I own a 2005 Prius, and was wondering what the weight of the OEM wheels is (are)

Reason I ask, is that on tirerack.com, they have a 16" aftermarket wheel, that is 12.7 lbs . THat's pretty light..... for a car wheel. but i was wondering if Toyota was already smart enough to put light weight wheels on the Prius from the get go..... i guess i can take the wheel off, de-mount the tire and weigh it... but i'm too lazy... and i can't seem to find the info anywhere...

does anyone know?

those 16" wheels would look pretty cool, and if they weighed less than the stock ones, it might make up for the extra drag created by the slightly wider tires required....

of course 17 or 18 would be even nicer... but the tires get kinda wide at that point... (not to mention heavy)

Im assuming the Japanees engineers figured stuff like this in their calculations. as well as those ugly little trim rings on the wheels for less wind drag at speed. i took mine off and the wheels look like nice 5 spoke alum. wheels now. Try that first they look pretty nice. Dean

Here's a picture of my friend's rims without the plastic thing:



Most folks find that their mileage really suffers when they switch to larger wheels on the Prius, not sure if it's strictly a weight issue or if it has more to do with how the car was optimized.

2001 Prius Photos       2005 Prius Photos
1992 Mitsubishi Delica Diesel-WVO Hybrid Photos

It is 6.45kg (14.2lbs).

Ken@Japan

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I think the picture was taken before we pumped them up to 42/40.

2001 Prius Photos       2005 Prius Photos
1992 Mitsubishi Delica Diesel-WVO Hybrid Photos

Hi: I autox my Mazdaspeed Protege (getting about 27.5 mpg over 15,000 miles for the year. Pretty good for a normal car.) Wheel weight will affect your car's ability to accelerate at maximum rate, which you never do with a hybrid since it consumes so much gas. Wheel weight also affects handling over bumpy surfaces since your shocks must damp out more energy from heavier wheels. At 14.2 lbs (6.45 kg -- thanks for the info Ken!) this is a relatively light but sturdy wheel for the Prius. I'd keep the wheel and the aerodynamic cover for it if you want to keep your Prius at maximum FE.

However, if you just have to have those pretty new wheels, go ahead and buy them and put them on. They shouldn't hurt your FE more than around 1%, if that.

Hope this helps.
MG

Larger rims usually mean a lower aspect ratio (50 or 60 vs 65), resulting in a larger contact patch which means higher rolling resistance. Also, the sportier tires that come in 16 and 17" sizes usually have a softer compound. That also translates into a higher rolling resistance. While this may not have much effect at high speeds, IMO, you will see a 5 to 10% decrease in FE at lower speeds (below 60 MPH).

Just my humble opinion.

Dan

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