Right now I have some heavy ass 17's on my car. Since I want to go fast more then look cool I want to change to lighter 15's. I currently have RSlimited Elite wheels that weigh I think like 20-21 lbs. I am thinking of buying some Rota Slipstreams with weigh like 11.5 lbs. I am planning on doing this no matter what but I am curious to know how much of a difference I will see as far as my 1/4 mile time. Any estimates are appeciated. Thanks.
1/4 mile time difference with lighter wheels?
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http://www.sentra.net/tech/garage/suspension.php is where I found this:
Don’t over tire or wheel your car. Our cars will go the fastest and handle best with the widest, lightest 15 inch wheel that will fit. 16, 17 and 18 inch wheels which look radical, really slow the car down because they are heavy and the bigger diameter screws up the gear ratio (yes, I know that I run 17 inch wheels on my car but I love the look and don’t mind being a rice boy sometimes). There are no R type tires out yet in these big plus sizes to my knowledge yet either. The widest tire that you should run unless you have a turbo or some other ungodly power is a 205. Wider tires will result in more drag that our relatively low power engines can accelerate. A 205/50-15 works well in most cases and a wide variety of R compound tires are available in this size. The maximum rim width that the B14/B15 can run is 7.5 inches with a 35-40 mm offset. A Classic B13 can run a 7-inch rim with a 30-35 mm offset as there is less wheel clearance in the rear of a B13. Since this always comes up, the bolt circle measurement on our wheels is 4x100 mm. The competition wheel that impresses me the most is the Volk TE37. This wheel is forged so it can be much thinner than a cast type wheel. It weighs a feathery 9 lbs which is twice as light as a regular wheel. The other good light wheel is the Enkei RPO-1 it weighs about 13 lbs which is still very light. Remember that 1 lb on the wheel is worth about 10 on the car due to the wheels rotational Inertia. We took 0.4 seconds off of Mike Saiki’s ¼ mile time just by going from 16 inch Axis wheels to 15 inch TE37’s. The difference is all in the wheel weight and tire diameter.
Don’t over tire or wheel your car. Our cars will go the fastest and handle best with the widest, lightest 15 inch wheel that will fit. 16, 17 and 18 inch wheels which look radical, really slow the car down because they are heavy and the bigger diameter screws up the gear ratio (yes, I know that I run 17 inch wheels on my car but I love the look and don’t mind being a rice boy sometimes). There are no R type tires out yet in these big plus sizes to my knowledge yet either. The widest tire that you should run unless you have a turbo or some other ungodly power is a 205. Wider tires will result in more drag that our relatively low power engines can accelerate. A 205/50-15 works well in most cases and a wide variety of R compound tires are available in this size. The maximum rim width that the B14/B15 can run is 7.5 inches with a 35-40 mm offset. A Classic B13 can run a 7-inch rim with a 30-35 mm offset as there is less wheel clearance in the rear of a B13. Since this always comes up, the bolt circle measurement on our wheels is 4x100 mm. The competition wheel that impresses me the most is the Volk TE37. This wheel is forged so it can be much thinner than a cast type wheel. It weighs a feathery 9 lbs which is twice as light as a regular wheel. The other good light wheel is the Enkei RPO-1 it weighs about 13 lbs which is still very light. Remember that 1 lb on the wheel is worth about 10 on the car due to the wheels rotational Inertia. We took 0.4 seconds off of Mike Saiki’s ¼ mile time just by going from 16 inch Axis wheels to 15 inch TE37’s. The difference is all in the wheel weight and tire diameter.
Yea I have konig Helium 15" on my nx. Not a noticble difference vs. stock. I'm sure once mods are on, your only losing a couple tenths of a second with your 1/4 mile or cruising speeds. But keep in mind the weight variable which can affect rotation also.
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