lightest wheel and tyre options

true-blue

Member
I'm considering changing the wheels and tyres on my A2 with the aim of reducing weight.

I'm not too worried about performance through the twisty bits, more straight line, motorway and A road overtaking and improving economy.

I'm assuming 15'' alloys with taller tyres will weigh less than 17'' alloys with low profiles. and also that a narrower tyre will have less rolling resistance than a wider tyre. So all things being equal, straight line performance and economy should be better with smaller wheels and taller skinnier tyres ? (other than grip off the line which I'm not worried about)

Am I missing anything ?

The car is running on standard 16'' SE alloys at the moment which I'm guessing aren't particularly light, or are they ?

Anyone know which are the lightest VAG 15's that will fit ?

I was originaly thinking about 17'' TT Comps (for looks), but they are alledgedly the heaviest of the VAG 17''s - although they look great.
 
personal opinion: Ultraleggera or Team Dynamics 1.2 (<7kg each) with 185/55R15s on.

As far as light VAG wheels are concerned; dunno. Weigh them!

Bret
 
But do they do Ultraleggera in 5x100 PDC? I was looking at the 16" ultras, not only are they rare, they are very expensive! But they are very very light. However, 17" ultraleggeras are slightly heavier, seems more common.

True-blue (nice name ;-) ), wheels are rotational unsprung weight. So every gram of saving has almost double impact. Not only are there less total mass to shift forward, there is also less to spin up. Not to mention the less amount to stop and spin down during deceleration. But alloy size may not always be proportional to weight, best is to find out exactly how heavy they are!
 
Hi Humps,

life long Everton fan, hence the name. Last night was class:D

I was hoping to pick up some cheap 15'' VAG, hopefully Audi, rims off ebay or somewhere else. A3 pepperpots are looking favorite and there's a very clean looking set up the road from me in Cheltenham.

I was looking at Rota alloys which can weigh as little as 5KG each in 15'' size but the 5 x 100's are all in the wrong offset - really aimed at the Jap car market.Shame!

I really don't want to go for the OZ's as they are, as you rightly say, very expensive and probably slightly heavier than Rota's.

I don't pretend to understand the physics of why lighter wheels have such a dramatic impact, I just know they do from having Rota's on an integra I used to own a few years back.

I also understand that a smaller rolling radius (including tyre) leads to improved acceleration but lower top speed, and a larger rolling radius has the reverse effect - lower rpm for same speed but takes longer to get to that point, although maximum speed should be higher.

all good fun.
 
Oz themselves say for an A2:
- Ultraleggera in 7 x 16 - 6,46kg
- Chrono HT in 7 x 16 - 6,69kg
- Superturismo in 6.5 x 15, 7x16 and 7x17 - no weights given

Team Dynamics:
- Pro Race 2 7 x 16, 7.0kg 7 x 15, 6,4kg


To be honest, if you're putting 185 or 195s on 15s, you ought to be able to get away with an ET that is higher, because they're only small tyres.
Many of the Rotas appear to be under 6kg for the 15", which would be very, very nice, but there's not much info about the PDCs available :(

Bret
 
Hi

Rubber has about half the density of aluminium, so I guess your right, smaller wheels would reduce the weight.

However, I would be very suprised if you can detect any noticeable difference in performance or economy from such a minor change of 16" to 15".

I would spend the same amount on a chip conversion, for either performance or economy or maybe even both! Your likely to much better gains, for the less cash.
 
Oh yeah, the Rotas are usually 4 studs for the Jap cars but aren't they nice! The Rays wheels / Volk Racing wheels are supposed to be very light, but also very expensive. They do 5x100 for 16" and 17" wheels as well, I think the Prius is also 5 x 100. Friend of mine got a set of TE37s shipped from Japan, with titainium wheel nuts (might as well!) for his morden 350Z.
 
Oz themselves say for an A2:
- Ultraleggera in 7 x 16 - 6,46kg
- Chrono HT in 7 x 16 - 6,69kg
- Superturismo in 6.5 x 15, 7x16 and 7x17 - no weights given
Team Dynamics:
- Pro Race 2 7 x 16, 7.0kg 7 x 15, 6,4kg
To be honest, if you're putting 185 or 195s on 15s, you ought to be able to get away with an ET that is higher, because they're only small tyres.
Many of the Rotas appear to be under 6kg for the 15", which would be very, very nice, but there's not much info about the PDCs available :(

Bret
Hi @bretti_kivi ,

Have started an A2 project called Letty were the intention is to make one of my very tired commuters into a quite light "almost" road legal A2 with hopefully improved front-to-rear balance.... After several very good advice's from the Team, it seems clear to me that there is a huge potential wrt weight of rims and tires.
My plan is to fit 185/60 R15 for vinter and maybe 185/55 R15 for summer .

You wrote the above Feb 2009, which is one the more detailed posts related to 15" lightweight rims.
I hope to find a table related to light 15" rims and light 185/60 R15 , can you help ?

What I have until now is : Audi A3 "pepperpot" 8L0 601 025 E 6J x 15H2 ET38 5x100 5.7 Kg

Cheers
dieselfan
 
The standard 7 spoke 15" A2 alloy (sorry, can't find part no) is around 6.5kg, but is 5.5J, so would take a 165/65 R15 tyre, which should be around 0.5kg lighter than a similar 185/60 R15. This would still be slightly heavier than the 185/pepperpot combination, but you'd have slightly less aero drag due to the narrower tyre....
 
Bought in 2014 with seat 17" blades on, looked lovely but gave a very harsh ride. Moved to pepperpots in 2015 and they are featherlight, surprises me every year when i go from my steelies and winter tyres. However they don't beat the mpg given by the skinny winter profile
 
pepperpots are the cheap route.
Thanks a lot for the good links and the clear advice ?
I want to keep the cost down, and will focus on solutions that are obtainable for everybody.

The standard 7 spoke 15" A2 alloy (sorry, can't find part no) is around 6.5kg, but is 5.5J, so would take a 165/65 R15 tyre, which should be around 0.5kg lighter than a similar 185/60 R15. This would still be slightly heavier than the 185/pepperpot combination, but you'd have slightly less aero drag due to the narrower tyre....
Interesting advice @gills - 0.5kg gained per tire just by swapping from 185/60 R15 to 165/65 R15 is a lot and I will have to go deep in my selves and my passion for 185/60 R15, and find out if they are worth the extra 2kg.... do you have a pic of the 7 spoke you refair to?
cheers
dieselfan
 
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