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Old 01-21-2014, 11:59 AM   #68 (permalink)
Thenorm
EcoModding Apprentice
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Canada
Posts: 132

The Rental - '13 Hyundai i30
90 day: 37.55 mpg (US)

Autocross - '04 Ford Focus ZX3
90 day: 24.76 mpg (US)

The Wifes - '02 Ford Focus SVT
90 day: 23.54 mpg (US)
Thanks: 2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by War_Wagon View Post
I personally think that reducing unspring rotational mass is where the biggest, easiest improvements are. There is a reason that serious race cars have lightweight wheels and aluminum driveshafts. I can tell the difference in my Civic when the bigger winter tires are on it vs the summers, and that's only a few pounds at the most. Going from steel wheels to lightweight alloys is probably the easiest thing you can do to make a difference in the way your car feels when it comes to weight reduction. I think the rough guideline for rotational mass is 1 to 4. So if you take 10 pounds of mass out of your wheels, it's like taking 40 pounds out of the rest of the car. Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but reducing rotational mass is the first place to find easy weight savings.
thats the rule of thumb that i know. on my autocross car i have a huge spread of wheel weights. my race wheels are uber light 13lbs for a 15x10" wheel, but on the flip side, my street apearance wheels are like 22lbs 17x9". they feel like completely different vehicles. also light wheels make the ride much more comfortable when you hit pot holes etc. there is less mass to accelerate (in the vertical direction) so bumps are less harsh.
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