Ok. For people thay have lightweight wheels - was it worth it just to save weight.

[dacedace]

Light weight?
Worth the money?
What are your thoughts.


Im happy with the stock look, but would consider rims if the weight reduction would make a good difference.

Thanks.

[kask2_6.0]

Yes! If you are going to get a set a wheels I would definitely go with a lightweight set. Any large amount of rotating mass you can get rid of will help with the responsiveness of the car, especially a car with very low hp to begin with. My wheel/tire setup is only slightly lighter than stock but I was able to feel a pretty good difference.

Something like a 17x8 rpf1 with 225's would feel wayyy different than stock.

[dacedace]

I want something with a flat face. Its been hard to find a wheel in 17x7.5

[kask2_6.0]

What style wheel?

Is there a reason you want to go with 17x7.5? That's going to narrow down your choices A LOT!

[bakerr6]

I'll be running 16x7 (don't care about looks, more looking for something forged and easy to maintain). I haven't installed them yet, but will be doing that later this week.

I've run lighter/wider wheels in the past, you can tell a significant improvement over stock.

[dacedace]

i was also thinking of getting 16's. But i wonder what the trade off of going to a smaller wheel is. More sidewall... how does the wheel to rubber ratio effect weight.
I found with the tyres on my old car, that the rims were light compared to rubber, but they were 285's so.

[kask2_6.0]

Originally Posted by dacedace

i was also thinking of getting 16's. But i wonder what the trade off of going to a smaller wheel is. More sidewall... how does the wheel to rubber ratio effect weight.
I found with the tyres on my old car, that the rims were light compared to rubber, but they were 285's so.

Your weight won't decrease by going to a 16" wheel vs. a 17" wheel. However your rotational inertia,or resistance to acceleration, will decrease. The weight of a wheel doesn't actually mean much but it does directly relate to the inertia of a wheel. Think of spinning on a tire swing with your legs out (17"-18" wheel) and then pull your legs in (16" wheel). Spins faster right? This is because you are reducing your resistance to acceleration by pulling your legs in and moving your mass closer to the rotational axis.

The down side to smaller wheels is the inability to fit larger brakes.

[sierra]

Originally Posted by kask2_6.0

Your weight won't decrease by going to a 16" wheel vs. a 17" wheel. However your rotational inertia,or resistance to acceleration, will decrease. The weight of a wheel doesn't actually mean much but it does directly relate to the inertia of a wheel. Think of spinning on a tire swing with your legs out (17"-18" wheel) and then pull your legs in (16" wheel). Spins faster right? This is because you are reducing your resistance to acceleration by pulling your legs in and moving your mass closer to the rotational axis.

The down side to smaller wheels is the inability to fit larger brakes.

The 1" of wheel dia is being replaced by 1" of tyre so I doubt there will be much, if any, difference.

[CBR600RR]

I just bought Motegi MR125 in 17x7.5 +42. they weigh in at 16.3 pounds which is over 4 lbs lighter than a stock wheel. I can tell you that I imidiatly noticed a difference in driving the car. turn in feels sharper, the suspension seems to work and feel better, and the car seems a bit more responsive in accelleration and braking.

at under $700 these wheels are definitely worth it. (stock tires and a dirty car)

[kask2_6.0]

The mass of the wheel that's being moved 1" is much greater than the mass of tire being added in that location. I'm not saying that you would feel a huge difference but wheel diameter does have a pretty significant impact on the inertia of a wheel/tire assembly.

I can't post any numbers but I have done quite a bit of component mass inertia testing and have tested many wheel/tire combinations.

[sierra]

Originally Posted by kask2_6.0

The mass of the wheel that's being moved 1" is much greater than the mass of tire being added in that location. I'm not saying that you would feel a huge difference but wheel diameter does have a pretty significant impact on the inertia of a wheel/tire assembly.

I can't post any numbers but I have done quite a bit of component mass inertia testing and have tested many wheel/tire combinations.

I'm surprised by that. I would have thought the tyre mass might even be more than the that of a lightweight wheel in the swap. I can appreciate the most significant wheel mass is out where the tyre seals and that mass is brought back in by 1", also the heavy tyre bead.

[Huehuecoyotl]

yes worth it

cheapy wheels are 21+ lbs
my track wheels 15.5lbs each