Saving gas with lighter wheels

This came up recently, and I found a independent test.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-fuel-economy/55094-fe-steel-v-alloy-wheels.html

In the example I found, by saving 10 pounds per wheel, they saved 0.4 MPG.

You would be saving closer to 5 pounds per wheel, so expect 1/2 that.

 

If that were an exact science, the Gen III's 17" rims would have to weigh some 20 pounds more than the other OEM's ... as the 17" rims cause about a 1mpg hit, right? Hard to believe they're that much heavier.

 

Unless I am mistaken, the 17" wheels use different brand tires in different widths than the 15 " wheels. That is changing WAY more variables than the same tire on different weight wheels. Toyota also makes other changes in the suspension, as well.

 

I have these:
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-racing-ce28-eco-drive-wheels-prius-only.html
Not much difference, but I'm not a hypermiler (I don't pay too much attention to my mileage )

 

Now these in black would look sweet on "Baby".
They weigh less than the stock oem wheel.
PERFECT!!!
Thanks for the find!!!

 

Two issues with these rims...

The larger gaps in the rims most likely increase drag compared to the stock rims essentially canceling out the mpg boost from decreased weight of the rims...

Unless you are purchasing these rims for the look rather than the mpg gain...it will take longer than the lifetime of the car for the mpg gain to cancel out the cost of the rims...

Clearly, lighter rims/tires increase mpg and LRR tires help increase mpg as well...but at what cost? Guess it depends on what you are going for...the look or the mpg...usually not easy to get both.

 

Lighter wheels also mean better braking as well.

 

Most modifications done to your Prius will never pay back the cost of doing the mod in fuel savings.

 

So most of us do it just for the fun of it.

 

Yeah, what he said!!!!

 

I didn't spend 3 grand on rims, tires, and labor to save gas.

I need to change my title to "not a hypermiler cheap hawk"

 

do not know if this sheds new light to the topic. Rota wheels makes a knock off of the Spoon Sports wheel called Slipstream.

15x6.5 5x100 offset +40 or a +45 depending on your preference.

+45 will put the tires closer toward the center of the car.
+40 will put the tires a hair further away than stock.

They weigh only 11lbs and cost about $300-$400 depending where you get them. That is for all 4. Im a huge fan of Rays Eng and Volk rims, but the cost far out weighs the "performance" in terms of what we want to get out of the wheel for the Prius.

The Slipstreams may be an alternative to affordable light weight wheels. Im just not sure if they really would help with MPG.

 

Going from a 15" to a 16" rim puts more rim weight further out, causing more rotational inertial resistance, possibly canceling out the reduced weight of the 16"+ wheels.

 

surely the offset doesnt make much more difference than additional load on the wheel bearings?

 

I get that if the lighter 16 inch wheel design were an otherwise identical identical but thinner cross section version of the 15 inch wheel, anything over a 12% weight reduction would be a benefit in total mass moment of inertia. However, I wouldn't expect the design of a performance oriented wheel to be as weight efficiently as inept as the design of a mass market production car wheel, so a smaller weight reduction would result in a reduced wheel MMI.

What do you get?

 

SSR Type F...

google image searched and found this..

 

I'm not sure how to calculate this. Is it possible to figure out just with math alone?

This photoshop picture below looks pretty nice. Are there springs available for the Prius that drop the ride height but keeps the stock springrate/stiffness? Lowering ride height also reduces frontal area and MPG from what I've heard.

 

The thing you got to look for is the rust, if there is rust anywhere on the car than its bad. And RWD in snow can be really fun, you can drift etc........ But since you dont do that then its good. And its a V6 so its gona eat up more gas. I would say get some headers, cat back and air intake, and do some body mods and keep the Jetta.

 

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