Need to buy a low-cost black, decent looking 17" wheels for my JCW...any suggestions? I am trading it for a GP2 and want to keep the black Championship wheels for it as I think the GP's are hideous.

 

What do you call low cost?

Tirerack has a decent selection, I use Enkei RPF1 for our track wheels. Tirerack as wheels from $105 up.

 

Tirerack, Discount Tires Direct, 1010 Tires, Wheelfire. Ebay has cheap replica JCW wheels for sale - $399.00 to $499.00 for the set.

 

Thank you all!

 

Go Konig, if they bend get more, cheap and light..really will you be able to extract what light wheels give you? Tenth of a second if you are lucky on the track...team dynamics, are a cheap similar light wheel and the Konigs make a few nice looking light weight offerings..tire choices are what will make the biggest difference.....

 

Motegis are cheap and somewhat durable. Can get them from TireRack. Keep in mind they might need special "tuner" lugs that are smaller diameter than the stock mini wheel bolts.

 

While I agree few drivers will measurably benefit, in my old R53 I found that there was a subtle but real difference in steering feel and braking. I doubt it would have made me any faster, but it did make the steering feel lighter at speeds over 35-ish. The difference between the factory boat anchors and 17lb wheels was impressive.

Can't attest to this on my Clubman though. I have kids now, so lightweight wheels don't make the budget anymore. I would expect the same though.

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Slight is right, rubber is much more noticeable in your daily/track driving indulgence. Question, did you change your tires and rims at the same time? While I agree, that removing unsprung weight and rotational mass adds benifit, most notably for what the suspension has to account for. Braking, turn in bite and steering response is much more about rubber and allignment camber than anything else....

 

I did; it was from factory tires with runflat tires to the lightweight wheels with non-runflat tires. The two together really add up. And to your point, yes, the tire feel could certainly have the effect I described. I have driven all three combinations of light-wheels+light-tires, light-wheels+heavy-tires, heavy-wheels+heavy-tires. (I have not used MINI's boat anchors with non-runflat tires.) The change in steering feel seemed more linked to wheel weight than the tires alone.

Of course, I can't truly rule out the placebo effect, either. (By definition I can't.)

Absolutely. Wheels have a small effect relative to the others. But it's not zero and of course, your mileage may vary.

 

I think this thread got off track a little. If the OP is just trading in the car who cares what the wheels look like as they fit the car and hold air.

 

True that...who cares is right, whatever rolls!

 

Weight of wheels has a greater effect than is being said hear. For a street car and track toy is really not that big of a deal but for autocross its an advantage. When I put on my RPF1 wheels with Dunlop Z2 tires I can feel the increased response immediately and my street tires are not crappy tires, they are Michelin pilot super sports. The difference is in a 10lb weight loss per wheel.

But for non competition settings, it does not matter.