Wheel Weight

[Captain Trips]

I'm sure it's been posted, in fact I've seen it before, and I may have even asked already, but don't remember the answer, so please forgive me. I can never find anything on forums when I try to search for it.

How much do the stock BB wheels weigh?

I put the new Falken AT4's on in 245/65/17 and they are heavy. I knew I'd lose some mileage, but I lost a lot more than I expected. About 5-6 mpg's. That loss isn't my main concern though, I do notice a slight loss in pep from the tiny little 1.5 liter engine that Ford decided to use for some reason. In the long run I worry about damaging it because it's working too hard all the time. I like everything else about the tires though, so I want to try to recoup the weight by getting a lighter wheel.

Any suggestions for lighter wheels would also be appreciated.

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[Babybronc21]

There’s a few recent posts about unsprung weight. Ive been running aftermarket wheels and bigger tires for years on various vehicles and actually learned alot from researching this topic recently. I can’t say that if I had the 1.5 that Id go for the AT4s as that is quite a jump in weight but many have and deal with the loss in power and added wear/tear on components.

Are you looking for lighter wheel or lighter tire options or both? As for wheel weight I guess it depends on which OEM wheel you have but someone will have the answer.

Im about to buy the F-AT4s because I think their performance and looks is worth the few added pounds (currently running a 2.0 with AT3s from factory).

You will find lighter wheels out there… just be sure they can handle the load as that’s an another issue.

 

[Captain Trips]

There’s a few recent posts about unsprung weight. Ive been running aftermarket wheels and bigger tires for years on various vehicles and actually learned alot from researching this topic recently. I can’t say that if I had the 1.5 that Id go for the AT4s as that is quite a jump in weight but many have and deal with the loss in power and added wear/tear on components.

Are you looking for lighter wheel or lighter tire options or both? As for wheel weight I guess it depends on which OEM wheel you have but someone will have the answer.

Im about to buy the F-AT4s because I think their performance and looks is worth the few added pounds (currently running a 2.0 with AT3s from factory).

You will find lighter wheels out there… just be sure they can handle the load as that’s an another issue.

I'm looking for lighter wheels only, and how do I know if they can handle the load? In fact what load are you referring to? I know nothing about anything.

 

[jkeaton]

I'm looking for lighter wheels only, and how do I know if they can handle the load? In fact what load are you referring to? I know nothing about anything.

Wheels are rated for load capacity. A wheel's maximum load rating is determined by checking the back of your wheel. To find your wheel load rating requirements, divide your vehicles heaviest gross axle weight rating by 2. Gross axle weight is the actual amount of weight each axle can carry
.

 

[cprcubed]

You may need to look for a forged (vice cast) wheel to save wheel weight. A forged wheel will also most likely be stronger as well. The downside is that they can be expensive! Having said that, I have no idea what's available for the BS. Cheers!

 

[B-Dog15]

I always start my tire/wheel searches on Tirerack.com. They have all the info about the wheels including weight. As far as the weight of the stock wheels it depends on what you have. According to Ford, the stock BB wheels weight 25.75 lbs but I cannot confirm that.

As far as weight goes, I put on the BFG KO2's in 245/65r17 and they are definitely heavier than the stock Conti's however I have not noticed any unwanted performance changes outside of a very small MPG dip (0.3 mpg decrease to be exact). 5-6 MPG seems like a huge drop off from just the added weight of the tires.

 

[Captain Trips]

I always start my tire/wheel searches on Tirerack.com. They have all the info about the wheels including weight. As far as the weight of the stock wheels it depends on what you have. According to Ford, the stock BB wheels weight 25.75 lbs but I cannot confirm that.

As far as weight goes, I put on the BFG KO2's in 245/65r17 and they are definitely heavier than the stock Conti's however I have not noticed any unwanted performance changes outside of a very small MPG dip (0.3 mpg decrease to be exact). 5-6 MPG seems like a huge drop off from just the added weight of the tires.

The drop in MPG was instant, very first tank. The Falkens are I believe 10 lbs heavier than the Conti's

 

[B-Dog15]

The drop in MPG was instant, very first tank. The Falkens are I believe 10 lbs heavier than the Conti's

That’s crazy. All in all 40 lbs doesn’t seem like enough weight increase to knock off 5-6 mpg even with the increase tire size although I am admittedly not very smart when it comes to these things.

 

[Captain Trips]

So it looks like the 25.75 lbs that B-dog15 mentioned is with packaging, if what I saw on the Maverick forum is true. A guy on that forum claims to have weighed BB wheels when he replaced his steelies with them, and they weighed 21.2 lbs. After looking at the limited selection available on tirerack I think it might be pretty difficult to find anything substantially lighter.

