Wheel and tire weight

(Edited and consolidated thread summary)

I'm interested in just how much the various tire/wheel combinations weigh.
Much of the below was posted by towerymt (The Eck) in another thread

WHEELS ONLY:
(May not all be relevant to Volvos)
Gathered from many sources - Not guaranteed accurate

27.5 (25.5?) Pegasus 18x?
23lbs - Eiker Polaris Replica 17x7.5
21 - Borbet 18x8
20lbs - Sport Edition Fox 5 16x7
19.5lbs - Borbet type E 15x7
19 - BBS RK 18x8
18lbs - MSW 15x7
17-18lbs - Volvo OEM Virgo 15x6
17.5lbs - Volvo OEM Orion 15x7
16.5lbs. - Volvo OEM Hydra 16x6.5 ET25
16lbs - Nissan 300ZX OEM 16x7.5 ET45 (4.5" bolt circle)
15.5lbs - 700 series 10 spoke 15x6
15.4 -Kosei K1 17x8
13.5-14 - IPD/RG Virgo 15x6 ET20
13.2 - Flik TDR 15x?
12.8-13.5 - Kosei K1 15x7
11.9 - Flik Blast 15x6.5
11.3 - SSR Comps 15x7.5
10.6 - Kosie TS 15x7
8.6 - SSR Comps 15x6


TIRES ONLY:
28 lbs - 225/50/16 Avon Tech M500 (new)
24 lbs - 205/55/16 Bridgestone 950 (new)
22 lbs - 225/50/15 Bridgestone RE71
21 lbs - 225/45/15 Hoosier R3S04 (some wear)
20 lbs - 225/50/15 BFG K/D, worn to 4/32nd
18lbs - 205/50/15 Kumho 712, worn to wear bars

WHEELS AND TIRES:
45lbs - 205/55/16 Fulda Assuro on Sport Edition Fox 5 16x7
42lbs - 215/60/16 Goodyear Eagle GA V rated (some wear) on 16x7.5 300ZX wheel
40lbs - 205/55/16 Bridgestone Potenza 950 (New) on 16x6.5 Volvo Hydra wheel
40lbs - 205/50/15 Falken Azenis on 15x6 Volvo Virgo (240 Turbo) wheel
40lbs - 195/65/15 Yokohama on 15x5 ?
39lbs - 225/45/15 Hoosier R3S04 on 15x7 MSW wheel
38lbs - 205/50/15 Kumho MX on 15x6 Virgo (240 Turbo) wheel
36lbs - 195/60/15 Michelin Pilot Sport (some wear) on 15x6 Volvo Omega wheel
35lbs - 205/50/15 Falken Azenis (totally bald) on 15x6 10spoke 760 Turbo wheel
34lbs - 185/70/14 BFG Control T/A on 5.5"x14" Volvo 240 steel wheel
32-35lbs - 205/50/15 Goodyear GA on 15x6 10spoke 760 Turbo wheel (weight varies by year of wheel and tire wear)

Here is a link to a Volvo wheel identification page:
http://brickparts.d--r.com/wheels/index.htm

Here is a link to a large database of wheel weights:
http://www.superhonda.com/tech/wheel_weights.html

What about the 17" and 18" combos? Speak up guys!

ill weigh my 17s when i get home sunday

17x7 Team Dynamics Monza, et18, 215/45-17 Sumitomo HTR-Z II with less than 10K on them

someone should bring a scale to the meet, we'll get tons of #'s for you

Ooo...I can help. Eiker Polaris Replica 17x7.5 23 pounds with no tire.

Very roughly, very lightweight wheels run about 1 lb per inch in diameter. Obviously, this changes as the wheels get wider. The OEM Volvo alloys are light and high quality. They just are not the ideal width for high performance use on a 3000+ lb car.

Tires can vary by 25% in weight for the same size. You can find weights at the Tire Rack or by calling manufacturers.

Ideally, choose both light wheels and light tires, but if your wheel is a little heavy, consider finding a lighter tire.

My long term plan is to upgrade while removing unsprung weight. I plan to use 17 x 8 wheels that are about as light as OEM wheels. The tires will be heavier than what would ift on OEM wheels, but I'll choose tires on the light end of the scale. I may end up with a package that is not much heavier than OEM wheels with larger tires. From there, I will convert to the aluminum control rods on the front supension to save a little more weight. Then I will work on the front brakes. By using aluminum calipers and aluminum rotor hats and drilled rotors, I should be able to fit larger brakes while saving a little weight.

Philip Bradley

Wheel weights

I just picked up a set of original Volvo wheels. They are called Orion, and on the cheapo bathroom scale they weighed 17.5lbs. I think that's pretty good for a 15x7 wheel. That's
two pounds lighter per wheel than my Borbet Type E. In the same size they weigh 19.5lbs. So the Orion are going to get some performance tires for next summer.

