Thread: The WEIGHT of the WHEEL

Attached photos of the 18” Comet wheel and the 16” Dynamic Steel wheel.

Mate! Long time no speak... I did try and send you an email a while back but my stupid ISP probably got blocked again by microsoft.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Do you know the weights of your current wheels? I went from the 16" ally wheels that came with the vehicle to terrafirma bead locked 16" (now running without the bead lock rings and thus a heap of ss bolts/nuts) which I reckon did not increase weight by much or anything but I upgraded to 235/85R16 muddies and that increased weight by 10kg per wheel!

Are you figuring that a lower profile tyre would weigh less than the increased size of the wheel? If so, going to 18" is the way to go but I would personally not be happy with tyres that have a lower profile. Also hitting something hard by accident will increase the changes of wheel damage, certainly since an 18" wheel will be way less sturdy combined with the lower profile. My current tyres are a 31.7" (make that 32) and I have had a look at going one size up which would be a 255/85R16 which is kinda what I suggest you look into as well. If most of the weight is in the wheels and you go down in width one size you would still have plenty of grip but win in weight, rolling resistance etc. That size is available in oz as far as I know, although it might not be very common. I reckon neither are the 18"? so that should not be an issue. The only reason I stick with 235/85R16 is that it is one of the most common sizes in the world so I can get them anywhere, hopefully.

Cheers!
-P

Good to hear from you too mate! It most definitely has been a while! I can’t recall an email, but that’s not to say it’s not there somewhere!

Ahh yes, to the task at hand - it’s amazing how a little weight can add up to a lot of weight, especially with those beedlocks. I am amazed at the weight difference that just the tyres made for you - and that’s why I’m here too.

I’m not thinking that the 18” vs 16” tyres will make too much difference, but I do think that the wheels themselves will certainly make a difference - this I can’t be certain of though, without testing it out.

I do like your thoughts on the 235/85’s being common. That is a good point. Over in Aus the 285/75’s are a more common size to find in remote locations.

The big question remains… 18” Comet wheel weight VS 16” Dynamic Steel wheel weight. Which one will be lighter?

Cheers
Keithy

I don’t have one without a tyre on it, I could weigh the combo, then we could minus the manufacturers claimed weight.



Plenty of sidewall on these, they’ve never come close to damage and been tested in places most won’t drive.

When looking at the pure figues, we know magnesium/alli is lighter but you need a lot more of it to be as strong (hence, they tend to not be as strong as steel). The difference in mass is significant but to be fair, I threw away most of my old range stuff that I was sure I was never going to use again so it is very hard to say.

My gut feeling tells me that the weight difference would be small since you need heaps more alli to get to 18" so the gain in material used offsets the loss of weight. It'll costs you a few bucks but get both your spares turned off at the shop and weigh the wheels or find the specs on the tyres to see what the weight of them is to substract.

Cheers,
-P

I did this a couple of years ago on the D2.

Had dynamic steel wheels with 245/75 16(6PR) and found a set of alloys and tyres for the D2.
The alloy set(all 5) had 265/70 16(6PR again) already on them.

actual reason for the change was that two of the steelies were buckled. Tyres are more than 50% on both sets.
Didn't weigh each wheel(sorry) but on the scales at work(at the time), dropped the weight of the car by 50kg.

easily felt the lower weight of the alloy compared to the steelies especially when mounting the spare. That is you had to heave the spare up rather than lazily jimmy the road wheels.

Didn't feel like 10kg per wheel tho, but that what the scales reckon.