Importance of the weight of your wheels???
 

Okay this is going to be a two part question. If this has been answered somewhere else I apologize. I searched for a couple of hours and have not been able to find any solid answers. First question - how important really is the weight of our wheels, especially if we're not autox'ing?? I have the stock 18's and am planning to move to a staggered, flush 19" setup. My Z is a weekend toy which I have no intentions of racing. Sure, I'll step on it and take some fast turns but nothing extreme. So if I move to a heavier wheel am I really going to notice that much difference? Is the performance difference going to be noticeable? I realize going to a wheel that is a few lbs heavier is not a big deal but lets say I throw on a wheel that is 8-10lbs heavier? Second question - if I move to a 19" or 20" wheel, along the same lines am I going to notice much difference? I will be adding HFC's, CAI, exhaust. I don't want to waste performance gains. Any useful info would be appreciated.

Extra 30-40 lbs is nothing versus the car weight with a driver in it. On the street, I dont think you will notice it at all. With all the bolt-on you listed, you can expect about 30hp gain and your car will definitely be faster than stock even with 40lb heavier wheels.

30-40 lbs of unsprung weight will definitely be noticeable in handling and acceleration. But the trade off of more rubber on the road may be well worth it.

It's not directly comparable to driver weight since wheels are unsprung weight and that has a much larger effect on performance.

Everybody talks about the weight of the wheel, but one thing people never talk about is the weight of the tire.

Some tires are much heavier then others and if you pick a lighter tire, you can offset some of the weight gain from the wheel.

From what I have been told Michelin PSS is one of the lighter tires out there. There may be others I am not aware off.

you havent read any of my posts then? :icon08:

if you keep the gross difference within 3lbs per corner you probably wont be able to tell that much.. starting around 4-5lbs difference per corner you can definitely tell you got weight on the corners.

so wat i do is decide wat i want to do with the car first. for instance my G is my dress up car so i run gnosis on her and she is definitely heavier to steer, brake, and accelerate. they are around 27-28lbs per wheel.

on my Z i want to maintain the sporty nimble ride, so i run 19's around 22lbs each. i wont consider running wheels over 24lbs on the Z.

as for good tires, DW are lightest that ive seen, followed by PSS, follwed by RE11/S04. bridgestones are heavier, but they look better at least to me. :D

For a DD, wheel weight is not that big of a deal. Try to find some light wheels and tires but don't obsess over it - a few pounds here or there isn't going to make that much difference for a DD. Unsprung weight will tell you all you need to know (and more). Lighter is usually better (as others have mentioned, there are some trade-offs, so it's not a hard and fast rule) but if you make a big change in unsprung weight, you will probably need to adjust spring/shock rates.

All good answers. I appreciate the info. I had forgotten about tire weight. Kenchan what wheels are you running? I looked at your profile but no mods listed.

They're photoshopped wheels and tires :eekdance:

I think he's currently running OEM Nismos wrapped in RE-11s. I believe he also has a set of Weds wheels that he swaps occasionally.

:icon18:

yah, my mods are all photoshopped :icon17: ;)

i run the nismo wheels with RE11's and also the weds sa55m's with DW. they are both light weight.

i was checking out the work emotions a while back, but they're heavy for a tuner style wheel :ugh: not sure wtf's going on with that....

All works are heavy as a mofo

no one asked for your inexperienced opinion :gtfo2:

Guilty as charged.

need to update your sig then... :rofl2: ;)

But at least I brought up the subject. That's got to be worth something.

http://media.tumblr.com/d90ccc3d80cb...GsQ1rf8j7k.gif

:icon18:

yah, gross weight is a very important factor indeed. kinda like buying a nice sports car and
running shittty tires on them.. why bother, kinda. :D

:iagree:

Probably different for cars than motorcycles but weight at the outer edge of the wheel is usually more important than overall weight. Since the wheels stay relatively flat on a car that may not matter as much.

Sent from my Galaxy S5 Active

General rule of thumb is that 1 pound of unsprung and rotational weight (wheels and tires are both) saved is roughly equal to taking 7 pounds off the car. Multiply 40x7= 280lbs. You should be able to feel that much difference.

The average driver won't feel a difference unless autoxing or horrible road conditions ! I've gone from factory wheels and tire to same specs just lower offset and wider tires...by the math I've gained 84lbs!

OEM F: 18x9 +30 - 24lbs Tire:245/40WR18 Bridgestone Potenza RE050A - 26lbs
OEM R: 19x10 +30 -26lbs Tire:265/35WR19 Bridgestone Potenza RE050A - 29lbs

210

WORK S1 F: 18x9 +5 - 25lbs Tire:275/35XL18 Kumho Ecsta XS - 28lbs
WORK S1 R: 19x10 -3 -27lbs Tire:265/35SL19 Kumho Ecsta XS - 31lbs

222

Crazy stuff, yet I've removed so much (313lbs) that I can't and don't feel a difference. With a last dyno of 284whp car still moves with a purpose.

Went from stock sport wheels and tires
52.2lbs front each
56.8lbs rear each

To

Advan RS wheels with Michelin PSS (stock size wheels and tires, better offsets)
45.4lbs front each
48.8lbs rear each

I can definitely tell a difference.

I went with a lighter ap racing brake setup In the front and definitely felt the difference from that alone. I'm going to go with pss tires next to shave some more weight.

