anyone know the benifits of lightweight wheels?

[Biggie™]

Originally Posted by gaffo

1. that weight you gave 8-1/2 pounds - was that for steel or alluminum (I LOVE Smootie hubcap retro look so have no need for aluminum wheels).

2. any tire/wheel brand recommendations?

3. can we go even smaller on Yaris? 12" maybe?

1: Steel wheels are heavy, always run aluminum!

2.a: The tire I basically used in my lengthy example was the 215/50-13 Sumitomo HTR 200. There aren't too many good street tires left in a 13", but you can find some nice race tires(DOT and full slicks).

2.b: There are a number of good looking super light 13" wheels , just do some research and buy what you like and can afford. Here are a few examples. They all wont work for everyone, some have rather low offsets for the Yaris, but they are still usable. I'd recommend the Lenso VPD 13x7.5, 4x100 +25 8-10 pounds? There is also an 8 pound TE37 13X8, 4x100 +20, but those are pricey. Here's a list of even more possible choices.

3: You can't find any good tires in a 12", stay with 13's.


Now, I used a 13" wheel to over emphasize my example. We could easily use a 15" wheel and still get similar results, but with more wheel and tire choices. Lets use a better fitting example for our Yaris.

Enkei RPF1 15X7, 4X100 +41 weighs only 9.5 pounds each.
Toyo Proxes T1r 205/45-15 weighs only 17 pounds each.

Those wheels/tires are 26.5 pounds each and are only 22.2 inches tall, so we still get the low weight, lower gearing and the rotational mass is still closer to center than stock.