Gen II light weight wheels and tires

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watchdoc

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 19, 2021
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Location
Greenville, NC
planning an experiment for my youtube channel and researching light weight wheels and tires for the Gen II Leaf SV+. I'm speculating but it would seem the main difference between the S+ and the SV+ is the lighter weight 16" wheels and more narrow tires. The SV+ has LED lights and the heat pump but this isn't enough to overcome the differnce in unsprung weight. Sooooooo

I wanna try a light weight wheel and tire package on the SV+ and see if there is any performance and or range gains. If money were no object, it would be a new set of Gold Volk TE37's but alas, I'm not a Youtube influencer and my budget choices are not as generous.

The most obvious choice would be the Enkei RFP1. It comes in both 16x7 (13.7lbs) and 17x7 (14.9lbs) flavors and is very light weight but alas only comes in Silver. I would so love to have a set of gold wheels with the Deep Blue Pearl paint.

So, I would love to get everyones opinion on wheel and tire combos. bonus points for gold.
 
LeftieBiker said:
I think that Doug has already gone this route. I'll wait for him to post.

yeah, I PM'd him this morning after doing a bunch of searches but APPARENTLY..... he has more important things to do! lol
 
The 17" alloy wheels are about 26lbs. The 16" Allow wheels are 21lbs.

The 16" ecopia tires are 19lbs

The 17" Michelins are 22lbs.

On the stock rims, I saw on one side by side test (~60mph) of about 8% improvement with the smaller stock wheels. On another test it was close to 20%...but that felt too big.

https://youtu.be/UqigECHK7Ug

I have since moved my S+ to EV01s, which are 16lbs (technically just under 16) and over 13lbs lighter at each corner.

I need to do another side by side once it warms up in a couple months, but here were some summer tests from last year. You will see movie making was not meant to be for me.

https://youtu.be/b4K4qLD7Pcc

https://youtu.be/MhxXQCVqsMk

Both of these are with the EV01s.

I plan to replace the 17" rims on the SV+ with either the stock 16 rims or with additional EV01s once I am through the tires, so either this or next summer.


I can tell you the cars feel different to drive with such a large difference in tire/rim weight. The S+ feels like it is modestly more responsive with steering and overall weight of the car (even though the weights of the cars are very similar).


For next mods I am thinking coil overs to lower the car an inch and I would like something fancier than painters tape for the non-existant fog light cut outs and a shallow rear wheel skirt. It's fine for trips, just ugly.
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
The 17" alloy wheels are about 26lbs. The 16" Allow wheels are 21lbs.

The 16" ecopia tires are 19lbs

The 17" Michelins are 22lbs.

On the stock rims, I saw on one side by side test (~60mph) of about 8% improvement with the smaller stock wheels. On another test it was close to 20%...but that felt too big.


I have since moved my S+ to EV01s, which are 16lbs (technically just under 16) and over 13lbs lighter at each corner.

I need to do another side by side once it warms up in a couple months, but here were some summer tests from last year. You will see movie making was not meant to be for me.


Both of these are with the EV01s.

I plan to replace the 17" rims on the SV+ with either the stock 16 rims or with additional EV01s once I am through the tires, so either this or next summer.


I can tell you the cars feel different to drive with such a large difference in tire/rim weight. The S+ feels like it is modestly more responsive with steering and overall weight of the car (even though the weights of the cars are very similar).


For next mods I am thinking coil overs to lower the car an inch and I would like something fancier than painters tape for the non-existant fog light cut outs and a shallow rear wheel skirt. It's fine for trips, just ugly.

Doug, did you end up getting a set of 17" EV01's this time? Are you running the 215/50/17 tire size? I'm wondering if the smaller diameter 205/55/16 (25") tires need to be reprogrammed to the car.

Which offset did you get and are you happy with the fitment?

The 17" EV01's are quoted at 19.4lbs

Enkei RPF1's are quoted at in 14.9lbs in 17x7 with ET 45 in silver

Enkei RPF1's are quoted at 16.05 lbs in 17x8 with ET 45 in GOLD (not sure how a 215 tire would look on an 8" wheel)
 
I got the 16" EV01s. I was going for lowest weight.

Here is the EV01 on the scale in the cover: (15.9lbs)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZiV_IXolqyuGY4Ast-OrCkY_6zy1xg7y/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZiaX4x6isj2m8R77bjgkajboJwx26VOy/view?usp=drivesdk

Here is the stock 16" on a scale:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UJlCaWpnga_e2L5ZdhhxcQIpTfNfrExM/view?usp=drivesdk

Fastwheels I believe just has the single offset for the Leaf, but I would have to look.
 
Triggerhappy007 said:
Narrow tires on a wide wheel looks bad. Also, gold wheels only look good on an AWD rally car. :cool:

that almost sounds like a dare!!!!!

stock S+ 16" wheels and tires weighs around 40lbs

stock SV+ 17" wheels and tires weighs around 48lbs

Enkei 17x7 (silver) wheels with stock 17" tires weighs around 37lbs total.
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
Cool.

I am jealous you have a blue one. Ours are both silver.

Just imagine how sexy it would be with gold wheels!!! Can't find any that make sense weight wise.

Leaf-Goldies.jpg
 
FWIW, I did a longish "ugly weather" test drive i my S+ a month or so back. What I found with the S+ was that the speedometer over-reported speed by about 5%, and that the odometer over-reported distance by 3%. This was just over 120 miles each direction, results were consistent both ways. Pouring rain, nasty winds, about 40F outside, 70mph (ambient traffic speed was probably 75+)...so efficiency was nothing to write home about. But distance is distance, and this was nearly all freeway, straight-line driving. I assumed this was because Nissan calibrated the odo/speedo for the larger rim/tire combo, and didn't bother to change anything for the 16" setups.

