Team MightyBoy

does anyone know if there is a bigger wheel and tyre combination that is lighter than the std. steel wheels.

i'm not one for bigger is better but lighter would be a hugh advantage given the low amounts of torque ontap!!!!

i tried doing a search but only came up with what fitted nothing was said about the weight difference compared to std.!!!!

the tamon guide to said the std. wheel/tyre combo weighs 5-6kgs, i think it would be very hard to find a larger wheel/tyre combo that would be lighter than this, but i'm hoping others have had more experience and would shed some light on this for me.

Hmmmm?..
I've never done a direct comparison, but the Bob jane mags I have on my yellow boy (15") are light. Certainly vastly lighter than the equivilent sized steelies which I'm running on my white boy (and massively lighter than a set of honda alloys I had at one stage). I think they measure up well in this respect because there is VERY LITTLE meat in the middle of the rim. The down side of such a setup is that it causes problems in wet weather running - the discs are perminetly wet becuase water can splash thru them quite freely.

I suspect you're going to have to do the research yourself on this one if you want factual information (VS opinions like mine).

Finally, I would have thought issues of handling and traction would be a more important for tyres. It surprises the heck out of me that no-one has gone for streat legal race tyres on a MB yet. Yoko and dunlop both do 12" models at around the $200 mark. I'll definately give these a go one day.

fritz wrote:It surprises the heck out of me that no-one has gone for streat legal race tyres on a MB yet. Yoko and dunlop both do 12" models at around the $200 mark. I'll definately give these a go one day.

ORLY?
hmmm...

Finally, I would have thought issues of handling and traction would be a more important for tyres.

your right fritz, hence i'm asking if there is a lighter combo....the less unsprung weight the better the suspension can work, thus improving traction and handling. you would be suprised how much a little extra unsprung weight effects the suspension action!!!!

due to the weight and power of the MB there would only be a slight improvement in handling with solely wider or larger diametre tyres, to get a MB to tract better through a corner requires the suspension to react faster and more predictably which having less unsprung weight greatly helps this!!!! it's hard to explain this without feeling it yourself, but if you've ever ridden a harley then jumped on a 'jap harley' you will know what i mean...heavy wheels are bad!!!!!

are those RJR Racer wheels you have fritz??? very nice!!! , but impossible to get!!!. as for the discs getting wet in the rain i think it more they are running cold as the slight rubbing of the pads on the disc and the centrifugal force will force all the water off. a way of getting around this is using a more organic pad rather than a sintered metal one as they need a lot more heat to work properly. plus the organic ones don't wear out the actual disc as fast and unless your doing racing or live in a hilly area i doubt you will get any brake fade or spongyness from them. and they have great initial bite!!!

Ike, when I was younger, my father told me about trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Sure, less unsprung weight gives the suspension an easier time - but will this make the MB handle any better? Getting the weight distribution on the MB might be an easier path to better handling - its not like the MB is known for its handling or performance for that matter!
It all comes down to what you want to spend.

As for the performance comparison between a Harley and a Jap harley - hardly a valid comparison! There's plenty of differences between the two to confuse to issue of wheel weights. also, gyroscopic effects are more prevalent on motorbikes as opposed to cars. I did, many years ago, put PVM magnesium wheels onto my racing TZ250. Yes, wheel weight makes a big difference on motorbikes. As for justifying the cost vs a few 10's of a second lap time......... Would I bother with it on a street machine? Probably not.

