[linyeah]

Price? (cheap and afforable, the more expensive, the better they are)
Weight? (lightest one plz...)
Style? (5 spokes, 6 spokes, 16"inch 19inch :roll: ...)
Color? (black, silver, chrom..etc)

What are the advantages of using Light weight rims?

 

[bluntman]

Personally, style comes first since that's what everyone will see when it comes to your car, it's also your first step to customizing your vehicle. Colour would be a close second and then price. I've never paid much attention to weight in the past, mainly because the lighter wheels are usually more expensive.

Lightweight wheels give you a lower overall weight giving you better fuel economy and (I believe) better handling.

 

[coffeesmurf]

Lightweight wheels would give you better acceleration and shorter stopping distances (less rotating weight, easier to get it moving, easier to stop it from moving).

We just need to figure out how much of a difference it makes. Going from the standard 22lbs to 19 or the other way around going to 25lbs. The other variable is weight distribution. Weight that is close to the center of the wheel is less of an issue compared to the weight that is near the edge.

I was considering a set of wheels but when I saw that the weight was 25lbs I kind of walked away. Can anyone give some input on this ? When do you start feeling the difference? 1 lb difference, 5,... ?

 

[Frank]

I know a guy that wants to buy Lightweights, they are 15lbs instead of 22, which makes it 7lbs ligher si 28lbs overall. The wheels he found were nice too, I should get a pic.

 

[coffeesmurf]

7 lbs / wheel (almost 1/3 of the weight less) probably makes a noticeable difference. But where does it start ? How much would the MZ3 suffer from having 25 lbs wheels ?

 

[Orange Crush]

Price? (cheap and afforable, the more expensive, the better they are)
Weight? (lightest one plz...)
Style? (5 spokes, 6 spokes, 16"inch 19inch ...)
Color? (black, silver, chrom..etc)


Style is always first for me, if it doesn't look good shouldn't be on their. 2nd would be color, a wheel may only look good in a certain color, also how it looks with the car is important. Price would be 3rd, a cheap price is good, but if I gotta pay more then so be it.
Lastly would be weight, I'm not into racing, just crusing around so it's not important to me.

 

[M3-GT]

weight first because whatever wheel you choose, if you end up having 10 pounds more per wheel it will cause important issues. It will increase breaking distances (and the ABS sensor will be thrown off), decrease acceleration performance and harder on everything that is involved in your steering.

Once that is taken care of, price, style, color.

 

[Gunnar]

7 lbs / wheel (almost 1/3 of the weight less) probably makes a noticeable difference. But where does it start ? How much would the MZ3 suffer from having 25 lbs wheels ?

To answer this question you must first know how heavy are the wheels that you have now?

I had a nissan 240sx. it has similar hp and tourqe ratings to the mz3. The stock wheels with tires weighed in at 31lbs. I switched to a Rota slipstreem 16 wheel and (heavy but great grip) Falkin Azenis tires. The total loss was 7lbs per wheel. that is a total of 28lbs of rotationary weight. Now I was not sure if that would be a wash being that the tires were heavyer than the stock one's, and that weight is on the outside of the rotation. The result: The car launched ssooooooo much better, and stoped a lot faster too.

To answer your question...I would bet that you could start to feel it at 3lbs per wheel. anything before that and you are just tinking that you can feel it.

I once read in Sports Compact Car Magazine that for every pound that you take off of the wheels it is the same as taking 6lbs of static weight off the car. So if I took off 28lbs, then that is like kicking a 168lbs buddy out of the car before I race! Sweet!

Weight is everything for me! Then looks, then cost.

 

[wmiller19]

Weight is most important to me. Followed by construction (forged vs. cast) strength.

Why? We're talking not only static mass but rotational mass (gyroscopic effect), polar moment, etc., etc.. These all affect wheel rate. The heavier the wheel the slower it is to react to directional changes, making it harder to track pavement undulations. A really big no-no when cornering at the limits of your tire's adhesion capabilities. :shock:

I'm sure that I'm in the minority on this, but I buy aftermarket wheels for track/performance driving, not the blvd..

