# Importance of Wheels/Tires on ECO



## cerbomark (Dec 13, 2010)

you will lose a few MPGs going with 18 s as would any car going from 16 or17 inch wheels to 18s.. just because of extra weight alone. So you may take a 3 or 4 MPG s hit (Just an estimate)... I don t know much about the ECO to say anything else. and WELCOME.


----------



## gman19 (Apr 5, 2011)

cerbomark said:


> you will lose a few MPGs going with 18 s as would any car going from 16 or17 inch wheels to 18s.. just because of extra weight alone. So you may take a 3 or 4 MPG s hit (Just an estimate)... I don t know much about the ECO to say anything else. and WELCOME.


It would be interesting to see...The ECO has the same 1.4T as others (except the LS/1.8NA). BUT, the ECO does have the undercarriage shielding and the active louvre/shutter in the front end, so I'd think, IMO, that you would lose a couple MPG's, but should get slightly better than other trim-lines.


----------



## steelbane (May 5, 2011)

Thanks for the feedback.

Another member just posted this link: 

Advanced Tire Saves Big Bucks for Chevy Cruze Drivers - Yahoo! Finance

Judging by the information in this article I will lose at least 3 mpg on the tire change, aside from the loss pertaining to the wheel weight.

I want the turbo engine in manual transmission and it seems this Eco trim is the only way to get it..


----------



## Kinmartin0789 (Feb 18, 2011)

hey man i will buy your eco rims off of you if you are serious about getting it and replacing the rims, if you are interested you can pm and i will give you my email so we can keep in touch and figure out speciffics. i really want to get rid of my steelies with hubcaps.


----------



## GMMillwright (Mar 5, 2011)

I'd guess maybe 5%. Figure 2 mpg on the highway. Maybe even less if you find a lightweight replacement wheel. The ECO wheels weigh 18 lbs. each.


----------



## steelbane (May 5, 2011)

Kin pm me your email address. I will be using my truck during snow storms, so this would work out for both of us.

Thanks for the feedback Scott.


----------



## northvibe (May 4, 2011)

Just get lightweight racing wheels in 18" and they are 17lbs.


----------



## WHITECO (Mar 31, 2011)

northvibe said:


> Just get lightweight racing wheels in 18" and they are 17lbs.



I think the problem will be to find such a wheel in the right bolt pattern as the Cruze is a one of a kind


----------



## GMMillwright (Mar 5, 2011)

I'd run these in a 19" in a heartbeat. Forged, too. Unfortunately, not available in our 105 bolt circle.

Center Line Wheels


----------



## Skilz10179 (Mar 22, 2011)

In addition to better gas mileage, lighter wheels also provide better acceleration, better braking, better suspension performance and less drivetrain stress. Forged wheels also have a superior strength to weight ratio compared to cast wheels. If you're going to replace your Eco wheels make sure you're upgrading rather than downgrading...


----------



## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

I have a set of these in 17" for my '01 Saturn:

Center Line Wheels

Even though the wheels are only 15lbs each the reduction in performance was noticeable. Stock was 15 x 6.5 with 195/60-15, the Storms are 17 x 7 with 225/45-17. The tire diameter increase was only 3%, but combined with the extra weight of the BFG G-Force KD's in that size it did make a noticeable difference, the car lost a bit of zip for sure.

As far as mileage goes, lighter wheels/tires will make a small difference in city driving but will not measurably affect highway mileage.

Low Rolling Resistance (LRR) tread technologies are debatable right now; there is not yet a standard in place to accurately compare the rolling resistance of different tires. Michelin claims that all of thier regular passenger car tires are LRR designs, but that means almost nothing since it can't be verified. Their X-Ice Xi2 tires are claimed to be a LRR tire, but does that mean it has less rolling resistance than a non LRR all season tire? I doubt it!

I would like to assume that because GM is using this GY tire on the Eco and the Volt that it actually does offer a mileage increase. The critic in me will argue that GY has themselves so far up GM's arse that there was an "agreement" with the company regardless of whether that tire was the best for these applications.

Until a testing standard matures the consumer will have little to base their buying decisions on besides crafty marketing. It's hard to imagine GM not selecting a great LRR for the Volt, so I guess for now I'll have to assume that they offer some sort of mileage benefit.


----------



## steelbane (May 5, 2011)

Blue Angel said:


> I have a set of these in 17" for my '01 Saturn:
> 
> Center Line Wheels
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.


