LIGHTWEIGHT Wheels

[victorofhavoc]

I don’t want to speak for anybody else, but I don’t view it as a “lightest possible option is best in every way” discussion. I’m comparing 28-30lb OEM wheels against high quality but not exorbitant wheels that generally fall in the ~20lb range. Without reading all 200+ pages of discussion, I think lighter wheels vs OEM is the heart of the topic here.

On a daily driver I have only ever noticed positive changes with this. I’ve never gone chasing the lightest possible wheel or bought no-name replicas nor have I had $5k wheel sets, so I can’t speak to any of that.

Understood.

My point is just that it's a bit more nuanced than it seems. There are certainly conditions where more mass can be a good thing. I don't believe the pros of a heavy wheel outweigh the pros of a lighter wheel in most conditions, but if you drive crappy roads (pot hole riddled or chip sealed for example) having a heavier (or a more flexible) wheel can be beneficial.

There's also the interesting aspect of how harder metal formulations (remember almost all wheels are aluminum so we're talking minor percentage differences having big effects - and I've tested 20+ aluminum formulations for NASA, the space agency not car assoc, that look, feel, and weigh the same but perform differently with 0.1% metallurgical differences) tend to have greater strength but higher likelihood of fracture. I'd take a heavy cast wheel on a pothole heavy road over a super light forged wheel. A bit of bending happens at times, but bending is safer than full on crack in poor conditions.

 

[Daner]

Nothing fancy here, just a verification that OZ Ultraleggera 7x16 wheels fit over the OEM 312mm front brakes on non-Power Pack GTIs and other GT models, like my Mk 7 wagon/variant/sportcombi with DCC.

Why not 17s, you ask? Because 205/55 16 winter tires like the Continental VikingContact 8, as tested here work better on the snow and ice that we have for much of the winter here in Sweden:

They are also lighter than the OEM VW (Borbet) Aspen 6x16 wheels I've been using so far (OZ 6.7kg/14.8 lbs, Borbet 8.1kg/17.9 lbs).

They are also a decent match for the OZ Formula HLT 8x17 summer wheels, which aren't too awfully heavy at 8.6 kg / 18.9 lbs.

 

[GTIfan99]

That enkei test is super old (still valid), and at that time a 1.0G tire was "sticky". Today that's less grip than a ps4s can provide.

I find it funny everyone just keeps arguing "lighter is better in every way." There's just so much else that can go into it. I've run 16.2lb flow formed wheels and 17.8lb forged wheels with the same tire (back to back as well... Err back to front and front to back..?). The forged wheel felt better and more responsive around a road course. It was a weird toss up on rough curbs, though. Some the forged wheel took it better and some the flow formed wheel felt better. Both felt worse than the oe wheel on metal expansion joists on overpasses .

Ymmv based on your road, tires, and many other details. I'd take a lighter wheel on a road course almost any day, but given a choice, I'd take a stiffer and slightly heavier wheel over a softer lighter wheel.

Another point... There's a great Ford racing article out there that talks about the carbon wheels and why they're so trick. Basically the weight is a minor factor compared to the overall stiffness and for the 350R, Ford worked hard with their supplier to get the stiffest carbon wheel possible with the greatest heat tolerance (to prevent the brakes heating up the tire).

It's crazy how much braking heat gets transferred to the wheel, then tire.

Wheel diameter also affects performance.

 

[RabbitTwo]

RSe10 18 x 8.5

 

[CW_R32]

I just ordered and installed 18"x8 OZ Ultraleggera's in Matt Bronze, 45 offset to replace the the OEM 19" Pretorrias and Conti sportcontact tires...
They came mounted with tires (Mich PS4S) and total weight was more than spec sheet from TireRack: 43.6-8 lbs, call it 43.7lbs avg and round up to 44lbs.
18x8 Ultraleggeras are supposed to be 19lb.
245/40-18 (245 not a typo) are listed at 23lbs.
I was a bit bummed that both of those listed weights are probably a lb light.

Yes in theory... but unless you can wear 4lbs of rubber off a tire, something is off.

Just to close the loop now that the 245/40-18 PS4S's are down to close to wear marks, YES, you will lose ~4lbs new vs worn to close to end of life. Same scale used as above, now 4lbs lighter. haha Weight is 39.8lbs

For total weight weenie setup, definitely go with worn tires! It also seems like Tire Rack tire weights are quoted as midlife rather than new.

 

[APEXWheels]

Jumping in here to share some of our lightest weight MK7 setups! While our most popular VW wheels tend to be our Flow Formed VS-5/SM-10 designs, if your goal is to shed as much unsprung weight/rotating mass as possible, our Forged VS-5RS design is going to be the best way to do so. The Forged VS-5RS is available in two MQB 5x112/57.1mm fitments, the 17x9" ET42 (16.9lbs), and the 18x9" ET42 (17.7lbs).

Here are some of my personal favorite on-car shots of MK7s on VS-5RS:

-Geirsen

 

[bentin]

Humorously dirty, and about to be for sale, car and wheels, or both together.

 

[APEXWheels]

Humorously dirty, and about to be for sale, car and wheels, or both together.

A wheel clean alone might save a gram or two on the fronts. Looking good!

-Tom

 

[CW_R32]

Apex VS-5RS 17x9 with Goodyear F1 6SL in 245/40-17 37lbs! These will be like 34lbs in 20k mi. haha. Hindsight being 20/20 I probably would have gotten 18" because the tire options for 17" in 245-255 widths are not as good and do not cost less. But the 4% reduction in gear ratio and rotational inertia is very noticeable.

 

[APEXWheels]

We recently got some great photography of a killer MQB racing duo that I wanted to share with the class!

The Beetle is running 18x9" ET42 VS-5RS in Motorsport Gold with 255/35-18 tires and the GTI is running 18x9" ET42 TC-10RT in Race Silver with 255/35-18 tires. Enjoy!

​

-Geirsen

 

[GTIfan99]

Loving my Apex wheels.

 

[APEXWheels]

Loving my Apex wheels. View attachment 330149

Looking good!