When shopping for wheels my main concern has been looks, wieght and cost. The truth of the matter is that looks is probably my number one concern . If I wanted light wheels only, I'd keep the stockers. In other words, I'm getting wheels soley for looks, but I don't want to compromise performance too much. I like the looks of many "heavier" wheels (SSR GT3, Blitz Technospeed, 5Zigen Heidfeld, etc) and am wondering how much performance I'd really be sacrificing if I got a 25 lb/wheel set...

My question is: For a street driven car, how much does heavier (~25lbs) wheels really degrade performance?

-Matt

 

If you're buying solely for looks, then why worry about the performance hit? It's all about pimping the stylicious wheels LOL

 

In case anyone is wondering "stylicious" comes right after "shizzle" in the Pimp Dictionary

 

I seriously doubt you'd notice anything on the street (as far as performance goes). It's not any worse than adding a 150lb+ passenger.

The stock wheels are about 16lbs or so. Adding another 7-9lbs on the corners for the street really isn't going to matter. I plan on running some "heavy rims" soon on the street. I'll be putting sticky tires on the stock rims for the track. In this case, I don't care about the extra weight since it won't have any affect on my track performance.

I think people go overboard with this "heavy rim" thing. But then again, the FD has a darn near 50/50 weight distribution, do you think people calculate what they are removing from "all sides" of the car when they are removing things like PS, AC, etc to save weight? NOPE!

Get whatever rims you like, it's your car.

 

Heavier rims will make very little difference for street driving. Your steering may feel slightly heavier. Depending on how "picky" you are, you may not even notice it.

I think "sho-nuf" comes after shizzle in the pimp dictionary

 

It depends on how sensitive your "butt dyno"(?) is?
Going from stock Zenki Turbo II rims (27#) to GAB Sport 16" x 7" (15#), there is a noticable difference in how the car reacts and performs.  Steering input is changed and the lighter wheels just react faster to changes in the road.

If you're not looking for it, I doubt you'd feel the difference, but the more experienced drivers should be able to feel the difference.


-Ted

 

I didn't notice much of a straightline hit with my new setup (43lb fronts, 45 lb rears), but the car definitely FEELS different in the steering/ride/handling department. The steering is heavier and the car does not feel as nimble, so IMO, heavier wheels are very noticeable.

Full review of my new setup coming.....

 

rynberg... what is your new setup?

 

18x8.5 and 18x9.5 +45 offset Enkei RP-01s with 235/40 and 265/35 Toyo T1-S

 

I used "stylicious" cuz FritzFlynn already came up with "blingalicious" LOL

 

Why not go with good looking and light weight? You can find good deals without breaking the bank.. I did.

 

^ agreed . But sometimes a great deal on used wheels comes along that I can't pass up...

 

You can't always find the style of wheel you want in the same price/weight range you can deal with....

 

Tyler, Thanks for posting your wheel weights. I was thinking about PMing you but you beat me to it. My heavy-*** wheels are 48lb front and 50lb rear. I think they are made out of polished lead I'm running KumHO 235/40/18 & 265/35/18(Yeah, they suck but they came with the wheels...$1700 shipped.)

 

 

Actually a heavy wheel is quite a bit different from adding a 150lb passenger. Passenger weight (although 150lb is a lot more than say 40lb increase from heavier wheels) is sprung weight. Wheels are both unsprung and rotational.

Heavy wheels require more force to start spinning, this will effect your acceleration and force applied to your clutch. In higher horsepower applications your acceleration may stay the same or improve with larger and heavier wheels since you gain additional traction.

They also require more force to stop the spinning or slow it down, this will effect your braking. Depending on your brakes you may not notice it much to begin with but heavier wheels in most cases will speed up brake fade.

 

While I was just joking about the "passenger thing", there have been several theories floating around about this forum talking about the rotational weight of heavy rims on both sides of the arguement. However, no one (as far as the threads I've seen) have ever put up any data supporting either side (as far as acceleration, not necessarily handling).

 

 

The initial question was about heavier wheels. Changing sizes throws a whole new wrinkle into the picture. You can't just compare the weight to handling if you are changing diameters, widths, and tires.

My initial answer was for a heavier wheel, assuming the same size. I still don't think there would be that much difference. Of course, not many of us are gong to replace a stock rim with another stock sized rim thats heavier. Most people are going with 17's or 18's.

 

I'll start looking for some data to post then Acceleration is easy: Drag the car with the same tires on wheels of different weights. It's been proven without a doubt that lighter wheels give faster ET's. Handling is not so cut and dry but rest assured the lighter wheel is a noticeable improvment in acceleration, braking, turn in and the ability to follow bumps. Like TracyRX7 said wheels are unsprung weight. Keeping them light pays big dividends when performance is the purpose.

Everybody understands how a lightweight flywheel helps engine response, right? Lighter weight wheels give exactly the same advantage though it is not quite as pronounced since the wheels turn at axle speed and not engine speed. But since the wheels are lighter the engine doesn't have to work as hard to accelerate them, the brakes don't have to work as hard to convince them to stop, the dampers don't have to work as hard to keep them in firm contact with the ground and the driver doesn't have to work as hard to make them change direction. There's a reason race teams are willing to spend $$$$ to save just a couple pounds on a wheel.

 

Yes, but race teams are looking to shave tenth's of seconds off laps verses going to get groceries at the store.

While there is some difference, will it be noticeable on the street? As far as acceleration and power is concerned I still say I doubt he'll notice any difference at all.

 

This board is proof that owners don't think in terms of getting groceries. If they did there would be no need for aftermarket bushings, adjustable coil over kits, adjustable dampers, aftermarket sway bars, big brake kits, single turbos, wide tires or any other performance mod people spend money on. A perfectly stock FD already has more performance than 95% of people can actually use.

I will be the first to say I think it ridiculous that people will spend five figures on performance mods and the car never sees a racetrack. But the mentality always seems to be towards performance whether the owner really knows what that is or ever practices putting it to use.

 

Well....

Not necessarily true. Most of the people here put aftermarket stuff on their car just to say they "did the mod", not necessarily to make them go around a track faster. Hell, look at that "FD Road Racers" thread that SleepR1 started. How many members posted in there verses the number of members we have on the forum who own FD's?

There are only a select few on here that actually "use what they have". The rest just do it so when someone asks what they have done, they can bust off a laundry list of mods.

Completely agree there.

That may be true, but it's their own money and their own car. Some people spend there money on buying DVD movies, or music CD's, car parts to mod their car, guns, R/C cars, scrapbooking, etc... Everyone has a vice that they spend money on for no good reason. For some, it's their car. It's no worse than wasting money on other forms of hobbies or activitives.

 

Heavy wheels will change the character of the car ... especially if the offset is not completely correct. I had a set of wheels on the car when I first got it that were 17s, heavy, and wrong offset -- too far outward. Anyway, when I put stock wheels on the car it felt so much lighter and more nibble. You could feel the difference in the steering wheel-no problem.

 

Mahjik, that's my point. If people are willing to spend such sums of money and insist upon increasing the performance then they should go for a lighter wheel while they are at it. They'll certainly notice that before the difference in adjustment on $2000 shocks. Not trying to be argumentative.