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Lightest 17" wheels

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by mrichman, May 21, 2005.

  1. mrichman

    mrichman New Member

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    Does anyone know what aftermarket wheels can be used to replace the stock wheels with the same weight (or lighter)? I've gone to Tire Rack's sight but few details on weight are listed. Would like each wheel & aftermarket tire to come in at or under 35 pounds, if possible.

    Cheers,
    Mike
     
  2. Tempus

    Tempus Senior Member

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    That's one of my biggest beef with the info available for aftermarket wheels/tires. They don't give the weight of the Wheels.

    The Prius wheels are VERY light.

    Stats on them are:

    Weight: 6.5kg
    Size: 15x6JJ
    PCD 100mm
    5 Holes
    Offset 45mm

    I doubt there are many after market wheels out there that are going to be lighter.

    The other grip I have is trying to find the Rolling Resistance of tires. I think that should be standard info just like tread wear and traction :)
     
  3. mrichman

    mrichman New Member

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  4. mrichman

    mrichman New Member

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    On low rolling resistance tires...a few manufacturers mention these as developed for that

    Bridgestone Ecopia EP-02 or EP-03

    These may be for the 2000-2003's. The is an interesting report on rolling reistance with specific numbers.

    http://www.greenseal.org/recommendations/C...gresistance.pdf

    From knowledge of rolling resistance in bike tires, this will vary enevenly between tires with inflation pressure.

    Mike
     
  5. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    my rims aren't too heavy. the tires are 19lbs though. something half the weight would be nice for my next tire.
     
  6. Joel

    Joel New Member

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    Uh, you sure about that weight?

     
  7. hngu7721

    hngu7721 Junior Member

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    Volk Racing makes some extremely light, forged (and expensive 500/wheel) 17" wheels. I believe their CE28N at 17" weighs in at a feathery 13.6lbs!
    http://www.rayswheels.co.jp/indexe.html


    Gram Lights (from the makers of Volk Racing) is a cast wheel line that is more reasonably priced and only a bit heavier. The 17" 57C style wheel is around 15 lbs depending on color.
    http://www.gramlights.com/index2.html


    In terms of tire weight, the lightest tire I've found for 17" wheels are the Falken 512; around 18-19lbs.

    The combination above should have only a marginal increase in unsprung weight, but have a major impact on handling of our cars.

    hope this helps
     
  8. DocVijay

    DocVijay Active Member

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    I am still looking for light wheels also. The Scion tC wheels I put on are simply a "placeholder" for some superlight 17" wheels. Those Gram Lights ae probebly the way I'm going to go. Not as light as the Rays Engineering, but not as expensive either.
     
  9. hngu7721

    hngu7721 Junior Member

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    Doc,

    i'd noticed you planned on getting the TRD Sportivo kit installed, and wanted to know if you were going through a specific vendor. It seems like the best price i've seen so far is about 900 w/o shipping. Were you able to find a better price?

    TIA
     
  10. Tempus

    Tempus Senior Member

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    Yes
     
  11. BMcGraw

    BMcGraw Member

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  12. DocVijay

    DocVijay Active Member

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    Well, I've been searching, and I found a wheel that seems to good to be true.

    Buddy Club P1 Racing QF
    17x7.5" wheel
    5x100 bolt pattern
    47 mm offset
    Gun Metallic color
    weight: 12.87 pounds (5.87 kg)

    The only down side is the price, $491 EACH.

    Still, they are lighter than the factory 15 inchers.
     
  13. Strong Bad

    Strong Bad New Member

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    [Broken External Image]:http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/980/priusphotoshoot1010050693yj.jpg

    Wedsport TC-005. I run 17x8.5's (w/ 225/45/17 Hoosiers) on the the SCCA Solo 2 Prius race car but they won't fit a standard Prius without some fender rolling and other trickery. Weds does sell them in a 17x7 and 7.5 (no modification needed) and they come in at 13-15lbs depending on width. They are also a spun forged 1 piece which makes them real nice for performance work.
     
  14. Escalade_on_22s

    Escalade_on_22s New Member

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    Strong Bad is right. I was about to buy the 17x7 Wedsport TC005, but I couldn't find it with the right offset so I went with the WedSport 16x7 (which weighs a featherlight 12.7 lb).

    The 16 inch tire saves about 2.5 lbs over a 17 inch of the same variety. My overall combo is about 6 oz's lighter than stock compared with the 17 inch combo which would have been about 3.5 lb more than stock (with increased rolling resisitance). I'm excited about decreasing weight and increasing rigidity and performance at the same time.
    Bryan
     
  15. samoan_ridah

    samoan_ridah New Member

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    Don't know too much about weights but is 17.0lbs. too much for each wheel?

    Kazera KZ-V from Tirerack.com is only $129/ea. and doesn't look half bad.
     
  16. Escalade_on_22s

    Escalade_on_22s New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(samoan_ridah @ Apr 12 2006, 07:19 PM) [snapback]238800[/snapback]</div>
    I assume you are talking about the 17 incher... If the wheel weighs 17lb and the tire weighs, say 22lb you're near 40 lbs (about 9 more than stock) plus the bead is further out on the moment arm. You'll probably feel sluggish acceleration and a noticeable decrease in fuel economy. You might as well pick up some TC rims for cheap with tires already installed. my .02
    Bryan
     
  17. drrjv

    drrjv New Member

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    Just weighed one of my wheels with tire on a 2007 Touring Prius.

    It was 35 lbs.
     
  18. bobdavisnpf

    bobdavisnpf Member

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    Buddy Club weight is correct. Not too good to be true, just kind of more money than most of us want to spend.

    Kazera KZ-V 16x7 is what we got for our '05, with the ComforTred 205/55HR16 tires. Excellent ride, response is fine, offset is just about perfect (centers of the 205's land right where the stock tires did).

    There are plenty of light wheels out there, figure to spend an extra $60-$80 per pound to take weight off them, in any given size.

    Tires actually strike me as more of a problem weight-wise. There seem to be lots of racing and summer tires that are very light, but all-season and touring tires that interest me seem to be heavy.

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mrichman @ May 21 2005, 03:20 PM) [snapback]91578[/snapback]</div>
    You can check out my thread on rolling resistance:

    http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=35624&hl=rrc

    I haven't tried writing to the tire makers to ask for their test data on current tire lines.
     
  19. NoMoShocks

    NoMoShocks Electrical Engineer

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    Has anyone actually tried the Buddy Club Wheels? I photoshoped them onto my car and I think they look pretty good. The 16 inch ones are under 12 lbs.

    I also like the Centerline Viking at about 14.5 lbs.
    [attachmentid=11854]

    [attachmentid=11855]
     

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  20. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NoMoShocks @ Oct 5 2007, 04:01 PM) [snapback]521978[/snapback]</div>
    Looks like you have drag racing slicks on all four corners lol