PLEASE SUBMIT ANY ADDITIONS, CORRECTIONS, &/OR QUESTIONS. Help make this an easier project for others:
- Heavier wheel/tire sets reduce acceleration & braking performance because they not only have to be accelerated/decelerated horizontally, but also rotationally.
- I weighed the stock wheels of the 500e I own at about 17.5 pounds (about 17 1/4Lb 5.5" wide fronts & 17 3/4Lb 6.5" rears) & the stock tire spec is 17Lb. Total weight 34.5Lb (138 for all 4).
- Stock 500e offsets: 28mm front, 35mm rear.
- 500 hubs have a 4x98 bolt pattern, for which light wheels are hard to find, especially for a reasonable price, but 4x100 wheels will bolt on* with floating-cone "wobble" bolts IF the wheel's bolt holes are at least 14mm. The bolts do NOT wobble. The cones just slide 1mm out to mate with the wheel's seats. They are approved by TireRack, PepBoys, Konig (verbally), Sean at GoodWin Racing, & my super-picky hard-core track-racer friend. The problem is that even though they bolt onto our cars, the wheel manufacturers don't have clearance specs, so I'm sharing my research results.
- Contrary to what I thought prior to this, tires with the same O.D. on larger diameter wheels are nearly always heavier, for example:
- 14" wheels will fit "standard" 500s (since they have 10" front brakes): Wheel/tire as low as 24.6Lb (98.4 for all 4, details in a Jan 21 reply)
- 15" wheels sometimes fit the 500e & Turbo (& Abarth, if you file down the swaybar clamp), since they all have 11" front brakes. According to Sean at GoodWin Racing, some 15s have too small an I.D: Lightest wheel/tire found so far that definitely fits (with work) is 26.9Lb (107.6 for 4, details in a Jan 21 reply).
- 16" is required to clear the STOCK Abarth rear swaybar, but to use lighter 15s you can file its clamp as pictured, or remove it & use an aftermarket base 500 bar.
*The following will bolt on even though they're all listed as 4x100, & all prices listed at time of writing from GoodWin Racing, with whom I have absolutely no affiliation besides buying a set of wheels from them:
- 8.6Lb $169 Enkei RPF1 28mm offset 14x7 will bolt on, & clear 10" brake 500s but not 11"s.
- 9.8Lb $184 Enkei RPF1 35mm offset 15x7 will bolt on, & clear 10" brake 500s, but Sean at GoodWin says probably not 11s.
- 10.9Lb $124 Advanti Storm 35mm offset 15x7 clears 500's 11" brakes' calipers (& everything else except a stock Abarth swaybar mount), but will only bolt on if you enlarge the bolt holes by 18 thousandths of an inch radius, which there is plenty of room for.
- 11.4Lb $88 Konig Helium 40mm offset 15 x 6.5 will bolt on (according to fellow forum member 500Emazing), & would clear any 10" brake 500. 500eMazing has a set to check 11" brake caliper clearance. Same width as stock rears should allow lighter tires than 7" width wheels.
- 11.8Lb $127 Konig Hypergram 35mm offset 15x7.5 will bolt on as pictured, & clears 500's 11" brakes' calipers (& everything else except a stock Abarth swaybar mount). The extra width will generally require heavier tires.
- 13.6Lb $79 Konig Current 25mm offset 15x7 will bolt on as pictured, & clears 500's 11" brakes' calipers (& everything else except a stock Abarth swaybar mount).
- Heavier wheel/tire sets reduce acceleration & braking performance because they not only have to be accelerated/decelerated horizontally, but also rotationally.
- I weighed the stock wheels of the 500e I own at about 17.5 pounds (about 17 1/4Lb 5.5" wide fronts & 17 3/4Lb 6.5" rears) & the stock tire spec is 17Lb. Total weight 34.5Lb (138 for all 4).
- Stock 500e offsets: 28mm front, 35mm rear.
- 500 hubs have a 4x98 bolt pattern, for which light wheels are hard to find, especially for a reasonable price, but 4x100 wheels will bolt on* with floating-cone "wobble" bolts IF the wheel's bolt holes are at least 14mm. The bolts do NOT wobble. The cones just slide 1mm out to mate with the wheel's seats. They are approved by TireRack, PepBoys, Konig (verbally), Sean at GoodWin Racing, & my super-picky hard-core track-racer friend. The problem is that even though they bolt onto our cars, the wheel manufacturers don't have clearance specs, so I'm sharing my research results.
- Contrary to what I thought prior to this, tires with the same O.D. on larger diameter wheels are nearly always heavier, for example:
- 14" wheels will fit "standard" 500s (since they have 10" front brakes): Wheel/tire as low as 24.6Lb (98.4 for all 4, details in a Jan 21 reply)
- 15" wheels sometimes fit the 500e & Turbo (& Abarth, if you file down the swaybar clamp), since they all have 11" front brakes. According to Sean at GoodWin Racing, some 15s have too small an I.D: Lightest wheel/tire found so far that definitely fits (with work) is 26.9Lb (107.6 for 4, details in a Jan 21 reply).
- 16" is required to clear the STOCK Abarth rear swaybar, but to use lighter 15s you can file its clamp as pictured, or remove it & use an aftermarket base 500 bar.
*The following will bolt on even though they're all listed as 4x100, & all prices listed at time of writing from GoodWin Racing, with whom I have absolutely no affiliation besides buying a set of wheels from them:
- 8.6Lb $169 Enkei RPF1 28mm offset 14x7 will bolt on, & clear 10" brake 500s but not 11"s.
- 9.8Lb $184 Enkei RPF1 35mm offset 15x7 will bolt on, & clear 10" brake 500s, but Sean at GoodWin says probably not 11s.
- 10.9Lb $124 Advanti Storm 35mm offset 15x7 clears 500's 11" brakes' calipers (& everything else except a stock Abarth swaybar mount), but will only bolt on if you enlarge the bolt holes by 18 thousandths of an inch radius, which there is plenty of room for.
- 11.4Lb $88 Konig Helium 40mm offset 15 x 6.5 will bolt on (according to fellow forum member 500Emazing), & would clear any 10" brake 500. 500eMazing has a set to check 11" brake caliper clearance. Same width as stock rears should allow lighter tires than 7" width wheels.
- 11.8Lb $127 Konig Hypergram 35mm offset 15x7.5 will bolt on as pictured, & clears 500's 11" brakes' calipers (& everything else except a stock Abarth swaybar mount). The extra width will generally require heavier tires.
- 13.6Lb $79 Konig Current 25mm offset 15x7 will bolt on as pictured, & clears 500's 11" brakes' calipers (& everything else except a stock Abarth swaybar mount).