Best regards,

pbonsalb said:

Very roughly, very lightweight wheels run about 1 lb per inch in diameter. Obviously, this changes as the wheels get wider. The OEM Volvo alloys are light and high quality. They just are not the ideal width for high performance use on a 3000+ lb car.

Tires can vary by 25% in weight for the same size. You can find weights at the Tire Rack or by calling manufacturers.

Ideally, choose both light wheels and light tires, but if your wheel is a little heavy, consider finding a lighter tire.

My long term plan is to upgrade while removing unsprung weight. I plan to use 17 x 8 wheels that are about as light as OEM wheels. The tires will be heavier than what would ift on OEM wheels, but I'll choose tires on the light end of the scale. I may end up with a package that is not much heavier than OEM wheels with larger tires. From there, I will convert to the aluminum control rods on the front supension to save a little more weight. Then I will work on the front brakes. By using aluminum calipers and aluminum rotor hats and drilled rotors, I should be able to fit larger brakes while saving a little weight.

Philip Bradley

Click to expand...

This approach of finding the lightest tire is theoretically the best way to go but in my findings: the heavier the tire usually the better the tire is. I say this in reguards to the sidewall stiffness and its resistance to sidewall roll over.

Example: kumho mx and falcon azenis sports. 205 50 15. both very very grippy tires and dominate in the STS and STX categories but the kumho is lighter then the falcon. Towery (falcon) and I (kumho) ran both back to back with similar suspension settings and alignment at our autox's. Towery had little to no problems with roll over yet i could not get rid of it no matter how much air i put in the damn things. My theory is that one of the reasons that is has a much softer sidewall is strongly linked to its weight (less material, less stiffness ~ less weight). Which means your turn in goes to crap because you are driving on the sides of your tires which we all know isn't meant to be driven on (the grip sucks). Not to say that the kumho mx is any not as fast as the falcon because i have seen people win on them as well its just not suited to a heavy camber challenged volvo. they work much better on a double a arm civic.

hope this clear

maybe ill edit it later, if its not. time to get back to exams

In the 205/50/15 size, the Falken Azenis RT-215 is about 3-4lbs heavier than the Kumho MX. I was able to run the Azenis at 10psi LESS pressure on the front of my car, without heavily rolling onto the edge of the tire. 48psi vs. 38psi., hot.

The Azenis is one of the heaviest tires, but also one of the stiffest. Weight and stiffness don't necessarily go together. The Hoosier r-compound tires use nylon cords (and some steel on the new ones, I believe), and they have much stiffer sidewalls than a street tire. But for street tires, more weight is more material, and probably means more stiffness. I wonder if the Azenis could have been made lighter and less dense, and then it might not have the overheating problem in autocross. The tread becomes greasy when too hot, but the carcas temp is part of the problem. They can't always be kept cool enough with a water sprayer because it only affects the surface temp.

For a light tire for a 17x8, I'd look at the 245/40/17 Kumho MX.

dlot said:

I just picked up a set of original Volvo wheels. They are called Orion, and on the cheapo bathroom scale they weighed 17.5lbs. I think that's pretty good for a 15x7 wheel. That's
two pounds lighter per wheel than my Borbet Type E. In the same size they weigh 19.5lbs. So the Orion are going to get some performance tires for next summer.

Best regards,

Click to expand...

That's still heavy, and 19.5lbs is really heavy for a 15x7. My MSW's are about 18lbs for 15x7...heavy. Virgo wheels are 17-18lbs, a lot for just a 6" wheel.

If you look at new aftermarket wheels, 15x6.5-7.5 are coming up at 11-15lbs. SSR comps are 8.6-11.3lbs in 15x6-15x7.5, but they're quite expensive. Kosei K1 are 12.8-13.5lbs in 15x7, and they don't cost that much ($119-169). The K1-TS is 10.6lbs in 15x7 @$149. FLIK Blast, 15x6.5, 11.9lbs each. They're offered as a package with Azenis mounted for $599. That's $150 each, WITH the tire. FLIK TDR 15", 13.2lbs @179ea w/tire. There are several Rota wheels in this range of weight, and I think Konig offers some too. Of course these won't fit our cars, but that is what's available for inexpensive, truely lightweight 15" wheels.

17x8 Kosei K1-TS are $219 each and only 15-15.4lbs. Pegasus wheels cost about the same, and weigh 10lbs more per corner.

I have been looking at the Kosei, due to the price. The SSR are nice, but much more expensive. I have some recollection of calling Tire Rack once and learning that the Kosei can be ordered with special bolt patters for about 20% extra cost.

