that as someone that prefers small light wheels so I'm not into Dubs.