Tried a quick search- no luck: Does weight of wheels really make much of a difference?

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RustyRatRod said:
ANY reduction in weight is a good thing. Don't over think this. just get some light wheels and know you did a good thing.
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coming from a guys whose avatar looks like she may be carrying around a little more them OEM weight
 
burrpenick said:
Seems like it being unsprung weight that it would, but how? Does the car ride better over rough surfaces w/lighter wheels? Stop and start better? I once thought that most alloy wheels were not that much lighter than the stock steel or rallyes, so whats the experts say......and some hard numbers would be nice to see. And throw in aluminum and mag wheels too? And how about the drag wheels that are even lighter- and maybe not street legal if one were concerned........
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I didn't read though all the posts first, but yes losing rotating & (some reciprocating weight) makes a difference (my guess is a tiny difference important only to Racer$). Historically racers went so far as to use magnesium rims, kevlar drive shafts (& kevlar wrapped aluminum drive shafts), GM had aluminum blocks in 69/70?, etc. If I remember correctly, Smokey Unich (sp?) of chevy fame said that lightened pushrods and lifters do not do anything though.
 
mbaird said:
If you are running a moderately powered car on the street you probably wont notice . But if you are racing a high horse car and counting 100ths of a second it really does make a difference.
BTW...alloy wheels are not always lighter than steelies... pick up an old Keystone classic sometime. Ufda!!!! thats a heavy wheel!
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The less powerful the vehicle the more of an effect lighter wheels will have on it.My 87 dakota with a 3.9 accelerated/stopped/turned better with factory jeep alloy wheels than it did with the boat ancher steel wheels that were on it, even though the tires on the steel wheels were P rated 205/75/15's and the tires on the jeep wheels are LT BFG All terrains in 215/75/15.Normally LT tires are heavier than P rated tires coupled with the increase in height should have have made handling worse, but just loosing so much weight with the aluminum wheels tipped the scales back.In terms of rotational inertia a difference of 1 lb is huge, by comparison you would be hard pressed to notice a difference of 25 lbs in sprung weight.
 
Mopar87 said:
The less powerful the vehicle the more of an effect lighter wheels will have on it.My 87 dakota with a 3.9 accelerated/stopped/turned better with factory jeep alloy wheels than it did with the boat ancher steel wheels that were on it, even though the tires on the steel wheels were P rated 205/75/15's and the tires on the jeep wheels are LT BFG All terrains in 215/75/15.Normally LT tires are heavier than P rated tires coupled with the increase in height should have have made handling worse, but just loosing so much weight with the aluminum wheels tipped the scales back.In terms of rotational inertia a difference of 1 lb is huge, by comparison you would be hard pressed to notice a difference of 25 lbs in sprung weight.
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good read- wondering what LIGHT modern wheels w/fit (junk yard wheels) on a Duster w/front Discs. I've heard some allows are actual HEAVY!
 
i wonder if you could fill the tires with helium instead of air?

wouldnt help me, but in a race where everything is even, and they force you to pack 50 pounds of extra weight, it may make a difference?
 
My first stock eliminator car was a 2.2 fwd dodge shadow. The stock cast aluminum wheels and little mickey Thompson slicks on front and matching stock cast aluminum wheels and street tires on the rear were quite heavy. The rears where 39 lbs each and fronts were about 32 lbs each. I bought a set of Bogart flyweight wheels and mickey Thompson Et fronts for the rear. The new front wheels and little slicks were 21 lbs each and the 15x 31/2 on back were 19 lbs each. We did back to back runs on the same day at the Dragstrip, and went from 14.30s to 13.90s. So, yes the weight of wheels and tires can make a difference, especially in lower horsepower combos.
 
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burrpenick said:
probably not in 14 or even 15? WOnder if the Mustang wheel is one of the light ones or similar to steel?
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Craigslist ( my-Craigs-finder.com ) or even better, Facebook market place. Here in the south, more rims and tires than you can shake a stick at. Even more for sale than hub caps in the 80's.
 
I got new aluminum wheels from jegs. They're 15x10 with 295x60x15. They're WAY lighter than the old steeles, I'd say three times the wheel at one third the weight.

Its ridiculous just how heavy the old wheel and tire combo was.
 
greymouser7 said:
Why not run the modern 8 1/4 jeep grand cherokee rear disk brake setup? Don't they charge like a little over a hundred bucks for an axle? Some one here or on moparts converted their 8 3/4 with those brakes if i remember correctly.
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Mostly because I got a 8.75 out of a dart in the back, and I don't think think a jeep rear end would be an improvement
 
diymirage said:
Mostly because I got a 8.75 out of a dart in the back, and I don't think think a jeep rear end would be an improvement
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the brake components off of the late model jeep's (all the versions of the cherokee mini suv ++)- the late model jeep's run those 8 1/4's (as far as i know) which somebody pulled the brake set up off of and modified/installed onto their 8 3/4 rear axle. He said it almost bolted in directly.
 
greymouser7 said:
hey why not? many of their rims are 16", 17" & 18" or the later model chargers and challengers if your brake setup is large? or whatever?
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It's not about the brake size, it's about the bolt pattern
KHs were 5x4 (small bolt pattern)
 
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