One thing that struck me back when I had my flat earlier this year is that the stock Kona rims are really heavy. Once separated from the tire given to me to examine, I realized that the Nexen tire weighed almost nothing by comparison. All the weight is in that big chunky rim, and as I thought about that going over some rough roads recently I think I was observing some effects from that. A bump would yield sort of a ka-THUDddddd... feeling as front and rear passed over it, with some trailing resonance almost like that rim weight bouncing up and down on the springs was slightly overpowering the ability of the shocks to deal with it. Not in a showstoppingly bothersome way, but got me wondering. Has anyone experimented with lighter, maybe more open, aftermarket rims? Anything to report? Search didn't turn up anything, which I find a little perplexing given how picky some folks are about tires. Even generic steelies might do better than these alloy monstrosities, not sure. I think the bolt pattern and offset are pretty standard, so alternates should be fairly findable. Or maybe the weight doesn't matter. _H*
The Kona rims don’t have a load rating. I use my stock rims during the cooler, wetter months, shod with Michelin PS4’s - the combo is 24kg. These tyres are 98W, rated at 750kg. Otherwise my Nexens are on a/m alloys (7.5” width), much lighter all up, 18kg from memory. They are rated at 670kg, the rims at 690kg. In both cases I set pressure at 40psi, just enough over stock to sharpen up the handling, but still allowing the tyres to do their job as shock absorbers. Apart from wet/dry grip, tyre performance is similar for cruising. For both the ride is pliant, comfortable even; through the steering wheel I can feel the tires soaking up minor road surface variations. I find the shocks very firm for a pothole or manhole cover, and with a short wheelbase as well the car pitches around on minor roads, but this isn’t down to the tyre choice. In particular, I also don’t get any sense of the shocks being “under-powered”. So does the rim weight matter? I don’t think so, certainly not for my driving, any difference is all about the sensation of grip. Whereas the PS4 tyre choice makes a huge difference to the handling, and is well worth the range penalty.
I changed my rims to some after market RHC rims. Used from Kijiji. The RHC rims are much lighter, but not as aero dynamic. I put the stock nexens on the rims and used new winter studded tires on the oem rims. I ran the RHC rims in the winter and found that my mileage decreases by 7% compared to the oem and nexen stock tires. I think the biggest thing is the aerodynamics.
I changed my rims to some after market RHC rims. Used from Kijiji. The RHC rims are much lighter, but not as aero dynamic. I put the stock nexens on the RHC rims and used new winter studded tires on the oem rims. I ran the RHC rims in the summer and found that my mileage decreases by 7% compared to the oem and nexen stock tires. I think the biggest thing is the aerodynamics.
Here are my rims with the nexen tires. 7% reduction in range compared to the oem rims with nexen tires.
