Can you feel different weight wheels

[edevlin]

So, I am a newbie to performance cars. I have wanted a Porsche since the late 1960's when I had a Karman Ghia and was thinking of putting a used Porsche engine in it. Over the years I have put up with family vehicles, including the emasculating mini-van.

But now I have my 2000 Boxster (for only six months now), oh happy man. The car came with 17" factory wheels that I put new Michellins on less than two months ago. I recently found some aftermarket Carrera 18" wheels with Falken tires, on ebay, and got them.

I just put the new wheels on today and they look great. I took it for a ride and I could tell a number of differences between the new and old wheels and tires, but what I seemed to notice was that the car did not seem as quick. As I understand it, my new tire/wheel combination should only add about 3 lbs/wheel of rotating mass to the car. Should you be able to feel a difference in the ability to accelerate quickly with 18" wheels compared to 17" wheels, thanks,

Ed

[yfz/700R]

Originally Posted by edevlin

So, I am a newbie to performance cars. I have wanted a Porsche since the late 1960's when I had a Karman Ghia and was thinking of putting a used Porsche engine in it. Over the years I have put up with family vehicles, including the emasculating mini-van.

But now I have my 2000 Boxster (for only six months now), oh happy man. The car came with 17" factory wheels that I put new Michellins on less than two months ago. I recently found some aftermarket Carrera 18" wheels with Falken tires, on ebay, and got them.

I just put the new wheels on today and they look great. I took it for a ride and I could tell a number of differences between the new and old wheels and tires, but what I seemed to notice was that the car did not seem as quick. As I understand it, my new tire/wheel combination should only add about 3 lbs/wheel of rotating mass to the car. Should you be able to feel a difference in the ability to accelerate quickly with 18" wheels compared to 17" wheels, thanks,

Ed

if your new wheels and tires are taller than your old ones it will slow you down

[Gary Gaukler]

Did you weigh the new and old wheel/tire combo?

It'll be very hard to tell a 3 lb difference. I am sure I couldn't. But my suspicion is that in your case your new wheels/tires are more like 8-10 lbs heavier than the old ones.

When I went from 18" to 17" on my Boxster, I saved ~9lbs per corner. And yes, you can definitely feel that difference!

Hope this helps,
Gary

[edevlin]

I guess I need to pull off the wheels and weigh them, I hope that they are not that much heavier. I still have my old wheels with Michellins for comparison.

Ed

[Jeph]

Or you could look at the shipping label (instead of pulling the wheels off). That usually lists the weight of the item... and add a pound or so for the box (provided they were shipped each in their own seprate boxes).

[edevlin]

I did look at the shipping weights and they listed the wheels at 35/40 lbs for the front rears for the new 18" wheels and tires.

My stock wheels with new Michellin P/S weigh 42/47 lbs for the front rear! I suspect the tire shipper may use a generic label for their wheel sets, I cannt imagine them being lighter than the factory wheels/tires.

Ed

[John V]

Originally Posted by edevlin

I did look at the shipping weights and they listed the wheels at 35/40 lbs for the front rears for the new 18" wheels and tires.

My stock wheels with new Michellin P/S weigh 42/47 lbs for the front rear! I suspect the tire shipper may use a generic label for their wheel sets, I cannt imagine them being lighter than the factory wheels/tires.

Ed

Porsche wheels in general are very heavy, even the 17's. The Carrera 5-spokes are, however, particularly light. I suspect they are indeed lighter than your 17's.

John