Thinking of replacing my 2005 G35 sedan 6MT 18"x7.5" stock Sport 10 spoke rims (nice looking rims,12 years old now and have lots of curb rash and chipping) that weigh about 25lb each, to the 18.1lb 18"x8" 45mm offset Motegi Racing Traklite rims (pic above). total for everything installed would be under $900. (best deal to drop rim weight in my opinion for the spirited city driver) Tires are General G-Max AS-03 235/45/R18 with only 2000 miles on them. These 18.1lb rims would shed 6.9 lbs per wheel over stock 25lb rims, times 4 wheels is 27.7lbs less rotational mass weight total. When I changed from my 27lb Kuhmo Escta 4x to these General Gmax AS-03 tires that weigh 22 lbs, I could immediately feel a lighter more nimbler feel in the steering, more predictable and easier to go around turns (meaning into parking lots, fast sweeping turns) faster than previous, and overall acceleration (and torque) had seemed to be a little more "peppier" and the car seems to "spool" faster and "pull" harder and has better/linear power across the rev range, we are not talking anything super major here, I am not trying to over-exaggerate, but the gains were noticeable and worthwhile and appreciable. That was with a 5lb weight drop on the tires, which are the first things to change out as they are the furthest from the hub. now with a 6.9lb drop per wheel with these traklite rims, I should be noticing very similar or maybe even slightly better gains than I did with the tires. Not racing or tracking or anything just spirited city driving and looking to free up some rhp and put more power to pavement and better handling/feel. I just pulled out my passenger seat (thing must weigh around 70-75lbs) and noticed an immediate improvement across the board (car pulls harder and had more predictable handling and seems to brake easier) so these new lighter weight rims should give me a great bang for the buck to free up some rear wheel horsepower and torque plus benefits. currently, I have almost 200lbs of weight reduction across the car plus run 2-3 gallons 93 octane. With the 6.9lb per wheel drop, I expect more/easier wheelspin possibility's off the light in first gear and better/easier tire chirping from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd gear but what I am really more concerned about is getting alittle more lower rpm torque or "push" in 2nd gear from like around 2000-3500 rpms as that is where I usually find myself driving normally in city driving around corners and getting up to around 55-60mph or so.

 

Losing weight where you can is always a good idea, especially at the corners. This forum has always supported the light wheel theory so I say go for it.

However if you want to make the full use of your weight reduction quit the "tire chirping" when shifting. Why go through all the effort to free up HP then lose power delivery by losing traction momentarily? If you track the car every millisecond of traction counts and if you don't then looking "Cool" because you can chirp the tires is a pretty juvenile mindset which hopefully isn't why you do it.......