Lightweight Wheels - Unsprung mass

[cypriot]

Having recently purchased a last of the line v8 vantage, it came with the standard wheels not the forged ones that came standard with the n430s. I am now considering purchasing a set of lighter forged wheels, as a way to reduce unsprung mass, as I know from a physics perspective, any weight savings done at the wheels has a compounding effect.

My question is whether anyone who has replaced their wheels with lighter ones have actually noticed any difference to the way the car steers/behaves? This is really all that I am interested in, as I really don't care about changing wheels purely for the aesthetics. Any insight would be appreciated!

[designforlife]

On my old Mitsubishi which was 1.6l 175bhp NA and weighed about 1050kg-

I went from factory wheels to some lightweight which were around 2/3kg a corner lighter and the difference was night and day... turn in felt more lively and accelerating was brisker.

I briefly swapped back to the OEM wheels and for the first couple of drives it felt like driving with an anchor dragging behind the car!

100% worth it in my book, and would do it again.

However I'm not sure if the effect is less noticeable on a bigger engined more powerful car...someone else may be able to advise on that

[rovcallum]

May I also suggest having the wheel alignment checked and set. Makes a huge difference.

[cypriot]

Thank for the replies. I will have the alignment checked, however I have no complaint about how the car behaves right now. My query is to whether reducing unsprung mass is a worthwhile endeavour!

Glad to hear that on at least a light car unsprung mass does have such a profound effect.

[axarunner]

Don't you go "all in" and replace the steel disk brakes with ceramic disks... Talk about reducing unsprung weight. I recently drove a 2012 V12 Vantage with ceramic brakes and the ride was so much better than my 2013 VantageS with the "comfort" suspension.
While I felt the V12 engine was almost too much for that chassis... the brakes were simply amazing.
Something to consider along with 20" DBS wheels...

[Gene G]

I put 19” BC Forged wheels in the stock or oem size with a more aggressive offset mounted with Michelin PSS in the oem sizes. They weighed 6lbs per corner less than the oem wheels and tires.

[V8V Pete]

axarunner said:

Don't you go "all in" and replace the steel disk brakes with ceramic disks... Talk about reducing unsprung weight. I recently drove a 2012 V12 Vantage with ceramic brakes and the ride was so much better than my 2013 VantageS with the "comfort" suspension.

I suspect there's too many variables in that comparison. If your Vantage S was on the brick hard Bridgestones then there's the first thing to change before you'd even consider spending the cost of a family car on CCM brakes.

[cypriot]

Gene G said:

I put 19” BC Forged wheels in the stock or oem size with a more aggressive offset mounted with Michelin PSS in the oem sizes. They weighed 6lbs per corner less than the oem wheels and tires.

Nice! It looks like you got the "Redpants Fitment"! Do you notice any difference from behind the wheel?

[Gene G]

Not the Redpants figment. They are about 5mm less offset that Redpants. I bought them direct from BC Forged in Ormond Beach Florida. They measured everything and made sure of the fit. They then did a photo shoot of my car and used the pictures in their catalog.

[cypriot]

Gene G said:

Not the Redpants figment. They are about 5mm less offset that Redpants. I bought them direct from BC Forged in Ormond Beach Florida. They measured everything and made sure of the fit. They then did a photo shoot of my car and used the pictures in their catalog.

Looks great! Did you notice any difference in the way the car behaves?

[Gene G]

I don’t drive it that hard but think it rides a bit better.

[anonymous-user]

Unsprung mass is one thing but it's the rotational mass that probably makes a bigger impact.

The lower the weight of the wheel, the less energy is required to accelerate and decelerate.