Rims, Standard or Smaller?

[d3vine]

I would like to know the benefits of using a smaller in diameter rims in comparison to a standard 18 inch for the GTR/Can-Am.

16x11 front, 16x12 rear (magnesium)

18x9 front, 18x13.5 rear (aluminum)

How much weight saving between these two rims? I'm sure the appearance will look the same. If you use thicker tires on the smaller rims which fills up the arches fine.

[bigmack]

What you may loose is brake rotor size. Ultima used to supply a 16" front and a 17" rear rim on the older sports. If I'm not mistaken you can fit 320mm rotor on the 16" fronts but it would be a tight squeeze. They used to supply 16x8 and 17x12 wheels. Your not going to be able to run those 11" wide fronts without a lot of work. I would stick with a 16x8 to 16x9 front. Not sure about the weight savings. What you save in weight is probably offset by the decrease in the contact patch at the tire. Just my guess.
Cheers!
-Mack

[d3vine]

How many inches is 320mm?

[BliarOut]

320/25.4 = 12.6"

[steve_D]

If you go smaller, magnesium, rim but with a larger profile tyre will you loose the weight gain by having the extra rubber?

Steve

[marky p]

d3vine said:

I would like to know the benefits of using a smaller in diameter rims in comparison to a standard 18 inch for the GTR/Can-Am. 16x11 front, 16x12 rear (magnesium) 18x9 front, 18x13.5 rear (aluminum) How much weight saving between these two rims? I'm sure the appearance will look the same. If you use thicker tires on the smaller rims which fills up the arches fine.

I would stick with the original widths if it's for the road as you might mess up the handling to much with the wide front wheels, might need to limit steering lock and make changes so they fit as Mack said.

I run with 18" wheels with magnesium centre and there light enough it's the road tyre which makes them heavy, race tyre are much lighter. Also have 362mm discs with AP 6 pots under my wheels up front.

[gtrclive]

I fitted 17" rims front and rear and just went up 5% on the tyre profile. More than 1 person has noticed the ride was definatly smoother for a road car. I still had 333mm Disc's and you could have fitted 355 no problem.

[marky p]

gtrclive said:

I fitted 17" rims front and rear and just went up 5% on the tyre profile. More than 1 person has noticed the ride was definatly smoother for a road car. I still had 333mm Disc's and you could have fitted 355 no problem.

I also run with a larger aspect ratio than standard but I had to reprofile the front arches to fit the bigger tyre with the 18" wheels

[bigmack]

Aside from the reprofiling, you would need to redo the offset of the 11" wide wheels as the scrub radius would go to hell causing poor turn in. If memory serves me correctly. Ha. A little drugged up on cough syrup at the moment. Marky can better answer that I'm sure. Ha.
Cheers!
-Mack