In my experience on many different vehicles going from a heavier wheel/tire combination to a lighter combo gives you a very noticeable feeling similar to adding horse power to the car. If you car is for show only then just get whatever wheels/tires that look pretty .

It might be a placebo effect, but I definitely felt a difference when I switched from Volk Racing G2 to Work Meister S1R then switched over to Volk Racing ZE40. All of them were 19x9.5 front 19x10.5 rear. The Works looked amazing but I just love Volk one piece wheels.

This was really informative. Thanks guys!

From the research I have done on Tirerack, comparing apples to apples (same tire size) the DW's do appear to be the lightest, followed by the Pilot SS's, and the PZero's. DW's were about 3 lb's lighter per tire, which IMO is very substantial.

Compared to what?

most tires. the only reason why i have DW on my WEDS... that said, i much prefer my RE11's even though they are 4-5lbs heavier than the DW. my nismo wheels are 22-23lbs so doenst make much difference from stock 19's. RE050's are only like a lb heavier than the RE11 from wat i remember.

Tire Rack....dot com for me

:yum::yum::yum::yum::yum::yum:

:tup: that's my go to store for tires for sure.

Going from my extremely heavy TSW Thruxtons to my very light NISMO LGT4's was a very noticeable difference

Going from my NISMO's to a slightly heavier TE-37's would be unnoticeable

Just about every size in the DW's were 2-3lbs lighter than the nearest competitor, which in most cases was the Pilot SS. At least that's what I found on tirerack.

How much lighter then PSS?

Well for example a DW 305/30/19 weighs 28 lbs, whereas the 305/30/19 PSS weighs 30 lbs. A DW 285/35/19 weighs 27 lbs whereas the 285/35/19 PSS weights 28 lbs. The DW 255/35/19 weighs 24 lbs and the 255/35/19 PSS sports weighs the same, 24lbs. So maybe the bigger, or wider the tire, the more weight savings the DW has over the PSS. But if you can save 2 lbs per corner that does give you the chance to run a heavier wheel.

To take this a step further. The Pirelli P Zero 305/30/19 weighs 31 lbs, the Bridgestone Potenza RE11 weighs 32 lbs. The P Zero 285/35/19 weighs 27 lbs whereas the RE11 285/35/19 weighs 31 lbs. So going with the DW or PSS over the P Zero's and especially the RE11, at least in a 305/30/19 is considerable weight savings. The weight savings in a 255/30/19 appears to be less, unless you're comparing it to the RE11. In which case the DW is about 4lbs lighter in all of those sizes.

That small a variable you will never feel in the driver seat, it might be popular fodder on a forum but that is of no importance of a street car no matter what anyone says

So your thought for a DD is that unsprung weight is not noticeable? 4 lbs per corner X 4 wheels = 16 lbs X 7 (the "consensus" unsprung weight multiplier) and you're saving 112 lbs. You're thinking it won't be that big of a deal? Not noticeable?

I'm not an expert in this area, just trying to gather info to make the best decision. My wheels should be in this week 19X9.5 +22 F 19X10.5 +12 R. I think I'm going to run a 305/30 in the rear and a 275/30 in the front to maintain the stock 30mm stagger. So I can definitely report back with my opinion once they're on.

It depends a lot on how you define "DD" and "noticeable". For the majority of people, a few pounds here or there is not going to be something that they will notice. If you are a spirited driver who likes to become one with the car, you'll probably notice.

Edit: Looking back at your posts, I'd say you'll will probably notice a small difference but it still won't be that big of a deal.

Nope not noticeable for something as low as a few pounds, don't believe the hype

I would have run a 255-35-19 front and a 285-35-19 rear

from a guy whos come from racing hondas for years , drag , auto cross , road race and all i can tell you that every pound counts as far as wheels , tires and brakes . one example my old 4th gen prelude boosted made 385whp 355wtq .. with the stock 15in wheels and dunlop fm901s ( the days before star specs ) the car went 12.2 every single pass . swapped out for a set of 17s that were wider by 20mm so i should have had better traction off the line but that night the car went 12.7 to 12.8 every pass . im thinking somethings wrong with the car . decided to swap back to me 15s and low and behold the car ran a 12.2 on the nose again . weight the 17s with tires vs the 15 with tires they were 9 lbs heavier a piece . but also the fact that the mass of the weight was farther from the hub ( try spinning something up to speed on a short string then a long one ) you will see the diff in energy to reach the same momentum . i make every effort now to reduce any ounce i can of sprung weight . im a huge fan of oz wheels for this fact . the allegeritas i run on my current prelude are 17x9 and they weigh in at 15.2 lbs ( hand weight and certified ) and its a noticeable diff in accell , braking and cornering without a doubt . when i buy wheels for the z i will be going an inch wider front and rear but i will make sure that they weigh less that what im taking off ... these cars are sports cars they actually handle pretty damn well for what they are in stock form . adding any weight with wheels , tires makes me cringe a little inside but then again im a die hard functional guys .. i always say in 20 years function will still be in style most of what people call form wont lol

That is the setup I was initially going to run but I am going for the flush look so after some research it seems like a 305 in the rear was the way to go to achieve that, based on the size and offsets I purchased (19X9.5 +22 and 19X10.5 +12). If I go with a 255 F and 285 R I don't think I'd be quite flush. But I'm definitely open to other thoughts.