 

[Mark S.]

I'm sure it's been posted, in fact I've seen it before, and I may have even asked already, but don't remember the answer, so please forgive me. I can never find anything on forums when I try to search for it.

How much do the stock BB wheels weigh?

I put the new Falken AT4's on in 245/65/17 and they are heavy. I knew I'd lose some mileage, but I lost a lot more than I expected. About 5-6 mpg's. That loss isn't my main concern though, I do notice a slight loss in pep from the tiny little 1.5 liter engine that Ford decided to use for some reason. In the long run I worry about damaging it because it's working too hard all the time. I like everything else about the tires though, so I want to try to recoup the weight by getting a lighter wheel.

Any suggestions for lighter wheels would also be appreciated.

Changing to a lighter wheel will not likely affect fuel economy as much as the heavier tires. Heavier tires place more weight farther away from the axle. The farther away from the axle the greater the rotational inertia. It's the rotational inertia that hurts fuel economy. Inertia is resistance to motion; greater inertia means you need more energy to move something. Greater mass on the outside of the wheel/tire combo means you need more energy to get it turning. That's why you took such a massive hit on fuel economy. Replacing your wheels with lighter alternatives will decrease the overall weight of the wheel/tire combo, but the weight reduction will be closer to the axle. That means not as much reduction in rotational inertia.

 

[Dude]

“Falken AT4's 245/65/17: Lost about 5-6 mpg's.

What would you say your average mpg was prior to putting on the Falken AT4's?

Now that you’ve been driving some with the Falken AT4's do you still routinely see the ~5-6 mpg loss?

And for that 5-6mpg loss case, is that mostly for stop and go type driving or for freeway driving at constant speed?

my calculation of mpg loss is 2-4% loss in mpg primarily due to the rotational weight but could be as high as 6-8% based on which formula is most appropriate to the type of driving in which you experienced the loss.

 

[Captain Trips]

What would you say your average mpg was prior to putting on the Falken AT4's?

Now that you’ve been driving some with the Falken AT4's do you still routinely see the ~5-6 mpg loss?

And for that 5-6mpg loss case, is that mostly for stop and go type driving or for freeway driving at constant speed?

my calculation of mpg loss is 2-4% loss in mpg primarily due to the rotational weight but could be as high as 6-8% based on which formula is most appropriate to the type of driving in which you experienced the loss.

So i'm basing my MPG off the computer, not actually doing the math. The computer was always off (fairly substantially in my case based on the actual math)so I stopped doing it a long time ago because it was depressingly lower. The computer would say 27 MPG the math would say 23.5. I see people posting in the 30's and I've never gotten close to that. Sorry I'm getting off your question.

Before the Falkens it was around 26-27 MPG, I now see 21-22 MPG. I still have the same decline after a month or two, and my driving isn't stop and go or highway. I live in a somewhat rural area, and can probably average 3-5 miles between lights with a good flow of traffic.

 

[Dude]

Wow that would mean…

Before Falkans (with Continental tires ??)
Bronco Sport shows: 27 MPG
Calculation by hand: 23.5 MPG

After Falken AT4 245/65/17 installed:
Bronco Sport shows: 21-22 MPG
Calculation by hand probably is: 17.5 to 18.5 MPG ??

Perhaps your speedometer and trip computer are also off. This is correctable by setting tire size using FORScan.

The Bronco Sport fuel mileage is correctable using the Engineering Test Mode. Mark S posted how to do just that here:

https://www.broncosportforum.com/using-engineering-test-mode/

But regardless your MPG seems low in your 1.5L model even before installing the Falkans especially given that you drive in a somewhat rural area and probably average 3-5 miles between lights with a good flow of traffic.

 

[Jmuns]

Your mileage definitely sounds pretty low for the 1.5. It’s more in line with what I get with the 2.0 running Toyo OC AT3 245s. I’m about due for new tires and I’m thinking of moving to a set of Falken AT3 235s while I can still grab some and run those for the next 50k miles. I’m doing more road trips lately and getting some better mpg may not be a bad thing. I’ve also been riding in and driving my wife’s some more lately and the extra pep it has with the Falken 235s vs mine is pretty apparent. Everyone here that runs them says they perform well off-road and that’s been swaying my thoughts.

 

[NMhunter]

Is the diameter the same on the new tires? Running larger diameter tires means you're going further on each rotation, but the computer is still using the old measurement. That will mean you're also going faster than your speedometer indicates.

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