Anyway, when I calculate M/kWh, I am reducing the reported values by multiplying them by 0.97. Not a big deal. But may be a factor in your numbers. You say the SV+ under-reported distance. Might be worth taking a longer spin in one vehicle or the other (or both) to double-check.

--Richard

PS: Really wish this was a correction that could be made without changing tire sizes!
 
watchdoc said:
DougWantsALeaf said:
Cool.

I am jealous you have a blue one. Ours are both silver.

Just imagine how sexy it would be with gold wheels!!! Can't find any that make sense weight wise.

Leaf-Goldies.jpg

Hrmmm, looks like the Rota Attack is around 17lbs in 17x7.5 in GOLD. This might be the ticket. Lil heavier than the Enkei but still lighter than the stock S+ setup. Cheaper than the Enkei's too!!
 
When my oem tires were ready to be replaced on my 2018 SL I decided to go down to a 16" rim for both less weight & also gain more sidewall from the subsequent higher aspect ratio for improved ride comfort.

The factory tires were 215/50/R17 and now I run 205/60R16 tires & they are very close if you use one of those tire calculators. I simply chose Costco for simplicity & frankly there wasn't a lot of reasonable priced option since I was aiming for ride comfort & efficiency improvements vs aesthetics.

The wheels are 16x7 and supposedly weigh 18.92# each. I ended up using Ecopia 422+ tires and the combined weight measured by me holding the mounted combo on my personal scale & then weighing myself was 39.8#'s

Last March I paid $965 before tax for the wheel/tire combo from Costco Tire Center

http://www.veloxwheels.com/wheels/mantra
38mm offset and IIRC 114.3 bolt pattern

I typically see a 3-10% improvement in consumption & the car felt more lively under initial acceleration.
 
Dang it, The Rota Boost, Attack, and Slipstream are all discontinued in gold so I'm back to the 17x7 Enkei RPF1 in silver at only 14.9lbs.
 
Re: Speedo error in the S+
If I use my phone navigation speed as the golden standard then at true 70mph my analog speedometer gauge reads about 75mph and the digital speed readout on the dash reads 73mph.

When I eventually replace tires, I'll consider going wider in hopes of taming down the overboosted power steering and gaining some feedback. And I wouldn't mind keeping the 55 aspect ratio to correct some of the speedo/odo error. Maybe 215 55 R16. Even going to 225 55 R16 is possible.

Another benefit of upsizing is that with the increased tire volume I might ease inflation back down to 36 psi which is a more comfortable ride than the 40 psi I run now.

None of that helps efficiency or range. I'm more interested in the driving dynamics.
 
When I did my Skokie to Kansas and back trip, I found the odometer only about 1% over reporting compared to Google in my S+. Now tires were at 43ish psi, maybe that helps a bit.

When I have GPS measured my speed vs. Car (S+) reporting it was about 2.5 miles over actual.

The SV+ is very accurate on speedometer and the odometer is a tad to the underreporting side. (Vs google)
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
When I did my Skokie to Kansas and back trip, I found the odometer only about 1% over reporting compared to Google in my S+. Now tires were at 43ish psi, maybe that helps a bit.

When I have GPS measured my speed vs. Car (S+) reporting it was about 2.5 miles over actual.

The SV+ is very accurate on speedometer and the odometer is a tad to the underreporting side. (Vs google)

This is another reason I wanna stick with the stock 215 size on the + cars. This will also make the "light weight wheel swap" experiment a lil more accurate by only changing one aspect.

The front runner is still the Enkei RPF1 in 17x7 5x114.3 ET45 at 14.9lbs (comes in Silver or Black) Easy to find around $900-$950 for a set shipped.

I'm also looking at the Enkei PF01 in 17x7 5x114.3 ET48 at 15.9lbs. Probably Silver only but gotta do some digging. Priced a lil higher around $1,100 a set shipped.

Not sure what offset I should be aiming for??? Stock wheels are +45 if I'm going with a 7" wheel instead of 6.5" I'm not sure if I should go up in offset (Like +48) or down in offset (Like +40) or if it really won't matter in such small amounts.

Black might look good with the Deep Blue Pearl. Trying to find one of those visualizers that will show these wheels but no luck.
 
We are not looking at "unsprung weight" We need a rotational mass calculation to quantify the difference. An 8 lb difference is significant. The wheel size to efficiency effect I first discovered while perusing the 2010 Prius during its reveal at the 2009 Detroit Auto show. While looking the car over, we found the engineer's notebook in the car and started thumbing thru it. As you would expect; most of it was unreadable but the page stating a the mpg differences between tire sizes was unmistakable.

F = m*v^2/r
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
We are not looking at "unsprung weight" We need a rotational mass calculation to quantify the difference. An 8 lb difference is significant. The wheel size to efficiency effect I first discovered while perusing the 2010 Prius during its reveal at the 2009 Detroit Auto show. While looking the car over, we found the engineer's notebook in the car and started thumbing thru it. As you would expect; most of it was unreadable but the page stating a the mpg differences between tire sizes was unmistakable.

F = m*v^2/r

Summarize your point for me please. So you're saying skinnier tires has more effect than unsprung weight?

The combo I'm looking at would be greater than 10lbs per corner lighter but retain the stock 215 tire size.

This article seems to indicate that tire width is much less important than rolling resistance and wheel size.

https://www.greencarreports.com/new...d-wheel-choice-affects-electric-vehicle-range

So here's my question. assuming everything else is the same (same tire, same width, same total diameter, same total weight) would a 16" wheel and tire combo be more efficient than a 17" wheel and tire combo? If so, why???
 
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