As most MINIs seem to weigh in just under 2700 pounds, does anyone have any creative ideas for reducing weight?

I know DaveInDenver posted that you could remove the rear seats... and a good number of us are planning on switching to lighter aftermarket wheels & tires.

I checked with a couple of carbon-fiber hood manufacturers, but as the headlights are incorporated, it seems they are not planning on a lightweight hood for the MINI yet.

Any other good ideas?

 

Well, there's:

Jenny Craig
Nutra-Slim
The Atkin's Diet
Diatrim

....just to name a VERY few!


(Sorry, not much real help, am I?)

 

see this thread

Actually, saving weight off the driver has been mentioned in there. Along with the seats, carbon fiber hood, battery, wheels and tires, exhausts, gutting the interior...

 

thanks Dave!

Hmmm... I wonder if anyone will produce a carbon fiber Sunroof ?!?

 

Get rid of the heavier 16" runflat tires and replace them with the standard 15" wheel/tire combo. The 7 hole design are the lightest of them all (Around 12 pounds) followed by the 8-spoke design (About 15 pounds).

 

Unsprung weight.

Change the wheels, tires and brakes. This is were you will see you biggest reduction in weight.

 

>>Unsprung weight.
>>
>>Change the wheels, tires and brakes. This is were you will see you biggest reduction in weight.

*** Or the biggest increase in performance-per-pound, as unsprung weight affects vehicle dynamics (ABC, acceleration-braking-cornering) much more than regular ("sprung&quot vehicle weight.

Most people on this thread are probably already familiar with the weights for tires and wheels listed on the tire&wheel forum part of MCO (hosted by TireRack), but another handy source is:

http://www.wheelweights.net/

I still trying really hard to find ANY MINI owner who has done the 8-9 pound SSR Competition 15" forged wheels. Seems like that and some light tires like Pirelli PZeros ought to make for a spinning dynamo

tom@wigginsassociates.com
http://home.earthlink.net/~bmwmini

 

There are several people on MINI2 who either have done the 15" SSR Competitions, or are very close to... If i remember correctly, someone test-fit them and they *do* fit....

 

If you weigh more than 150# it's cheaper to buy less food for a while than change your wheels.

 

I totally agree with the weight loss on body (our own, rather than the MINI's) and have dropped from 189 a year ago to as low as 168 a couple of weeks ago (my pre-Christmas-pig-out weight) and am now at 173 or so. But your recommendation about the 150 pounds is like most recommendations... it depends. In this case, it depends on your height. In my case, it's 6'3" and if I was 150 pounds someone would mistake me for a support post on an EZY-Up tent at an autocross