I agree with Michael that weight may not necessarily mean stiffer sidewalls. I had Dunlop D40M2 years ago that were great tires in my opinion, yet they were pretty light. A tire shop explained that it was a lighter carcass that worked well with higher pressures. Probably different sidewall materials. In contrast, Bridgestone RE71s were heavier and had a lower max pressure rating. I did not think the Bridgestone handled as well overall, though I have no quantifiable test results.

Certainly something to look into, since weights on wheels can vary by about 50% and weights on tires by about 20% for the same sizes. You could have a 38lb 17 x 8 wheel and tire combo (close to a stock 15 x 6 alloy wheel and tire combo) or a 50lb 17 x 8 wheel and tire combo.

Philip Bradley

the comparison i made is not true in all cases. a perfect comparison is steel vs. carbon fiber. carbon fiber is many times stiff than steel and much lighter. This was just something that i have experienced and whitnessed between two particle tires....

Obviously the best and most desireable tire will have the lightest carase and stiffest sidewalls.

Sport Edition Fox 5 20lbs in a 16"x7" rim
With a Fulda Assuro 205/55-16 tire on there it's 45lbs.
I was hoping to keep it at 40lbs since that is what the 15"x5" wheel with the Yokohama 195/65-15 tires was, oh well. They'll definitely look better when I get them powdercoated black or gunmetal.

pbonsalb said:

I have some recollection of calling Tire Rack once and learning that the Kosei can be ordered with special bolt patters for about 20% extra cost.

[...]

Philip Bradley

Click to expand...

My friend got Kosei K1s custom drilled for his Nissan 240SX, picked the lowest offset, now he's got a wide track basically. It's pretty tight, and yeah, it was 20% extra. The K1s i'm not so sure are available anymore, and I think the design of the new Kosei's don't allow for custom drilling... Which is sad, because they're awesome and very light and i'd love a set... :-\

Ps. My 700 series 10 spoke 15x6s are 15.5 lbs on my bathroom scale and also are according to that one brickparts page, so that's one of the lightest available 15's from the factory, probably the reason you saw Towery pimpin the red's... Hopefully sometime soon here i'll be pimpin some graphite/anthracite ones or somethin...

What needs to be considered that two wheels of equal weight could have different angular momentum. I have not done much wheel shopping lately but does any manufacturer mention this in their specs?

I've never seen anyone publish angular momentum (AM) for wheels. The manufacturer's could calculate it with effort from the CADD drawings for the wheel mold. They know exactly how thick the cross-sections are. Anyone else would have to measure the thicknesses and make guesses and assumptions about the distribution of the weight at various radii. The great majority of buyers are more interested in whether the design is cool (tight, rad, sick) and the color than they are in the weight, let alone the angular momentum (What's that?). If the buyers were more sophisticated there would be a LOT more Forged wheels sold and they would therefore cost less.

Obviously, a wheel design that uses a thin high-strength rim on a forged alloy center designed for structure is going to be lighter and have a lower inertial mass (AM) than a low-strength cast wheel designed for looks. Some of the real modular wheels accomplish this.

I used to have a set of custom (CUSTOM!) American Racing Equipment Magnesium (MAGNESIUM!) wheels in 13 X 5.5 for a Ford Cortina. The wheels weighed 7.5 pounds! They were similar to Minilite or "American Torque Thrust" in spoke design. People told me they were for racing only and shouldn't be used on the street. On a 2000 pound car that I drove very hard they stood up to everything.

Edited Original Thread post with summary information from the thread. (Bump)

More contributions please.

I have in my collection that i will weigh:

18x7.5 SSR GT1 Lightweight Forged ~18lb. These are one piece wheels.

17x8.5 and 17x10 BBS RK TireRack said the 8.5" is roughly 16lb or so [they don't show up as 17's anymore, jsut 18x8, those are 17.5]. I imagine the 10" wide is about 17lb. These are one piece cast RK wheels.

18x8 Borbet TD

17x7.5 Borbet Type A

Some loose Geminis i will weigh [they are light]

I have some miglias, a TSW imola, a spare polaris or two with no tires to weigh, etc.

nice, i like this thread keep it up guys!! What other combos do you have?

I've got a couple of the iPd reproduction Virgos (mage by RG) in 15x6 I can weigh for this listing. One is tire-less, the other 2 have near new 205/60/15 Falken Ziex 512 tires on them. I'll try to get that done this weekend.

I can say this much even before getting them on a scale: the iPd Virgo is at least 2-3 pounds lighter then the Volvo Virgo (either Norway or Germany castings).


-Justin

Got the bare iPd/RG Virgo (15x6, ET20) on the scale yesterday: 13.5-14lbs


I still have to weigh the ones with tires on them...


-Justin