https://maxima.org/forums/showthread...?threadid=8505

Howdy All:

I am finally going to purchase wheels this week and was looking at 17" but after reading the thread I am curious as to what some of the light 16" wheels are. If the 16's will work better for performance that would be more what I would like. Are any of the Borbet's or Konig's lightweight in 16"??

Best regards,

tony

 

Take a look at this link:

http://home.earthlink.net/~cvlocas/wheels.html

It's a table of various wheels and their weights.

 

Nothing from Konig is going to be light...
Borbet, the Type E is fairly light for a 17X8.

Like... Volk TE-37... but at like $500 a piece you are going to pay for it... and that's in 16".. probably 16X7.5 is as big as you are going to get. Or you can get some BBS rims... light(er) but costly non the less.

As for performance... what do you wnat? Straigh line or cornering? Personally I od'nt care much for drag racing... so I like a wider rim with lower profile tire for better handling response + stiffer right.

-Shing

 

are very light, and in 16" are 2 piece wheels at that. Cost is under $200.
My 225/50/16 Coopers and AR Pinzetti's weighed 40 lbs. Compared to my stock GXE steelies with wheelcovers that weighed 46 lbs.

 

hey have a new one comin out called the LMF-1. It's supposed to be very lightweight. I think LMF means Light Mother F... You get the idea...

 

I've got Kosei K1 16X7.5s with 215/55 Yokohama Avid V4s ordered from the http://www.tirerack.com . You can go there and check out the picks. The K1s weigh 15.5 lbs vs the stock SE 15s that weigh 20 lbs and the SE 16s that weigh 22 lbs. The Tirerack rep told me the Avid V4s weigh 20 lbs SO my new wheels and tires should weigh around 36 lbs or about 5 lbs lighter than the stock 15" setup I'm running right now

Contrary to what many will tell you, larger 17" rims and wider tires don't necessarily improve handling. Larger and heavier rims will "bounce" over bumps in the road and actually loose contact with the road due to thier added unsprung weight. Wide tires on a the light Maxima isn't a good idea either because the car isn't able to exert it's weight effectively over all four contact patches. Wide low profile tires give the feeling of control, but at the limit, low profile tires can loose grip very quickly and cause a nasty slide. I have a very good feeling that my Max will handle much better with a set of 16" 36lb wheels vs my 17" 45lb wheels. I can almost guarantee it. Lighter weight wheels are also easier on the suspension and the drivetrain.

Both Dodge and Chevy have already proved that the Viper GTS and C5 Vette handle better with slightly narrower tires and smaller wheels, BUT the buying public wants big rims and wide tires so that's what they give them. Check out the "road racing" Vipers, C5s, Porsche, and Mustangs etc and you'll see they run taller tires and smaller rims than stock.

Dave

 

lenso
Rays engineering TE37