light weight rims and narrow tires

[diesel_john]

Looking for ideas on light weight rims and narrow radial tires for the vw 100mm 4 bolt pattern. the stock tire is 155R-13. about 22" high. All the after market rims i see are this wide junk. Would a tall narrow tire like a motorcycle tire work more efficiently? did any one make a spare saver spare rim with that bolt pattern. John

[AndrewJ]

Most all Honda stuff is 4 x 100mm

Honda VX rims are pretty light (lighter than all but the really $$$ aftermarket stuff) and still fairly skinny

I'm sure if you look hard enough you can turn up some rear "skinnies" rims for FWD drag-racing Hondas.

[roflwaffle]

I think the center needs to be bored a bit on Honda wheels, but aside from that I can't think of any problems. I'd go with 155/80R13s since they are cheaper than dirt and some are up to 44psi sidewall.

[AndrewJ]

Go to this site and download the PDF under the button "Wheels (by size)" and you can look through most any wheel ever made, both it's size and it's weight. Looks like they don't have any entries for 13" wheels less than 5" wide, that's the VX size, and probably what your wheels are now.

As for 14" wheels there are Miata donuts. They're 14x4" and weigh 9.8 lbs each with the tire. I'm not sure what kind of tires you can find for those, but I'm sure the big obstacle will be finding a tire with a suitably high speed rating. For that I'd try to find antique car tires. They should have all sorts of funny tall/skinny sizes and (relatively) high speed ratings compared to donut spares.

[Ryland]

check out the VW Parts Place, they sell used VW parts, including rims that will fit right on, I have a set of 13" GIT rims that are decent, maybe 11 pounds, altho most of the alloy VW rims are 14" wide and heavy, if you call those guys up, they might be able to tell you what the lightest VW rim is, and that would be nice to know, then you just do a car-part.com search for it.

[DAN]

light weight rims are for race cars for handling. and all the rims i checked back in the day, were lighter if they were steel. try a junk yard and look at the rims for cheapo models.. cast street rims are heavier to take potholes and curbs. real light race mag.s wheels rot. skinner tire have less wind drag. and have a lot less traction. maybe you can still buy special high pressure harder rubber ties. but they ride harder and wear less. see if you can find old time full moon disks covers

[diesel_john]

good info guys, the stock steel rims are 13x4.5 and weight 15#. As suggested I could bore out honda rims and lose several pounds. On the miata space savers I didn't find a weight on the rim but if their 14". there are some high speed scooter tires being made now. but not many radials. michelin does not make the xzx in 13" anymore.

[jazzie604]

Originally Posted by DAN

light weight rims are for race cars for handling.

not really. lighter wheels accelerate easier, stop easier, handle very well, and create less drivetrain loss. Less loss, less fuel consumption. Ive been wondering how this affects FE. On one hand, less mass that you have to get rolling means less work required by the engine. on the other hand, less spinning mass has less inertia, which means the car doesnt necessarily roll as far on coasting. I also wonder if this transfers into suspension mods as well. If the car can turn with less weight transfer, will less speed be scrubbed off?

[elhigh]

You're going to be hard pressed to find something skinnier than 155. I've seen 135s, but I don't remember where.

It's a little weird, but try your local speed shops that carry wheels. See what offers for front wheels on some doorslammers and see if that could be adapted, if nothing else, to your rears. Draggers want the same thing out of their front wheels as you do - some rubber and steel to keep the frame off the ground, minimal rolling resistance, etc.

[personx]

I would keep away from motorcycle type tires because of their short life somewhere around 10.000 miles (or even less if i remember right). unless this is a question of miles per gal. at any costs kind of thing.