What are the lightest wheels you have seen for the same size? Meaning, I know 15" are going to be lighter than 17" of the same size.

 

22 x 9 chrome Lowenhart LD-1. lightest 22" wheel ive seen at around 39.5 lbs each.

 

oooo...k...next...

 

Volk TE37's are 16lbs for 18x9, Volk SE37k's are even lighter 16 1/2lbs for 18x9.5. Check out Volks web site and look under Ray's Engineering for those models. I have a set of black SE37k's 17x8 1/2 front, 17x9 1/2 rear and they are comparable in weight to the stock 16x8's which are undoubtedly the lightest factory wheels ever put on a full production mass produced vehicle (15lbs). Given the FD's light weight and superior balance as is, it is almost criminal to slap aftermarket rims on it for purely asthetic reasons. STAY WITH A LIGHT WEIGHT WHEEL!! You will pay more but you wheel be happier.

 

I know all you guys with FD's like the Volks & Racing Harts but for me those are too much money. I have an FC and I don't need rims that cost more than my car. I found some Konigs that weigh 16lbs(& cost $135 each) too (17x7.5")so I was just trying to see if that was light. And for the price they definitely are. I am either going to get those or some stock FD wheels if I see some for sale real cheap. Thanks alot.

 

Check out the SSR wheels that Tirerace has for sale. 17x8.5 is just over 15 pounds and$390. 17x9.5 is16.5 pounds and $409.
Kevin

 

I ment Tirerack and it is the SSR Compitition.
Kevin

 

Buddy Club P1 Racing QF 17x9.5 14.4 lbs
Regamasters are hella light too

 

Where can I get the Buddy Club QF and/or the Regamaster wheels in the US?

I heard someone's importing the Racing Sparco line in the US now... but they want $1000+ per wheel for the Viper R

 

Thats a friggen ripp off! look areound do some research and you find some deals. for instance volk rim group buy on groupbuycenter.com, ardt2 ( I think thats his handle ) gives out some great reliable deals on this forum.

 

The man is right. I can hook you up with SSR or Volk. I would prefer to do the VOLKS. I'm getting in three more sets for guys this week. LE37K, bronze Te37's.

But if you desire something else, like FIKSE in a 17" I can get you a good deal as well. The 17's are on special pricing. I just weighed the 17,9.5 FM10 we got for BOOSTD7 and it weighs approx. 16-17 lbs. THAT's for a FRIKIN' THREE PIECE wheel. Quite amazing, plus the finish is just gorgeous. Looks like something I would put above the mantle. hehe.

Kinesis is sweeeet too. I got those on the widebody, about to send them in to get redone in a gunmetal paint for the center and brilliant polish on the lips. Right now it just has the anodized finish and has dulled out with spotting. Time for some paint, clearcoat, and replace the outer rim lips to make these wheels look brand new. Gotta love the rebuildabiilty of the true multipiece custom wheel.

There are other companies like APP forged wheels. Saw them at SEMA and was quite impressed.

Thanks, RIshie

I am an authorized vendor for thegroupbuycenter.com but will not sell Volk there. This is exclusive to this forum's members only. I am not interested in exploiting the wheel in any public group buys. Individual orders are taken now, the Group buy format is no longer neccessary.

 

What are your offsets on the se37k's???

 

SSR's are as much as a set of VOLK's and I personally think the VOLK's look better. For cheap lightweight wheels, either go with the Buddy Club P1's like someone was saying or try to see if you can get the new VOLK Gram Lights, they just came out, well kinda, they won't be out until january but the prices on them are very good for them being VOLK quality. My friend has Advan's on his car and was going to get a set of these for a "winter" wheel, I told him he was nuts but some people just have too much money. The prices are I think 280.00 for 17x9.5 and 262.00 for 17x8.5 that's the only prices I have seen but since ARD T2 deals in VOLK's maybe he can get them for you at a better price??? Anyways they come in gold or white, and for an extra 30.00 a wheel you can get them in gunmetal, the bad thing is you usually have to wait at least 3 months for them to make them. I attached a pic of them, so if you like see if Rishie can get them. If he can't then PM me and I'll let you know where I saw them at..

 

so how much do those bad boys wiegh? And post a link to where you saw them

 

I saw them on www.wholehyper.com under the wheels section and then under VOLK's of course. They say they weight 17 punds but I am unsure what size weighs that much.

 

this might help with some of the questions asked in this post.

wheelsize.com

it's still under construction, but has lots of usable info already.

 

I have personally weighed these wheels on the same scale:

Stock w/rubber valve stem (weighed 8 of them, all about the same): 15.8 lbs
Black Volk SE37K 17x8.5" w/plain center cap + valve stem: 15.4 lbs
Black Volk SE37K 17x9.5" w/plain center cap + valve stem: 16.6 lbs

I think the SSR Competitions are slightly lighter and less expensive, but the Volks look better, IMHO. Oh my, did I just choose something for aesthetics? I am slipping. Anyway, the Volks are very light and look great. I got mine from Rishie and I am a satisfied customer.

