Eluded

Don't forget angular acceleration

S2k03

I weigh myself in the morning after the first piss. That is when you are at your lowest. Go through the day eating 3 square meals + snacks inbetween each meal. I am on the southbeach diet so I do eat healthy snacks throughout the day. Drink water throughout the day. Go do some workouts with some weights and bike ride or run, if you have the knees and ankles for it (I don't thanks to football), and see throughout the day how much your weight fluxuates. I went from 248 to 192 in about 7 months. I usually will weigh 190-192 in the morning, about 196-197 in the afternoon back to about 193-194 before I go to bed. I fluxuated up to 7 lbs depending on the intensity of the workout. And rememeber I eat healthy meals which the average person isn't. However I realize the average person doesn't workout like I do. That really was not my point.

My real point was the original question: Are lighter wheels worth it? It all depends on your point of view. For most people the answer is no, they are not worth it to most drivers. I guess I failed to take in account my audience. I never street raced my S2000 and only took it to the track about 6 times. At TWS I would have loved to have some lighter wheels, slicks, and about 100 lbs less weight, but on the street I do not think the advantage outweighs the price of buying meaningfull lighter wheels. If for looks fine, but just based on weight, no! I have autocrossed using a modified Trans Am and it had light weight rims, firehawks that were shaved a little, no ac, no radio and everything else that could be done to reduce weight. For that application my answer would have been yes they are definately worth it.

rai

OT, but do you guys notice the difference b/t a full tank of gas and a near empty tank? That's about +/- 70 lbs.

s2kpdx01

no. And i'm not talking about canyon runs or street racing either. I don't notice at HPDEs. Again, the car is not a race car, it weighs a lot, unless you are doing something extreme with your tire/wheel weight combo I doubt it matters much at all. I run 17's with the same offsets as the volks (same widths also) that weigh about a 1lb more on each corner with ra1's. Now maybe if I ran some 20 inch chrome plated blingers I would notice a difference, but that is extreme. The most important thing about being faster and driving well is just tightening the nut behind the wheel. Leave the lightweight wheels for when you can actually drive.

If you take a novice driver with ~4lbs lighter wheels then another novice of equal skill it's going to make no difference what-so-ever. The $1500+ spent on light wheels would go a long way to making you a much better, faster driver on your normal "heavy" wheels.

medicalstudent

On the street on a hot day, I notice a difference. At the track, I'm too busy concentrating on driving to notice any subtle differences.

If you're looking to shave lap times at HPDE/autox or looking for bling points at an auto show, lighter wheels are worth it in the eyes of the beholder. For day-to-day driving, unless you combine lightweight wheels with other lightweight mods/weight reduction, it's not worthwhile.