OEM 18" Wheel Weight

lemansz20

why doesnt somone like yourself just weigh them? It takes a scale and 20 bux at a regular shop to dismount and mount the tire back up if you REALLY need to know.

AviatorTim

I don't care about the $20. I just don't want to take the time to drive to a shop and wait on them to do that if someone in the forum knew the answer. But while the weight of the 19" Rays seems to be common knowledge amoung Lithuanian school children, the weight of the 18s seem to be the best guarded secret in automotive history.

AviatorTim

Here's one of the best kept secrets on the 370Z forum. I searched the forum (and the internet) for hours trying to find the 18" OEM wheel weight with no luck. I finally just gave up and weighed the damn tire.

Survey says....front 18" wheel with factory 18" Advan 225/50R18 came in at exactly 50#

Assuming TireRack.com's stated weight of 29# for the tire is correct, the front OEM 18" wheel weighs 21#.

Ironically enough that is 2.2# LIGHTER than the "light weight" 19" Rays, LOL.

I didn't weigh the rear because it's obviously heavier since its an inch wider and the 245/45R19 Advan's are a pound heavier than the front rubber so as long as you stay under 21#'s replacing the OEM wheels, you should be fine all around.

That said, the Yoko Advan's are surprisingly heavy. I don't track my Z so, as long as I'm not pulling .96g turns, I figured I might as well get some mileage out of my tires with a little harder rubber. I decided on Continental Extreme Contactor DWS 275/40R18 all around on 18x9.5 aftermarket wheels. The dry and wet test results on TireRack.com are only slightly off the Max Performance tires like the Yoko Advan or Michelin Pilot sport, the ride and noise ratings are much better and the treadlife should be more than twice as much.

I live in Florida, so theoretically I only need the Contactor DW (DWS stands for Dry Wet Snow) since my car never sees snow. But I went with the DWS because the ride, noise and treadlife were better than the DW. The wet tracktion was identifical. The only downside was a slight dropoff in the dry traction but I consider that acceptable for the gains in comfort, noise and wear.