I am looking at two different wheels for my Z. One weighs ~28lbs., and the other weighs ~19. My question is, would there be a noticeable difference in performance between these two wheels? Or would 9 lbs. not make a big difference?

 

Its like comparing a Track to a Touring model, basically no difference!

 

36 pound difference really only matters if your heavy into tracking i would imagine...

 

I think you'll notice the difference in how the suspension performs over irregular roads. You'll also have more sluggish acceleration which will be most noticeable to you at lower speeds (accelerating from a stop or when going slowly).

 

Thats a huge swing of rotating mass/unsprung weight from one to the other. People pay lots of money to get wheels, flywheels, pulleys (all rotating mass) that are a couple pounds lighter than stock. There is some saying that reducing 1lb of rotating mass is like dropping 7 lbs. of sprung weight from the car (dont quote me.) I would go with the 19 lbers, unless you dont care at all for the performance of the car (ie. show car.)

 

Go with the 19 pound wheel, trust me, you will feel the difference.

 

I'll chime in with some common sense.....

It depends what tires you are going to mate them too. The wheel weight by itself tells you absolutely zero.....wheels cannot be run on a car without tires

So, if you mate a heavier wheel with a lighter tire, and it evens out to a lighter wheel with a heavier tire -you're not gaining nor losing a thing.

Next up, go buy a big bag of dog food, put it in your front seat and drive around for an hour - you tell me if the car feels any different (aside from it smelling like dog food)

The car is heavy - 36 lbs of rolling mass does make a difference if you're doing hard core track days or are going for some sort of weight reduction program. But from a practical standpoint, you won't notice a thing

 

The subject of diameter and weight has been discussed a hundred times. Yes it will make a difference in performance. Races, such as above, are won by 11/1,000 seconds. Is that a noticeable difference in performance?

 

If you're drag racing, sure - and then you likely would not even be using an 18 inch wheel, or looking at even 19 lbs wheels (if you were going all out) - it could be nitpicked to death. Heck, even in the race above, the winner won because of the dial in time, not for any other reason

In any form of racing, there are alot of variables - many more so than a 36 lbs difference in weight can account for (assuming that 36 lbs is the only difference between the 2 subject cars)

So to clarify, will it make a difference in performance...if you live your life 1/4 mile at a time, are trying to meet a minimum weight class for an event, and look at everything in terms of fractions of a second, then perhaps it will. If you're spending your driving to and from work, doing weekend blasts through the desert or in the mountains, and are otherwise just driving the car as you would any other car, then no, it won't make any practical difference whatsoever

 

Yeah I don't spend much time on the track with my Z. If I do I would put some smaller diameter wheels on to lower effective gearing anyway. I am mostly just talking about daily driving. Thanks everyone!