Light weight wheels & tyres, what would you go for?

[porkyspecialist]

Well I don't suppose it much matters for which car it is for as the looks of the wheel will always be subjective, but suffice to say it's for a daily driver with 17" rims.
I'm currently trying to find something strong light & cheap(ish) to replace the OE wheels (now buckled thanks to pot holes), so obviously I want something strong enough to use but as light as possible whilst not having to compromise by crashing into the on coming car to take avoiding action of a pot hole.
So having covered the rim part we shall now move on to the tyres, again something strong & light, but we shall leave out the cheap part this time as noise & comfort will be more important to me.

So what would you recommend?
I was thinking along the lines of a TeamDynamic rim

or the


with either Michelin,Conti or Goodyear AS2 tyre.

How wrong am I?

All thoughts gratefully received

Cheers.

Edited by porkyspecialist on Friday 8th March 20:44

[Lagerlout]

These:

http://www.ozracing.com/car_wheels_var/OZ%20Racing...

6kg each.

[s p a c e m a n]

The top one looks like a Ford Focus wheel to me, the bottom is a BBS CH replica. Dont know what the weight will be like on them but I normally find that the cheaper ones are the heavy ones. If you want to stop wheels buckling, you need more sidewall on your tyre

[Gooly]

Get some proper wheels used rather than some cheaper ones new (I know TD are a decent brand but not the best, other than the pro race range). OZ Superleggeras, Compotives, etc

[Slagathore]

OZ Ultraleggeras were the lightest I could find in 15" without going to silly money.

Maybe the same for bigger sizes as well.

[Baryonyx]

Compomotive TH's, fantastic looking wheels!

[veevee]

Thread is going nowhere without you stating what car they're going on.

[Baryonyx]

Although the first set of wheels posted at the top of the thread should be avoided at all cost, they look like those dire Wolfrace wheels which adorned every knackered Corsa on the road for a couple of years:

[Mighty Flex]

Team dynamics motorsports wheels are light, but their cheaper "fashion rims" are good but nothing special - not particularly light. Check out this website for a spreadsheet of lots of different wheels.

http://www.wheelweights.net/

[Risotto]

Desmond Regamaster Evos.



In 17" guise, they were 6.8kg. Forged too, so no issues with strength. They came in white, black and grey I think.

Desmond are relatively unknown for some reason, so they're usually not that expensive...if you can find some. They're no longer in production but appear on eBay and various Japanese car forums (they're popular with the JDM crowd - not sure why, they were made in Russia AFAIK).

Edited by Risotto on Friday 8th March 21:33

[Krikkit]

Baryonyx said:

Compomotive TH's, fantastic looking wheels!

Not very light though! Oz UltraL's are pretty bloody light.

[porkyspecialist]

Wow, I didn't anticipate this level of response, but thanks for all the info

FWIW the wheels & tyres will go on a 2009 passat if that really does make the difference.

Cheers all.

[porkyspecialist]

What about some OZ wave's? They can be had pretty cheaply

[Baryonyx]

Krikkit said:

Not very light though! Oz UltraL's are pretty bloody light.

Are they not? Damn. I always liked the look of them on Escort Cosworths and HF Integrales. I was looking at an S2 106 Rallye the other day on white Compomitives, it looked fantastic. Though if they are really heavy wheels that sort of defeats the point.

[rufusgti]

Baryonyx said:

Are they not? Damn. I always liked the look of them on Escort Cosworths and HF Integrales. I was looking at an S2 106 Rallye the other day on white Compomitives, it looked fantastic. Though if they are really heavy wheels that sort of defeats the point.

They're not heavy. They're lightweight. Just not very lightweight.

[poing]

porkyspecialist said:

Wow, I didn't anticipate this level of response, but thanks for all the info

FWIW the wheels & tyres will go on a 2009 passat if that really does make the difference.

Cheers all.

Curious, why do you want them to be particularly light? I know the technical advantages to light wheels but it's for a 2009 Passat which isn't known for it's pin sharp handling. It's not considered bad by any means but most really light wheels are aimed at motor sport and would look pretty awful on a Passat unless you are planning other suitable styling mods.

Obviously if you are planning other handling upgrades and track use then wheel weight is important. Don't forget tyre weight though, some are surprisingly heavy.

I'm sure I remember that there are some web sites where you can upload a pic of your car and see what it looks like with different wheels. Happy hunting!

[Baryonyx]

rufusgti said:

They're not heavy. They're lightweight. Just not very lightweight.

Hmm, I suppose they will still be heavier than the 13" Michelin steel wheels on my Rallye...

[Viperz888]

Baryonyx said:

Are they not? Damn. I always liked the look of them on Escort Cosworths and HF Integrales. I was looking at an S2 106 Rallye the other day on white Compomitives, it looked fantastic. Though if they are really heavy wheels that sort of defeats the point.

They are proper racing wheels. Never seen one buckle, but the 17s used on my friends racing EsCos weight over 10kg each without tyres!

[porkyspecialist]

poing said:

Curious, why do you want them to be particularly light? I know the technical advantages to light wheels but it's for a 2009 Passat which isn't known for it's pin sharp handling. It's not considered bad by any means but most really light wheels are aimed at motor sport and would look pretty awful on a Passat unless you are planning other suitable styling mods.

Obviously if you are planning other handling upgrades and track use then wheel weight is important. Don't forget tyre weight though, some are surprisingly heavy.

I'm sure I remember that there are some web sites where you can upload a pic of your car and see what it looks like with different wheels. Happy hunting!

Thanks, but as it's not obviously clear in the OP then I must of given you the wrong idea, this is a daily & it's not a handling focused car, just a daily. But as the wheels are now fit for the bin I thought I might as well 'upgrade' & we all know that un-sprung weight is the biggest enemy of comfort & roadholding don't we?

Cheers.

[FreeLitres]

I believe my Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2s are fairly light