 

[coffeesmurf]

Problem with weight is that it's not weight alone, the distribution of it is also very important. A heavier wheel could perform better than a lighter one depending on where the weight is. What comments can we make about the MZ3 17" 22lbs wheel and the distribution of that weight?

As for me, weight and appearance (shape and color) are factors. As for the price, as long as it's "reasonable", what is a few hundreds more when you're already spending thousands... :wink:

 

[wmiller19]

A heavier wheel could perform better than a lighter one depending on where the weight is.

I'm not sure what you mean by "where the weight is", as it is located at the end of the spindle. What am I missing?

As for heavy being better, I seriously doubt it. If this were true, Formula 1 (and every other type) cars would be running heavy wheels. In racing, lighter is always better. A suspension engineer designs spring rate, shock compression and jounce rates with a specific wheel rate specification. Part of this wheel rate calculation is the static weight of the wheel/tire combo to be used. A lighter wheel usually doesn't hurt on a street car, and can allow even less agressive valving in the shocks/struts to take advantage of the lower wheel rate (energy+time it takes to deflect) giving a softer feel while increasing the wheel/tire's ability to track higher frequency pavement undulations and keep the contact patch as constant as possible.

Every racer and chassis engineer I've ever talked to says that lower unsprung weight is better. That's why everyone tries to make the lightest/strongest caliper, rotor, and wheel possible for race cars.

 

[coffeesmurf]

Here you go, this should give a pretty basic explanation:

http://electron4.phys.utk.edu/141/sep10/September 10.html

"The moment of inertia of an object depends on the mass of the object, and on how this mass is distributed with respect to the axis of rotation. The farther the bulk of the mass is from the axis of rotation, the greater is the rotational inertia (moment of inertia) of the object."

"The moment of inertia of an object is a measure of its resistance to angular acceleration"

This is why when you swing a baseball bat it is easier when you hold the big (heavy part) compared to when you hold the handle. This is also why a heavier wheel could be better depending on weight distribution.

 

[wmiller19]

I understand moment of inertia, but still don't see how it applies to your previous statement.

Are you saying that depending upon where the weight is distributed, i.e., more weight in the center vs. the rim itself can make a heavy wheel better? How? Rotational inertia will affect the suspension's articulation rate as a function of time, but other than that, I'm not following.

I don't need the simple explaination, go for it.

 

[MZ3_GS]

I understand moment of inertia, but still don't see how it applies to your previous statement.

Are you saying that depending upon where the weight is distributed, i.e., more weight in the center vs. the rim itself can make a heavy wheel better? How? Rotational inertia will affect the suspension's articulation rate as a function of time, but other than that, I'm not following.

I don't need the simple explaination, go for it.

Moment of inertia is not a standard formula that can be applied to all wheels. because wheels have different designs this can change the way the mass is distributed, thus a different moment of inertia formulation.

Considering that the moment of inertia is what opposes rotational motion and force, this can have an effect on accelerations.

i.e. a wheel 3lbs lighter could have a higher moment of inertia by design than that of the wheel 3lbs heavier.

Now for my little rant:
Why someone wants to put on 40lbs bling bling 20"s on a 4 banger compact is beyond me. There is no better way to make you car slower than adding those rims.

As for me, the most important factors are: Construction > Weight > Price.
Sure there is no point driving on 8 lbs forged magnesium alloy rims on the street, but they're good for track.

 

[sweetdeath]

Im using 19 lbs wheels on 215/45 R17 tire and I can ''feel'' a slight difference in the acceleration versus the 22lbs stock rims.

 

[mazda3speed]

i would see wut is affordable for me

 

[Zimmerman]

I just dropped about $1200 for 18" Rota Subzero's (bronze) and Falkan Azenis ST115 225 40ZR18's and my first consideration was that weight be less than or equal to stock. Then it was just a matter of style since I already knew my color (bronze). They're gonna look great on my black mica 3. Thanks to Machiii. They oughta become a sponser or something...

 

[bobjob]

A bit of all the above for me, I chose an arbitraty number as my max spending limit ($1500) for tires+wheels, and they had to be <= stock weight.
Can't be too bling, and too complex (hard to clean).
I wanted something dark (i got bronze).

 

[Hoyinpng]

weight, width, size, $$$ appearance