Author Topic: Wheel & tyre weights surprise (to me!)  (Read 9088 times)

Offline mrlong

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Wheel & tyre weights surprise (to me!)
« on: 16 October 2015, 17:59 »
I've just replaced my summer wheels & tyres by the winter ones on my Golf Mk6 GT 1.4TSI cabriolet (in preparation for driving to Germany). Being curious, I weighed both combinations. What came as a surprise to me was that an alloy wheel and tyre weighed significantly MORE than a steel wheel and tyre - approaching 40% more in fact!

Details...
Summer: 225/40R18 'Bridgestone Potenza RE050A' 92Y (6mm tread) [11.3kg], on 7.5Jx18 ET51 'Charleston' alloy wheel (1K0601025AG0 [11.6kg]. Total = 22.9kg.
Winter: 205/55R16 'Vredestein Quatro 5' 91V (7mm tread) [7.9kg], on 6Jx16 ET50 VW steel wheel (2K3601027) [8.5kg]. Total = 16.4kg.

The Vredestein tyres are actually 'all seasons' tyres. They are very quiet - almost silent inside the car, which the Bridgestones certainly aren't. Also they are giving noticeably more mileage (less than 1% difference in rolling circumferences).

I'm so impressed, I'm seriously considering keeping them on the car all year round. And I've found no difference in handling. I'm happy with the matt black look with the Tiguan centre caps.
What's the real surpise is the 28% lower unsprung weights of the steelies and tyres: completely contrary to the general presumption.

Though you'd like to know!