EricT

It seems like everybody is looking for a light wheel to put on the S4. Anybody knows which tire company has the lighter tires?

One model of Nitto (NT450) that I weighted is 18lbs another model(NT555) is 25lbs. Same size.

Looks like if we have a 17lb. wheel and put on a 30lb. tire, kind of defeats the purpose.

Someone told me the tires on Vettes are really light, some kind of Goodyear. Anyone knows?

David

S-02 Poles @ 22# 225/45-17 among lightest, Eddie @ Tire Rack has info.

Carlos Ramirez

Hmm this is a good question. I have never seen any kind of figures on the weight of the tire but here are a couple of things to think about. The amount of rubber is directly related to weight thus if you got some tires with a low UTQG logic would say that it would weight less than one with a higher UTQG.
The larger parts of mass of tire is the air filling the tire and the RIM. Thus if you wanted to reduce your mass you could get smaller tires. However I think the gains in weight would undermine the handling of a car. So the amount of air in a tire and weight should be thought as remaining constant. Thus leaving the RIM being the only true place to adjust for weight.

Unless you want to start filling your tires with Hydrogen (don't get to close to a fire or your tires may explode) or Helium (with an atomic mass of 2 versus CO2 atomic mass of 16 where there is a gain until you consider the same amount of space still has to be filled).
So it would be interesting to find out what a wheel and tire would weigh with just air (I think on avg 50lbs per wheel) and what one filled with Helium would (anyone got enough Helium under pressure to fill up a tire??)
Thanks for the question I haven't thought about the Elements for a while, to bad I am not back in college with access to lab where I could test this theory!!

EricT

How does the UTQG affect the weight of a tire?
I thought this is a rating standard used to notify consumers of the tire's tread wear, traction and temperature rating.

Could it be longer lasting tires have harder or thicker rubber, therefore heavier?