How important is the wheight of the wheel+tire to the car's prformance?

I've read the posts about unsprung weight and rotating mass so I know that heavier wheels slow the car down and decrease the responsiveness of the suspension, but what I want to know is what kind of benefits/losses you get pound for pound:

for ex. if I change to a wheel+tire that is 1 pound lighter than what I have now what benefit will I get, what if it is 1 pound heavier? Also, how many pounds does it take (in either direction) to make a noticible difference?

 

The performance will vary depending on where the weight is added/subtracted - in the hub, spokes, or lip.

If you increase the overall wheel/tire weight by 5-7 lbs per corner, you'll loose about .2 to .4 seconds in the quarter mile and vice versa.

 

that much huh?

 

I don't know if an over all weight increase winll increase or decrease performance tah much. I do know on my 95 se with the stock 15" rim {approx 40lbs} my car could consistantly hit 15 sec flat 1/4 mile times or better. When I added my 17" MoMo Arrows {approx 50 lbs} with 20mm wider tires I could only manage 15.3-15.5 in the 1/4.

Well see what my Z rims with 225's {RE730's or RE950's} will do on my 99 se vs the stock 16" with 215 GSA. I believe the the z rims 3 lbs lighter than the 16 SE rims.

 

There are big difference between weight of the tires too. 5-7lbs. Good thing most tire manufacture disclose the weight on their website. My Toyo Proxy T1-S weights more than my Volk TE-37.

 

1Max, tires in general weigh more than the wheels they are mounted on, especially when you have light *** wheels like TE-37s.

 

You just answered your own question. You're running several tenths slower with the heavier wheels.

My 300ZX stock wheel/tire weighed 40 lbs (225/50/16). When I upgraded to Kosei Seneca S6C, 245/40/17, the weight was 49 lbs. I lost consistently at least .3 to .4 seconds at the drag strip, sometimes more depending on the temperature.

The stock Z wheel alone should be around 18 lbs in 16x7.5".

 

thanks for all the info, now I got another question:
which in you opinion is the better tire/wheels combo

Tires:
1) TOYO T1-S (245/45ZR17) 24.9LB
2) Bridgestone S-02PP(or the S-03PP) (245/45ZR17) 27LB - S-03PP weight is not available

Wheels:
1) OZ Nova 1pc (17x8") 22.5LB
2) Konig Villain (17x8") 19.8LB
3) Borbet Type-E (17x8") 22-23LB(estimated)

 

Are you going to use your stock wheels and tires for winter driving? If so then either tire will work, but the pp-02 are the best of the two. If money is an issue the look at the RE730's they are sweet.

As for rims I thing the Type-Es looks smooth. I haven't seen the other two in person on a Maxima.

Also what springs are your going to install on your car? If your not lowering your car these wheels will only increase the apperence of wheel gap.

Why are you going with 245/45/17 instead of 235/45/17?

To answer yor question I'd say borbet and 02's.

Later

Blade

 

Blade,
to answer your questions

>Are you going to use your stock wheels and tires for >winter driving?

yes I will put winter tires on my stock 16s

>Also what springs are your going to install on your car?
I have the Eibach/Tokiko Blues combo

>Why are you going with 245/45/17 instead of 235/45/17?
Although the 235 is a perfect match for the 16s, I wanted something a little wider for better traction/look so I'm going with the 245s which are only 1.5% off from the stock 16s and a perfect match for the stock 17s (also 1.5% is less that the inherent speedometer error so it will not noticible while driving)

>To answer yor question I'd say borbet and 02's.
Any opinion on the S-03s?

 

WOW the 03 are alot of money 242 a piece at tirerack.com, They look sweet.

Here what tirerack.com says about the RE730 "the Potenza RE730 offers a strong blend of wet and dry performance along with ride comfort and low noise levels".

My experinces with the RE730, they do handle very well in both wet and dry conditions but they are noisy tires compared to touring tires {ie GSA or SP5000}. As for ride comfort not really acceptable for me, but because of the sprint springs.

I'd predict that the 03's will handle very well in both wet and dry, but I'd also predict that the tires will be noisy. If you have a loud exhaust you probably won't noice it. I'd also believe that your ride quality won't be as rough as mine since your 245/45 have more sidewall area than my 245/40 and your springs aren't as stiff.

Just wondering why do you want Maxium Performance Tires for your car? I'm not trying to flame here, just wondering. I use to want the T1-S also but I'm very glad I didn't buy them.
Are you going to be racing your car? If not the RE950 235/45/17 will be a better choice.

Blade

 

> Just wondering why do you want Maxium Performance Tires for your car?

For Maximum performance , since I don't have any HP performance mods(yet) I will not benefit very much in the acceleration department, but Max performance give you the most lateral g's, steering response, and braking performance of all the street tire types.
Since I will have a separate set of winter tires, when choosing a summer tire snow/slush/etc. performance is not a concern so the goal is to get the best performance in wet/dry enviroments from your tires which is what max performance tires give you (tires are performance mods too )

Also once I get new wheels+tires I do plan to AutoX.

 

Sound good.
Do you care if you car is loud or not? When you put those tires on your car you'll know what I'm talking about.

If you plan to autocross since you have lowering springs the two classes you can run in are STS and DSP. In the STS class your maxium tire width is 225 and in the DSP class you can run race tires. If you don't have a stong desire to win then that won't bother you. Trust me if you run in dsp with street tires you'll get crushed by seconds. Unless there arn't very good drivers in your area.

Also about acceleration, your new combo will slow your car down by .2 -.4 in a 1/4 mile.

Blade

 

I don't mind the tire noise (should sound like winter tires, right?), as for AutoX I'm sure I won't win against race tires so I'll just compare my times to other people with street tires (apples to apples), and who knows maybe someday I will have some race tires too

As far as acceleration is concerned if I get the Konig wheels I will save 2.5-3 pounds compared to the type-Es which should keep me even with what I have now, plus that max performance rubber should reduce tire spin at launch which should actually give me better times. What do you think?

 

nm,
the Potenza SO2/SO3 are excellent tires and are probably overkill for the Maxima but... good tires is always worth it in the end (if you can afford the high end ones).

The Potenza RE730 or the Yokohama AVS Sport are less expensive than the SO2/3 but offer excellent performance as well. You might want to look at those.

For the price and weight, the Villains are a good deal. Personally, I don't like the red "Villain" sticker on there. I'd take it to a bodyshop/paintshop and have them sand the whole wheel down and repainted satin silver rather than the normal silver. This is about $150-200 for all the wheels but it gives the wheel a unique look (and stands out from the other Villains on the road).