brillo

so many people go buy light weight wheels, but then cancel the benefit with heavy tires, such as the Potenza S03's, or Kumho 712's.

I did some research on our stock tires, and other tires at size 225/45/18. our stock Bridgestone RE40 225/45/18 weigh in at 26lb. The lightest tires I have found are Continental Contisport Contact 225/45/18 at 22.6lb. Thats a pretty big savings, at 3.4lb per wheel! I ran these on my mazda6 and I really liked them, quiet, sticky, and comfortable. They are not too expensive @ about $160 per tire.

AlexCisneros

...did I mention I lost 30lbs of unsprung weight with my change

that was wheel + tire combined

BoxerGT2.5

With 19' Hiros?

AlexCisneros

no, Brillo had posted a similar thread that I answered him in. The remark was for him


...and they're 17" Racing Sparco's

BoxerGT2.5

Ok...I thought you had 19 Hiro's. I was gonna say...I only saved 24 lbs with SSR Comps and tires.

AlexCisneros

I'm actually shaving off another pound or two with new lightweight forged magnesium/aluminum lug nuts

...as soon as I take off the old lugs I'll weigh the two different sets and know for sure.

on a side note, If I could've afforded the SSRs I still would have gotten them in 17s to reduce the weight even more :D

brillo

my post was more of a here's the lightest tire I can find, but also, I can't tell you how many people buy $2000 worth of wheels and then cancel any real benefit with heavy tires.

BoxerGT2.5

I do not know the exact weight of my tires....BFGoodrich KDW-2's. I just know I didn't cancel anything out? Sorry

AlexCisneros

what size?

Also, Toyo T1s is a pretty light weight tire. Problem is, there is a fine line between weight vs. Grip.

...though if you really want both you get hoosiers :D

murix

the Toyo T1-S and Kumho Ecsta MX both weigh 25lbs in a 245/40/18

wakeech

this is true. nylon ply reinforcements ain't light. neither are wide belts. neither are heavy duty polyester sidewall reinforcements. stiffer tyres have different handling characteristics, mostly prefereable, but do obviously weigh more.

i'm guessing the Conti-Sports are on the light weight side of the grip equasion.

MrWigggles

Weight might be something but it isn't everything. According to Tirerack the reviews of that Continental tire are not all that hot:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....tiSportContact

To make things worse check out how it compares to other tires:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...y.jsp?type=UHP

The "would you buy again" is extremely low for that tire. (the RE040 is the lowest!!)

Furthermore in Tireracks track tests, the lightest tire doesn't always win by a long shot. Obviously there is more at work here. Here is a sample test report:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/..._summer_c.html

The tire shown is a different continental but the point is on a very similar car to our RX-8, the BMW 330ci, three completely different tires all got almost the same track time. Any weight saving from one tire to the next was not a factor or was overridden by other factors.

Unsprung weight might be more important on a Miata, but I think people assume too much without actually testing the difference. Weight ain't everything on tires.

-Mr. Wigggles