Chapter 11. Magnesium Wheels

I think every endeavor to shed weight from a sporty car must inevitably come to learning about the importance and advantages of shedding rotational mass versus unsprung mass versus static mass and usually wheels are the first stop on that journey. I am no different.

I measured the standard Porsche wheels that my Boxster GTS 4.0 came with, to be:

Front: 23.34 lbs and Rear: 25.16 lbs

With the desire to shed some rotational mass I started exploring magnesium wheel options. They are twice the cost of an aluminum wheels of the same design, so they can be quite expensive. There were a couple of magnesium wheel options that promised shedding up to 6 or 7 pounds per wheel but I ended up ordering a set from VT Forged as their prices were a bit more reasonable. It took a few months but in the end when the wheels arrived, they looked very nice. I was happy when I weighed them to be:

Front: 17.7 lbs and Rear: 20.34 lbs

So, front wheels ended up being 5.64 lbs lighter and rears 4.82 lbs lighter for a total loss of ~21 pounds. Nice!

In terms of looks, although that was not my original goal, I actually picked a design that I liked but could have picked another super light design that might have been 0.5 lbs per wheel lighter still. I felt if I am going through the expense, then it should also enhance the looks of the car so I selected this GT3 RS inspired design. Looks are subjective but to my eyes this design suits the Boxster well. So, happiness on both looks as well as weight loss front. 



And since I was getting new and much nicer wheels, I also got the titanium bolts from Acer, and I admit this crosses the line into silliness for just a 1 pound of weight loss. So I am guilty as charged on this count.

When ordering the wheels, I had the choice to get different offsets, so I opted to get lower offsets for wider track width. I went from OE +57 to +50 on front for 7mm pushed out i.e. 14mm wider track. On the rear I went from OE +47 to +44 to push out by 3mm.

As to the actual impact of shedding 5.5 pounds from each corner is that something I notice? Well ... yes. The car feels more nimble and very eager to leap forward and change direction. It is hard to quantify but it is noticeable and definitely not a placebo effect. 

Overall half a point of improvement in the score to 77.75 and ~22 pound reduction to bring the weight down to 3089 lbs. Quite happy!

Next Chapter



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