What's good about lighter wheels?

Doing some reach on wheels.

One wheel is about 19lbs and another is about 26 lbs. $250 v. $150 per wheel.

Both are 16 inch with 0MM offset with probably 265/75 Tires. What can you get for lighter wheels besides better stopping distance and MPG. Less wear on suspension? Quicker acceleration (since less weight)? Are these differences minimal being that it's only 7lb difference (28 lb for four total)?

BTW - how much does OEM OR wheels weigh?

TIA!

 

Lighter wheel = less unsprung weight.

 

Better acceleration and braking.

 

less strain on the differential

 

Wonder if 28lb difference make a lot of difference though.

 

good catch. never intended to put in their. Must have pasted something that I copied. Tried to get rid of it, but can't.

 

There.. did it.

 

It's where that weight is that makes the difference, so yes

 

For 7 lbs/corner you'll never notice the difference. All of those advantages are theoretical. You'll need an Olympic grade stopwatch to measure any difference in acceleration and stopping distance. And likely have to go several places to the right of the decimal point when figuring how much better fuel mileage you're getting.

Someone posted a link on here some months back trying to prove how important reducing unsprung weight was. The article was geared toward drag racing and they were showing how much faster a car with 200 lbs less unsprung weight was. The lighter car was 1/2 car length farther down the 1/4 mile track in the same time as the same car 200 lbs heavier.

To someone racing for prize money that 5-10' might have been a huge deal and the article said so. Aluminum wheels got their start in racing where the tiny gains in performance over steel wheels matter. For most drivers they just look better.

 

On a motorcycle this kind of weight decrease would be the equivalent of approx 1hp increase, less unsprung weight for faster acceleration and being able to lean the bike over quicker. All great for making the bike handle better.
On a truck this won’t make a lick of difference.

 

That's what I think, too. It would matter for a lighter mass, but not so much on heavy mass. In any case, lighter is always better.

 

You should always buy the lightest tires and wheels that do the job you want and look the way you want. 7 pounds a corner adds up over the life of a truck/car. It may be a little bit per mile of driving, but over 250,000 that can be a chunk of money.

Coming from a race car background you can really tell the difference between 2 pounds a corner at speed. Not so much on the street, but gains are there.

Here’s an article about it.
https://www.cjponyparts.com/resources/what-is-unsprung-weight

 

My own humble opinion; tire and wheel weights on a truck with a strong motor won't matter much, but on a truck with a barely adequate motor like the 3rd gen. V6; it makes a difference. Just my non-scientific personal opinion.

 

Going for the 19 lbs wheels. Think I can recoup $400 over the life of the truck.

Haven't purchase truck yet, but test driven it. and YES, I felt the truck needed a bit more power and was little sluggish.

 

I know on a triathlon bike wheels are the number 1 area you want to cut down weight. Reducing the power it takes to turn the wheel and tire is the best way to go faster at the same output. I did some research and it actually makes big difference.