-Max

 

I received my SSR Competition wheels this past weekend. The sizes are 8.5 and 9.5 x 17s. The wheels are of the highest quality. The wheel centers are finished in "Anthracite" and the rim lips are machined. The whole wheel is clearcoated so clean-up will be a snap after a day at the track.

Three decals came with each wheel, "SSR" with BMW "M colors", "Competition", and "SEMI SOLID FORGED". I applied the "SSR" and "Competition" on opposite spokes, and the "SEMI SOLID FORGED" on the rim lip surface, right under the valve stem hole---very cool effect!

Other accessories were billet aluminum centercaps (already installed), 4 flat black painted aluminum valve stems, 79.5-to-67.1 mm centering rings with retaining springs (from Mille Miglia); 20, 17-mm closed-end polished lugs made to accept longer lug studs; and and 19-to-17 mm lugwrench for spare tire changing (not needed for track only setup).

Below are the overall dimensions in fractions of inches:
Width--9 3/8 and 10 3/8
Diameter--18 9/16
Backspace--6 3/8 and 6 7/8
Frontpace--3 and 3.5

Weights were acquired by subtraction using a 126-lb female as the tare. Her weight was recorded while she held each wheel on the scale. The "8.5 x 17" weighed ~15 lbs. The "9.5 x 17" weighed ~16 lbs. The scale was an analog bathroom scale.

I purchased the wheels from a private party from thepartstrader.com, http://www.thepartstrader.com/adlayo...=10&cat_num=2. We agreed to $1300 shipped from California to Indiana, cashier's check on delivery. The wheels were brand new in a box, never mounted. The seller needed to unload the wheels because he sold his FD Rx7 and didn't need the wheels.

The SSR Comps will be used as a track-only setup. I intend to mount 245/45-17 and 275/40-17 new Hoosier R3S03s (overall diameters of 25.3 inches). The new setup should be good for another 1 second faster than my previous track setup--8.5 x 16 Kosei K1s with 245/45-16 Hoosier R3S03s.

 

Okay, I don't get this. Why are so many people using 245/45-17s? I have 245/40-17s on mine because they are an almost exact match for stock. Your 245/45s are an inch taller than stock!
Maybe this is why so many people complain about rubbing. This and the fact they insist on putting the tires right up in the well!
I have coilovers, so my car is lowered, and I experience no rubbing what so ever.


225/50-16: 24.9" dia.
245/40-17: 24.7" dia.
245/45-17: 25.7" dia.

Look here: www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Mike N.

P.S. Manny, this is not directly targeted at you, so do not take this as a flame, I understand your application. Still I see alot of people on this forum talking about using the aformentioned tire size, and I wonder why. Thank you, drive through.

 

I agree with you. People need to look at the tire manufacturer's spec sheet to be sure of the tire's measurements. The tire sizes are merely a guide for manufacturers to follow to help standardize tire sizes. If you look over enough tire specs, you'll see that a 225/50-16 tire size can vary greatly in section width and overall diameter, given the spec rim used to gather the measurements, and the differences in the tire maker's engineering principles.

Hoosiers and racing tires in general tend to have shorter overall diameters due to shallower starting tread depths. I'm sure you understand why I chose my tire sizes, but for everyone else's benefit, the Hoosier R3S03 in sizes, 245/45-17 and 275/40-17 are both 25.3 inches in overall diameter. Having the same overall tire diameters, fr/rr ensures that your ABS system works properly (a must for late-braking moves!).

If I were mounting street tires on the SSR Comps, I'd choose Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Positions in 235/45-17 for the 8.5 x 17 fronts, and 255/40-17 for the 9.5 x 17 rears. It's important to maintain the stock ODs in back due to gearing, and speedometer calibration issues. Both 265 and 275/40-17s would be too tall in back. Taller than stock rear tires will underestimate your indicated speed as well as heighten your rear-end gearing, which takes away from acceleration, in exchange for top end speed. I'd choose 235/45-17 because neither 245/40-17 nor 225/45-17 gives the proper load rating of 92 (1389 lbs) or greater; both the 245/40 and the 225/45 -17s have load ratings of less than 1389 lbs, which probably ISN'T a good idea during braking when most of the car's 2800 lbs ends up on the front tires!

Take home point is to look at the tire manufacturer's specs. In my example the S-03 Poles in 235/45-17 have an OD of 25.3 inches and the 255/40-17s have an OD of 25.1 inches. Respective section widths mounted on 8.5 and 9.5-inch wide rims are 9.6 and 10.6 inches. Tire Rack posts specs for all the tires they sell. Most are accurate, but there is a discrepancy with the Kumho V700 specs. Tire Rack specs the 245/45-17 OD at 25.3, while Kumho USA specs their 245/45-17 at 24.8 inches, which would be a perfect OD match with the 255/40-17 Kumho V700.

 

Manny,

Good info, some I haven't thought of.

Mike N.

 

I thought, size for size, the Hart CP-035 were the lightest wheels around. Even more so than any Volks.

jerk_racer@hotmail.com

 

the lightest wheels that i have seen was ones at my shop im sponsered by.. they are volk racing and 18".... get this 3 pounds, this guy was throwing them around with his pinky

 

Don't think I'd feel safe racing on 3-lb wheels!