How much gain from light weight wheels, F body?
08-05-2012, 09:39 AM
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How much gain from light weight wheels, F body? Hey guys
My car has a set of 17x9 OE vette wheels on it. It's a H/C car with a nitrous converter in it. Haven't put spray on it yet. I know these wheels are Heavy, wondering what kind of et gain I might get if I went to some light weight wheels.
Anyone done a back to back?
My car has a set of 17x9 OE vette wheels on it. It's a H/C car with a nitrous converter in it. Haven't put spray on it yet. I know these wheels are Heavy, wondering what kind of et gain I might get if I went to some light weight wheels.
Anyone done a back to back?
08-05-2012, 09:26 PM
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I'm interested to see if anyone has results from lightweight wheels on an f-body also.
I dropped over .2 with my modded TBSS just by switching from the stock 20's to envoy 17's. this was done back to back with only a 30 min cool down at the track. 1.9 60 ft to a 1.8 and ran 13.3 to 13.1.
So I'm sure there's an advantage to lightweight wheels because physics backs it up. Hopefully some1 can chime in with real world F-body results.
Fun fact: 2000 thru 2002 stock camaro 16" wheels are about 5 lbs lighter each (17lb vs 22lb) compared to SS wheels.
I dropped over .2 with my modded TBSS just by switching from the stock 20's to envoy 17's. this was done back to back with only a 30 min cool down at the track. 1.9 60 ft to a 1.8 and ran 13.3 to 13.1.
So I'm sure there's an advantage to lightweight wheels because physics backs it up. Hopefully some1 can chime in with real world F-body results.
Fun fact: 2000 thru 2002 stock camaro 16" wheels are about 5 lbs lighter each (17lb vs 22lb) compared to SS wheels.
08-05-2012, 11:19 PM
#3
Keep in mind its not just a lighter wheel you want, you also want it to be as light as possible the further out you get from the hub.
You could have 2 wheels that are the same weight, but one not work as well as the other. It's all about having most of the weight towards the center of the hub, as opposed to the outside of the wheel.
Don't forget to check out tires also, some tires are decently heavy and may combat your effort. Tony (Nineball) is pretty knowledgeable on the subject if I'm not mistaken.
You could have 2 wheels that are the same weight, but one not work as well as the other. It's all about having most of the weight towards the center of the hub, as opposed to the outside of the wheel.
Don't forget to check out tires also, some tires are decently heavy and may combat your effort. Tony (Nineball) is pretty knowledgeable on the subject if I'm not mistaken.
08-06-2012, 10:35 AM
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Here is some useful information about wheel and tire weight and it's effect on performance:
The rule of thumb is that for every pound of weight you remove from a rotating wheel/tire/brake, you pick up an equivalent 4 to 5lbs in dead weight savings. So if you save 5lbs per corner with wheels and tires, the equivalent dead weight would be 80 to 100lbs, which is worth about a tenth on a street car.
There is a pretty large variation in wheel weights - you may have a 25lb ZR1 wheel and a 1 piece forged on that weighs 17lbs in the same size. 3 piece forged is not necessarily lighter (but usually way stronger).
Tires also have weight variations that you may need to think about - I have a set of 275-40 contis that weigh 4lbs each less than BFG g-force sports in the same size. That's 16lbs of spinning mass right there! Brake rotors also fall into this category.
The rule of thumb is that for every pound of weight you remove from a rotating wheel/tire/brake, you pick up an equivalent 4 to 5lbs in dead weight savings. So if you save 5lbs per corner with wheels and tires, the equivalent dead weight would be 80 to 100lbs, which is worth about a tenth on a street car.
There is a pretty large variation in wheel weights - you may have a 25lb ZR1 wheel and a 1 piece forged on that weighs 17lbs in the same size. 3 piece forged is not necessarily lighter (but usually way stronger).
Tires also have weight variations that you may need to think about - I have a set of 275-40 contis that weigh 4lbs each less than BFG g-force sports in the same size. That's 16lbs of spinning mass right there! Brake rotors also fall into this category.
08-06-2012, 05:32 PM
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i just changed wheels for this reason. I hope i see a big difference b/c I feel like i gave up a ton in the looks dept. I had c6z's 17/18 and now i have weld prostars.