Kartman the jap harley was just a way of making it obivous what i was trying to say....rider position, chassis stiffness, weight bias, fork trail and rake, swing-arm length and pivot height are far more important, but if you still have chrome wheels it will not handle the best, due to the fact you will need larger/better suspension to cope with the extra weight which in itself leads to more unsprung weight. your right it's easy to confuse gyroscopic force with handling, but that doesn't have much to with weight of the wheels 'when vertical' (should have said that in intial post).

what i'm trying to find out is it possible to get a larger wheel/tyre combo without making the already 'average' handling worse, whether it be through steel or alloy rims (not trying to find the lightest rims possible). i'm not going to go racing in the MB just don't like the idea of making it worse!!! through all the posts i have searched people said the bigger wheels noticably effect accleration, which means they are considerably heavier, and to me that means it would be noticaby effecting handling...negatively.

curiously now that you have mentioned it what is the weight bias of the MB and how would you go about fixing it??? besides the obvious of moving seats as far back as possible, leaving the spare tyre under the tray and only lowering the rear(worst option).

i must admit i am only a novice at all this as this is my first car, but i do like doing things if the make logical sense...don't really care about looks...after all it is a ute

Bigger wheels affect acceleration,due to the larger diameter, and not so much the weight.

Look for some forged wheels, because of the metals structure in the wheel the makers are able to machine more material away and keep the same structural integrity of a cast alloy wheel.

Forged ----> Less Material = Less Weight

I think spending heaps of cash on light wheels is a waste of time, i say pour another $1000 into the engine and you won't have to worry about wheel weight too much.

Or you could just go for magnesium wheels... Expensive but the lightest you would probably get.

If you want lightweight alloy wheels that are comparable in weight to stock rims (a VERY big ask!) then you should look at Japanese Watanabe or Rays/Work rims.

I think spending heaps of cash on light wheels is a waste of time, i say pour another $1000 into the engine and you won't have to worry about wheel weight too much.

Agreed.

My opinion on this subject now days is that you either go for the show pony route like 15"ers, or you go for performance. In terms of handeling there is now way in hell that a set of 165/55 R12 A048 yokies would be worse than the stockers. You'd notice a performance increase of %1000 I'd say... And by using the stock rims you're saving planty of money which can be poured into the tyres.

Also, I think people are confusing bigger rims with bigger wheels also. Acceleration is only decreased if the rolling diameter is bigger, and in the case of 155/55 R14's I'd say that wouldn't be the case - my 15's are only a bee's dick bigger than the stockers.

And Ike, if you're concerned about the effect of slightly heavier wheels on your suspension, I'd say money spent would be better directed towards new struts than incrimentally lighter wheels.

Finally, my braking issues with the rjr rims are definately not cold weather related. the brakes were always excellent when first started on cold, dry mornings. Granted though there may have been some other underlying issue with pads or such like...

Mmmmm.... 165/55 R12's...

http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/A_2912/article.html

wow that tread pattern looks wicked. wouldn't they aquaplane in the wet though.

me217

Yes... They would.

I'm a fan of the Yoky A032R, having used them on my old Alfetta GTV - Made the car stick well enough to take 25kph bends at well over 100kph... mind you, it had a fair bit of work to the undercarriage Not ~too~dangerous in the wet, either.

Oh, if ONLY i went for 13" rims on the mighty... They're available in 175/60 13's now...

really? awesome my a539s are starting to get low on the fronts, ive been hoping for these to come to 13s

too much grip maybe? im seeing my boy get tipped into a corner and falling over through momentum

'tipping over'? My friend's Fiat 850 sport coupe used to go on two wheels frequently. Passengers tend to freak out though. Don't know if the MB can emulate such a feat. Not good for the running gear though.

An interesting thought, as to the weight of aftermarket rims we can fit to MB's.

IIRC the mags & tyres i've got on my mb now weight a bit more than std, but it doesn't seem to accelerate any slower, maybe because of the F8b i'm running now? I've gone to a 165/65/13 on 13x5.5 rims. It feels a lot " fatter " on the road and sticks better in the cornors, but i can still get it up onto 2 wheels if i try hard enough.

I've got new bushes in the front end, which helped tighten it up a lot, but you can also notice the differance with the bigger rims & tyres.

If i remember, i'll pull out the bathroom scales next time i rotate the tyres, and see what it says about weights. I know it won't be too accurate, but it will show up a differance that could be used as a referance.

Cheers

ToranaGuy