Quote:
Originally Posted by cdo221
I was always under the impression that light weight wheels would make a significant difference in acceleration/braking/handling in general.. but I came across this post in the NSX forums that seems to prove otherwise:
http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showth...-their-results
Long story short, there wasn't any significant difference between the heavy vs light wheels acceleration wise.... but of course that's just some guy on the internet. I didn't read the whole thread but braking/cornering wasn't tested I think...
Those of you who shaved off a lot of weight, say ~5 lbs at each corner with 17x7 RPF1s or something like that ... is there a measurable difference? Is it just 'feel'? Or just cuz you upgraded to stickier tires from the stock ones? |
Lightweight wheels are meant to help lighten the car in general. It's like switching to racing seats, removing the backseat, or changing out the exhaust to a lighter one. That one part itself doesn't make a measurable difference, it's the weight saved altogether that will have the affect.
Say you buy lightweight wheels and save 5lbs a corner. 5x4 = 20. 20lbs aint much overall and you wont notice. Now say you add a lightweight full exhaust, there's maybe 10-15lbs. 20 from the wheels + 15 from the exhaust = 35lbs saved. Say you add a lightweight battery on top of that. There's another 11lbs. 35+11= 46lbs saved. Now remove the rear spare tire. 35ish pds? 46+35 = 81lbs saved. Now you're getting somewhere and you're going to feel the difference. It's not gonna be night and day, but you'll feel it.
You're going to feel the difference going from a 7" wide tire to a 9" wide tire more than you're going to feel the weight lost by adding lightweight rims. But shaving weight wherever possible does make a difference.
That NSX guy just added lightweight rims and expected a night and day difference in acceleration. That's not how it works.