Standard MR2 Wheels - does anyone know the weight of one?

[pjeff18]

I am looking to purchase a set of lighter wheels and was just about to call the supplier to order and then noticed a website that said the MR2 standard wheels were only 6.8kg (15lbs) each! source: http://www.mx6.com/forums/racing-forum/ ... guide.html

Another site http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/weight.htm says they weigh 19.5kgs (43lbs) with tyre (7kg) - so approx 12.5kgs no tyre.

Please,Please can someone help? Anyone have a standard 15" mk2 mr2 wheel hanging around can you weigh it on bathroom or suitcase scales and post the exact weight preferably without tyre but if with tyre fine (please state either way)

If they are only 6.8kg there is no point me ordering the Pro Race Alloys which weigh 6.1kg!

[The TVIS Kid]

I have some rev 5 wheels at home with no tyres, i will weigh them tonight and get back. I thnk they are definatley heavier than 6kg more like the 12kg you suggested.

[Kongaroo]

Tyres in the stock sizes will generally be in the region of 9 to 10kg weight depending on brand (I've weighed a few).

If you weigh stock alloys with mounted tyres you will usually find the rears to be between 17 to 18kg and the fronts to be 15 to 16kg.

So 6.8kg sounds about right for the front alloys which are 6" wide.
The rears are 7" wide and therefore slightly heavier - they will be in the region of 7.5kg in weight.

Hope that helps

[pjeff18]

Tyres in the stock sizes will generally be in the region of 9 to 10kg weight depending on brand (I've weighed a few).

If you weigh stock alloys with mounted tyres you will usually find the rears to be between 17 to 18kg and the fronts to be 15 to 16kg.

So 6.8kg sounds about right for the front alloys which are 6" wide.
The rears are 7" wide and therefore slightly heavier - they will be in the region of 7.5kg in weight.

Hope that helps

Thanks Kongaroo so basically there is no point me buying wheels which are 6.1kg in a hope that it will benefit the car weight wise and rotational mass.

[pjeff18]

I have some rev 5 wheels at home with no tyres, i will weigh them tonight and get back. I thnk they are definatley heavier than 6kg more like the 12kg you suggested.

Any news on this yet? Ta

[Kongaroo]

Thanks Kongaroo so basically there is no point me buying wheels which are 6.1kg in a hope that it will benefit the car weight wise and rotational mass.

6.1kg is light considering they are cast wheels. If you want to get below this weight then you will be looking at much more expensive forged wheels like the Rays Engineering TE37 or CE28n which will be 4.x kg in the stock wheel sizes.

But assuming the fronts are 6.8kg and the rears 7.5kg you will save approx. 4.2kg with the pro-race wheels. This in itself isn't bad especially when you take into account that it is unsprung and rotational weight that you are removing so the overall effect on acceleration might be like removing double or more of that in sprung weight. So effectively the car will behave as if you lost 8.4+kg.

That is about what you might save from going from a stock bonnet to a carbon one and actually a couple of kg more in weight saving than I got by swapping out both stock cloth seats to fibreglass buckets with lightweight aluminium sidemounts.

Will be interesting to see how the rev 5 wheels compare to the older rev 2/3 wheels in terms of weight as they look like they have thinner spokes.

The weights I mentioned above were for rev 2/3 alloys btw.

[The TVIS Kid]

I weighed a rear rev 5 wheel last night and it came in at 7.1 kg. I couldn't weigh the fronts as they are at my folks house. I guess they would be just a little lighter so pretty much identical to rev 2/3 wheels.

Possibly no coincidence they weigh the same as earlier wheels as toyota wanted their characteristics to stay the same.

[pjeff18]

Interesting.Thanks guys for helping me out,I just need to decide now whether its worth spending £280 on them for 4kgs! The same as a set of Polycarb windows which may loose circa 15kgs or a lightened flywheel which wont loose much but will help the engine pick up better.

Any thoughts/recommendations?

[pjeff18]

Also

The wheels I am after only come in 7" width.

The standard MR2 wheels are 6" at front and 7" at the rear,will 7" all around make any difference provided they still use 195/50/15 at the front and 225/50/15 at the rear?

[Kongaroo]

Also

The wheels I am after only come in 7" width.

The standard MR2 wheels are 6" at front and 7" at the rear,will 7" all around make any difference provided they still use 195/50/15 at the front and 225/50/15 at the rear?

Main difference will be cosmetic - the rears will appear slightly 'tucked in' in comparison to the fronts, which you could correct with a spacer but that would add a little bit more weight and cost.

There will also be a slight difference in the final 'fitted width' of the tyres. As the alloy you are fitting the tyre to gets wider, the overall fitted width also increases slightly which will affect the overall tyre footprint but only very slightly. Also if you decide not to correct the offset with a spacer you will be giving the front of the car a marginally wider front to rear track width ratio than stock but again not by much.

If they only come in 7" you could try and ask for different offsets to compensate for the fact the alloys are the same width. Eg. try to get roughly 10 to 15mm difference in offset between the front and rear alloys. This would negate the need for a spacer.

Alternatively save up lots of cash for some forged alloys