Well I had nothing better to do today, so I thought I would find out the weight of my original 1996 Maxima GXE "steelies". I massed the tire/wheel combo and subtracted the weight of a tire (same size) I had in my garage. All the tires are the original 205/65R15 size. Here's what I got:
Wheel/tire combo: 41 lbs.
Tire alone: 23 lbs.
Est. Wheel weight: 18 lbs!

I always thought the stock steel wheels were way heavier than that - and no my scale is not broken its almost brand new and perfectly calibrated. Anyways, just thought I'd share my findings.
-Cyrus

 

your scale has a Virus .. or your fat gf adjusted it

 

Cool.

 

1. True, I could be spreading .
2. No g/f , maybe yours (or was that your mom)? .
But seriously, I recalibrated it before I used it. Does that seem even remotely realistic? A tire weighting 4 lbs. more than the wheel?
-Cyrus

 

I took off my factory wheels the other day to put on a set of snow tires (on different steel rims). I weighed the original wheels with the tires on them also. I got very close to the 41 pounds that you got, so I think your numbers seem perfectly reasonable.

 

Do you mean the hubcap/steel wheels?

 

..they spin much more freely than my 18's.

 

Thanks for letting us know Vyrus. I have always heard that the stock GXE 15" steel wheels/hubcaps were light. You got me curious so I went out to the garage and weighed my stock '96 GLE 15"s wheels/tires (The pollished finish ones with the cheesey flower/snow flake design). I don't beleive they are stock tires but they are 205-65 which is stock size (and they are made by General if that helps any). I got 37/38 pounds. Not too shabby I guess. I don't know what just the rim weighs but using the same logic as you, I guess around 14/15 lb. )

I'm stoked because I thought the GXE wheels were lighter so I was actually looking into getting 2 or 4 of them (for those friday nights). Now I know to just keep mine. Thanks again.


P.s. I know it's not much but was your weight with or without the hubcap?

 

Just remember, tires are like rims, they all have different weights too.

 

I always thought that way.... First of all the smaller the tire, the lighter it is (obviously) then 15" rims are all generally lighter then most aftermarket 17's... A stock tire/rim combo would probably weigh about the same as a light weight 17-18 lb 17 inch rim w/ tire.

I had lightweight 16 X 7" 15.5 lbs rims w/ 24 lb tires. The combo was similar weight to stock alloys, ofcourse just a bit lighter, but that is going only 1 size up. All tires are heavier as you go to a bigger size.

 

Another bit of info, the 97-99 SE wheels feel significantly lighter than the GXE steel wheels. I spin my tires much easier since I put the SE wheels on.

 

you need some better tires

 

Actually I went from bald (literally, almost slicks) Firestone SH30s to almost new Yokohama A540 VRs. I was surprised by it also, but my tires do spin a lot easier. Maybe it's just my lead foot.

 

The weight was without hubcaps - but they are almost nothing (under .1 lbs) and will not make a difference. Anyways they were alot lighter than I presumed, so maybe this will scoot wheels down on the "mod list" for one or two of you...nah, not a chance .
-Cyrus