Lightest corvette wheels
#12
You're right, unsprung weight counts for about 8lbs of unsprung weight. On average a Weld Draglite is 5-15 lbs lighter than regular aftermarket forged aluminum wheels. If you went for a Draglite all the way around you could cut off some significant weight. That said, wheels are usually more for a visual upgrade unless you have a track only car. With all of that on the table, it sounds like you have some big money to shell out for really light wheels (whether those be the Corvette mags or the Draglites).
Alright, I did a little research for you, I would say that if you got the Draglites over an aftermarket forged aluminum wheel, the most you would be able to improve your 1/4 mile is by 0.22 sec. Lets take the mean value of the weight reduction from the wheels, we'll consider the Draglite to be 7lbs lighter than the aftermarket wheel (the 15 pound lighter figure is going to be for a 15x3 skinny, and we know you're not going to be running 3" wheels all the way around, in all actuality I would be willing to bet between a 17x9.5 Draglite and a 17x9.5 Forged aftermarket wheel the weight difference is more in the 5 lbs figure, which would give you a 0.16 sec time reduction, but I digress...). With 7 lbs lost off all four corners we lose 28 actual pounds from the car. Taking our figure that 1 lbs of sprung weight is 8 lbs of unsprung weight, we'll say you lost a theoretical 224 lbs. You can assume that every 100 lbs reduction in weight will get you 0.10 in the 1/4 mile, thus you would take off 0.224 sec.
Alright, I did a little research for you, I would say that if you got the Draglites over an aftermarket forged aluminum wheel, the most you would be able to improve your 1/4 mile is by 0.22 sec. Lets take the mean value of the weight reduction from the wheels, we'll consider the Draglite to be 7lbs lighter than the aftermarket wheel (the 15 pound lighter figure is going to be for a 15x3 skinny, and we know you're not going to be running 3" wheels all the way around, in all actuality I would be willing to bet between a 17x9.5 Draglite and a 17x9.5 Forged aftermarket wheel the weight difference is more in the 5 lbs figure, which would give you a 0.16 sec time reduction, but I digress...). With 7 lbs lost off all four corners we lose 28 actual pounds from the car. Taking our figure that 1 lbs of sprung weight is 8 lbs of unsprung weight, we'll say you lost a theoretical 224 lbs. You can assume that every 100 lbs reduction in weight will get you 0.10 in the 1/4 mile, thus you would take off 0.224 sec.
Last edited by 95slvrZ28; 02-11-2009 at 01:15 AM.
#13
lemme see, 7 take away 4 carry the 3..........
well thought out post silver,
oh, the OP should also be discussing an aluminum driveshaft because it appears that he's interested in reducing his rotating mass.
well thought out post silver,
oh, the OP should also be discussing an aluminum driveshaft because it appears that he's interested in reducing his rotating mass.
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welch7122
93-02 Wheels, Tires and Exterior
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03-14-2010 02:24 PM