lets talk wheel weight

[DarkPira7e]

This is the most basic answer - if you don't mind being slower on the street, go for it.
If you just want wide wheels to complete a look, don't worry about the weight. I noticed a significant difference going from wheels that weights 24lbs a piece to wheels that weighed 17lbs a piece (And also dropped 4lbs off per tire). Mostly only when accelerating from a stop or in traffic. The car lost its jumpiness and felt more like a GT car.

[StraightOuttaCanadaEh]

Originally Posted by DarkPira7e

The car lost its jumpiness and felt more like a GT car.

Can you elaborate on what you mean? Jumpiness over uneven pavement or? Also contemplating switching to a lighter wheel set (currently 18x9.5, pondering 17x9)

[steverife]

Generally speaking, I've found lighter wheels to provide a lighter, more responsive feeling in steering. And it feels like the car launches with less effort.

I'm an autocrosser and data in that sport tends to show that the lightest available wheels are not quantifiably (within the range of noise) faster than wheels that may be 4 or 5 lbs heavier per corner. However, I still always buy the lightest wheel that my budget allows.

[DarkPira7e]

Originally Posted by StraightOuttaCanadaEh

Can you elaborate on what you mean? Jumpiness over uneven pavement or? Also contemplating switching to a lighter wheel set (currently 18x9.5, pondering 17x9)

Sorry for lack of clarification. I meant the car's willingness to spring forward when you let out the clutch and hit the gas. When I had heavy wheels, you could feel the inertia resistance. Additionally the car's turn-in response was dull in autocrossing.

I went from 18x8.75" down to 17x7 and will never go back.

[Jordanwolf]

Originally Posted by steverife

Generally speaking, I've found lighter wheels to provide a lighter, more responsive feeling in steering. And it feels like the car launches with less effort.

I'm an autocrosser and data in that sport tends to show that the lightest available wheels are not quantifiably (within the range of noise) faster than wheels that may be 4 or 5 lbs heavier per corner. However, I still always buy the lightest wheel that my budget allows.

I personally feel responsiveness is more closely tied to the rubber your wearing than the weight of the wheels. I prefer heavy steering and stiff tires, not so much a fan of light steering with stiff tires.

To me, heavy tells you more of what the car front wheels are doing, but that could just be my perception.

[scotto79]

https://www.1010tires.com/Wheels/720...d/Matte+Black/
I have the GTF1 wheels in 17x8 and they come to 16 lbs, the 18x10 are 19.5 lbs and $250 Canadian.

[steverife]

Originally Posted by Jordanwolf

I personally feel responsiveness is more closely tied to the rubber your wearing than the weight of the wheels. I prefer heavy steering and stiff tires, not so much a fan of light steering with stiff tires.

To me, heavy tells you more of what the car front wheels are doing, but that could just be my perception.

I'll usually have a couple of sets of wheels for my autocross car, so I've had instances where I had a set of tires (say 205/50/15 RE71R's) mounted to 9 lb wheels and another set of the same tires mounted to 13.5 stock Miata wheels or 14 lb stock MR2 Spyder wheels. And I'll use both sets at a practice event. Going from one set to the other is a night and day difference in responsiveness. The heavier wheels feel sluggish in every way possible.

It might take a run to recalibrate your inputs, but again, no real obvious measurable difference in times.

[Jordanwolf]

Originally Posted by scotto79

https://www.1010tires.com/Wheels/720...d/Matte+Black/
I have the GTF1 wheels in 17x8 and they come to 16 lbs, the 18x10 are 19.5 lbs and $250 Canadian.

Cheaper if you look in the right places.

[Jordanwolf]

Originally Posted by steverife

I'll usually have a couple of sets of wheels for my autocross car, so I've had instances where I had a set of tires (say 205/50/15 RE71R's) mounted to 9 lb wheels and another set of the same tires mounted to 13.5 stock Miata wheels or 14 lb stock MR2 Spyder wheels. And I'll use both sets at a practice event. Going from one set to the other is a night and day difference in responsiveness. The heavier wheels feel sluggish in every way possible.

It might take a run to recalibrate your inputs, but again, no real obvious measurable difference in times.

Do you think this could be you as a driver stuck in certain driving habits? Or just a toss and really it's preference?

Maybe it's even the environment in which your comparison exists. AutoX vs Track results could vary.

[ZDan]

At Palmer last year I was within tenths of a second between stock 7.5 PP wheels with 225/45-17 RE71Rs and 949Racing 6ULs with 235/40-17 NT01s. The 6UL/NT01 were 6 lb. lighter per corner, 24 lb. less overall. I couldn't tell you which were faster but I wound up running the time-trial on the PP wheels/RE71Rs because it looked like it might rain... Won dry time trial by 0.5 sec over another BRZ on Toyo RRs with my fastest lap of the weekend.

I wouldn't worry too much about it, there's not as much in it as you might think. Lighter is "better", but then again independent tests of heavier-but-stiffer Enkei PF01 wheels have proven faster on a Miata than lighter-but-less-stiff RPF1 in testing of same size wheels with same size/make/model tires. Surprising to me and I'm a structural engineer. My takeaway: Run wheels that look cool :P

[steverife]

Originally Posted by Jordanwolf

Do you think this could be you as a driver stuck in certain driving habits? Or just a toss and really it's preference?

Maybe it's even the environment in which your comparison exists. AutoX vs Track results could vary.

The lighter wheels are a performance improvement, but the difference is so small that it isn't easily quantifiable in that environment. You are better off hitting your marks on 13 lb wheels than being a foot off them on 9 lb wheels. Agreed that track may have different results. I've never done that kind of comparison on a track day, or even seen any data from others.

But my larger point is that if wheels a couple lbs too heavy aren't enough to stop you from winning a national championship in autocross, then you are probably fine driving to Chipotle and the gym on heavier wheels.

[why?]

From my experience it takes a lot to make a difference you can feel. On my Yaris I went from the stock wheels which weighed something like 20 pounds each to 14x5.5 Volk CE28n which weigh 6 pounds each. Obviously a large difference.

For street wheels I would worry more about the extra cost of the larger tires more than the weight of the wheels, as long as they were only 5 pounds or so difference in weight.

[HaXx]

FWIW, tire rack recommends a 275 on a 10.5. Which means a 255 is doable. 255/35/18 indy500 is $550/set. Not bad.

[gtengr]

My take is that wheel weight loss is nearly equivalent to static weight loss because the angular acceleration rate is so low compared to the flywheel. Less weight is also easier for the shock to control. As noted earlier, stiffness is also a factor, but at the same time not really an actionable one since wheel stiffness data is not easily obtained.