This may sound like a strange question but, has anyone weighed their FJ tire/wheel combo? I am thinking about fuel mileage. I know if I were that concerend about it, I wouldn't buy and FJ, but that being said, and so I can make myself feel better when I actually get the money together to by my FJ, I would like to go with the lightest set of wheel/descent tire that I can. The less rotational mass that you have to accelerate, the better the mileage. Don't quote me on the physics, but I do remember something about rotational inertia going up a factor of 4 when you double the weight. I truly believe a lighter wheelset can help your milage around town. I am primarly looking for the difference in wieight between the standard steel stamped wheels and the alloy upgades, both the 17" and 16" TRD ones.
FJ Tire Weight
- Thread starter C5Drvr
- Start date
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The several thousand pounds sitting on top of the wheels/tires will also have a dramatic impact 
This sucker is a tank.
This sucker is a tank.
rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
If you never plan to do any seriouse trails alloy is fine. For the tough stuff steel is better.
Steel has the advantage of bending rather than breaking under stress. This means you might not lose air, or that you can try to beat a rim straight enough to get home.
As was mentioned the inertia of the wheel is minor in the grand scale of things.
In any event you can probably get a better deal on after market wheels than the OEM alloy ones. Buy it with stock steelies then upgrade.
Steel has the advantage of bending rather than breaking under stress. This means you might not lose air, or that you can try to beat a rim straight enough to get home.
As was mentioned the inertia of the wheel is minor in the grand scale of things.
In any event you can probably get a better deal on after market wheels than the OEM alloy ones. Buy it with stock steelies then upgrade.
rusty_tlc said:
I've seen others post this and have to ask the question...
Why do the big dogs run alloys on their buggies? And if you bend a steel rim, wouldn't it be easier to mount the spare rather than taking off the tyre, beating the rim straight, and remounting the tyre?
And lastly, have you ever seen an alloy break (or bend) on the trail? I'd love to see pics of that.
I broke an alloy wheel on a 300ZX but that was because I hit a 4x4 in my lane at 70mph one night. Tyre was shot too so I had to mount the spare regardless.
-B-
- Thread starter
- #5
Actually weight means a lot when it comes the amount of power required to get a wheel spinning from a stand still. A wheel that is twice as heavy has significanly more than twice the resistance to get moving. I want to say it is like five times the inertia.
So, how does a 275/70/17 BFG AT compare to the oem tire as far as weight goes.
