Bad Bimr

Yes the same applies, however reducing 15+ pounds from each corner will be a tough thing to do. To do so you will need to get light weight wheels, lug nuts, and brake rotors. Here is a good site that has many wheels weights. Another way to reduce unsprung weight is to get a light-weight flywheel, drive shaft, fan and accessory pullies to name a few. Basically anything that is turning in your car and connected to either the engine or suspension is unsprung weight.

jlcool007

actually, the contact patch has nothing to do with it

inertia is the word.. basically, as weight is put further away from the center of any spinning object, it takes more energy (torque in this case) to affect its angular acceleration.

generally, unless you have like 21" magnesiums, yes, you will feel slightly slower (acceleration and brake wise)

Aeroresh

The wheel weight issue wont have much affect on a big heavy car like the 5.

You'd feel it in a light weight racer maybe but not in a big well powered saloon.

Id really just concentrate on getting the right size tyres to keep the overall rolling circumference the same.

sleepyca31

The 530 is not ALL that heavy-It weighs less than the 335 and the same as the 328 which I would consider smaller cars-so I wouldnt be surprised if it was more noticable than people think-For a pretty big sedan they kept the weight one of the lowest in their entire set of cars-only the Z series is lighter and 3 series is the same or heavier (335)-obviously the 535 is now heavier than the 335 but that is the engine but 530 was actually quite light at 3400 for the size of the thing.

Aeroresh

I meant big and heavy in comparison to a lightweight car like a Lotus Elise or similar where wheel weights will play a bigger effect in the overall balance of the car.

kchan

Interesting topic on wheel weights.
I don't think I notice a difference when I go from 17" to 19", but then I do have light weighted wheels (about 8-10 lbs lighter at each corner).
However I don't notice too much of a difference in acceleration, maybe slightly faster with the new wheels? It seems to move more freely when I step on the gas...
Maybe my 19" has more weights on the outer edge than my 17", and the overall effect is the same (or slightly faster with my 19" light weight wheels)?

Since I have a 525i, I am more concerned with weights and wouldn't want to add heavy 19" wheels to my car, although many people have style 166 and haven't heard them complaining, so the effect shouldn't be too noticeable. For reference, I think the style 166 is about 26-27lbs? Style 124 is quite heavy for 18" wheels (~30lbs). I also think having wider tires may mean a little more rolling friction that may affect acceleration? Light weight 19 will be in the 20-21 lb range?

marc545i

I switched from 18's to 20's last week and I can definitely feel a slight difference from a dead stop. Nothing major, but perhaps with a 530 it may be more noticeable. Unless you're racing your car, it's worth the difference b/c you make up for it in overall ride and performance.

Bad Bimr

So are you saying overall ride quality is better with the 20" wheel vs the 18" wheel? Everyone that I know and from my personal experience, ride quality suffers when you go to a larger wheel and lower profile tire.

Bill P