Hi All :


Going to be picking up my new mini this week and I have a wheel ?

My car is coming with 16" Bridge spoke / All season run flats.

Would like to switch these out shortly after taking delivery.

Looking for a good light looking rim either in 15" or 16 " with non run flat tires. I need the wheel also to be strong for all the NY / NJ pot holes on RT 80 and Cross Bronx Expwy. Any suggestions would be welcomed ( pictures even better ).

Will a lighter wheel and tire combination = better gas mileage ?

How much lighter ? Would 3 lbs off the rim weight be enough to see improvement in mileage ?

 

Well, a lighter wheel (and lighter tire) will have the same effect as traveling with less weight in the car. So that's a good thing for fuel economy when you are accelerating, but won't have much (if any) effect when maintaining a constant speed on the highway with the cruise set, for example.

Additional gains in fuel economy can be had by switching to a tire that has less rolling resistance by going with a skinnier tire and/or a less grippy compound. Of course, this limits the fun (and safety) factor of going around corners in your Mini...

3lbs per wheel/tire would not be significant enough to see much of a change, IMO.

 

I eke out 1 or 2 mpg better fuel economy with the winter tires and wheels, 28 lbs. a wheel/tire, vs. my summer wheel/tire set at 35 lbs.
But there are other benefits to lightness, better response, easier settling of the suspension, less sluggishness.
Consider the Enkei RS+M wheel to save about 6 lbs. over the stock Bridge Spokes.

 

Just out of my own curiosity I did some research on OEM weights (Mostly just to see how much my 15's weigh). The Bridgespokes weigh 21 lbs ea and I don't know for sure on what the 16" tires are now but they used to be ContiProContact 195/55/16 which weigh 23lbs ea for a total of 44 lbs ea. My OEM Rotator spokes with 195/60/15 tires come in at 36.7. I know there are 15" rims lighter than what I have so you could make a decent difference in weight from what you have now. Whether that would make a big difference with gas, I'll let the experts chime in!

 

A little weight alone is not going to make that much difference if you are driving at a steady speed and take it easy on the gas pedal.

My stock wheel and tire setup is

Holey 15x5.5" rims and Conti 175/65-15 tires
Total weight 28 lbs each.

Vs Forged 17x7 rims (14 lbs each), aftermarket
215/45-17 tires 23 lbs each
Total weight 37 lbs each

Stock rims weigh about 22 to 25 lbs each
Stock runflats about 24 lbs

With 17" wheels and tires I can get about 26 mpg
With 15" wheels and tires I can get about 29 mpg

This is on a mid modded MCS, using the same driving effort to max out mpg.

Less weight helps.

Less rolling resistance helps.

15" rims can work with 175/65-15 or 185/65-15 tires for both less weight and good mpg. Naturally a 15x6 or 15x7 rim can be very light about 10 to 12 lbs each.

In 16"
195/55-16 using non runflats like
Michelin Pilot Primacy $140 each Grand Touring Summer tire 20 lbs
240 treadwear V speed rated
or
Bridgestone Potenza G 019 Grid $90 each (New tire)
High Performance All Season tire
460 treadwear H speed rated 23 lbs