----------



## Mrk9182 (Apr 8, 2011)

copied from tire rack 



> If the vehicle equipped with standard Original Equipment, low rolling resistance passenger tires normally provided 25 mpg in the city and 30 mpg on the highway, installing tires with 20% greater rolling resistance would only drop fuel mileage by a calculated 3% (to 24.25 mpg) in the city and a calculated 5% (to 28.5 mpg) on the highway. While this is a measurable difference, it probably isn't much more of an influence on real world fuel economy than being stuck in rush hour traffic a couple of times a week or being stopped at every red light instead of continuing through a string of green lights


----------



## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...notice that Tire Rack statement said: _"...by a *calculated* 3% (to 24.25 mpg) in the city and a calculated 5% (to 28.5 mpg) on the highway..."_

...it's not a _"...*tested* result..."_ that they can hang their hats on.


----------



## InsaneSpeed (May 7, 2011)

From real world experiences, the drop is so minimal, just be changing your driving habits can make up the difference on the rolling resistance part, but when adding heavier wheels, it does take more power to turn and stop, it's just physics. 

If your worried about wheel/tire packages and weight, you need to look at the total weight of the package, most people overlook the weight of the tire. Tire manufacturers use different compounds which change weight, steel/Kevlar/Nylon belts inside the tires change weight, and don't forget, making sure you take your tires and wheels to a reputable installer, some places are lazy and will not turn the tires if they are way out of balance, they just add more weights. I had a customer that had 12oz of weight on a 1 rear tire, that's 3/4 of a lb. I took it to my guy that turned the tire and it only needed 1oz.
Hope this helps the discussion.
Later
Steve


----------



## InsaneSpeed (May 7, 2011)

Oh yeah, don't forget about those heavy chrome valve stems, wow do they add weight. Stay with the black ones.














I'm kidding.
Later


----------



## CruzeCo (May 6, 2011)

Well i just switched my eco wheels for the ltz 18's so well see what kinda mpgs are lost. To be honest i was only getting 29 city anyway.


----------



## Quazar (Apr 28, 2011)

Just wait and order the LT1 or LT2 2012 model with the manual trans. If you are more into the turbo/trans combo then gas milage, that would be the best option.

The gear ratio on the new M/T for 2012 is shorter.


----------



## SlowBoost (Jul 26, 2011)

GMMillwright said:


> The ECO wheels weigh 18 lbs. each.


Is there posted information with the stock wheel weights available? I was interested on how much weight difference there was between the stock wheels. 

On my last car the steel wheels I always ran on the street were 22 lbs and 15". For autox and rallyx I swapped to the lightest stock wheel that was available and it was a 15 lb 15". Acceleration was much better with the lighter weight wheels.


----------



## keveburd (Jul 15, 2011)

*A little math*

The thing to look at is not the weight of the wheel and tire, its the torque to get it spinning that kills you.

Lets just say that you have a hypothetical 13" rim that weighs a whopping 20lbs (evenly distributed), and you swap it for an equally hypothetical 26" rim that weighs only 10 lbs(again evenly distributed), both of these wheels would cost about the same torque to get moving, and would burn a comparable amount of gasoline in the process.

This can be related in the formula:
((2*Π*13")*20lbs) / ((2*Π*26")*10lbs) = 1/1 = 1
The "1" denotes an equal ratio.

My advise to you, if you are looking at buying rims for the sake of aesthetic value (because you want to, you like it, and that should be enoughccasion14 try to find a wheel that has a comparable weight distribution, and get a set of LRR tires to go on them: Continental Low Rolling Resistance Tires. (Just a quick search.)

Also the formula for finding the ideal weight for the new wheel is going to be:
((2*Π*17")*18lbs) / ((2*Π*18")*24lbs) = 17/24 = .7083

Which means that if you replace the stock 17" wheels (that weigh 18lbs, according to an earlier post) and buy an 18" wheel (that weighs 24lbs) you will see an estimated 70.8% of the torque from the stock wheel (this is because of the extra work the engine has to do to get the new wheel spinning you lose about 30% of torque in this example), and a comparable (but not equally linear) relation to a drop in fuel economy (my educated guess would be something like 3/4 of the percentage drop would probably carry over to fuel). This still relates to about a 9 MPG drop on the highway (Disclaimer: this is an educated guess).

BUT! this is only for the wheels, the OEM ECO tires weigh 19lbs too! and the only comparable 18" tires I found (see link above) were 23lbs for a net gain of 4 lbs per corner, which will change the torque even more, but that is a "lotta" bit different to calculate.

*The formula above assumes a uniform distribution of weight in the wheel, in actuality the wheel is always going to be heavier on the outside rim. This is impossible to measure without already possessing the wheels, so we have to make a generalized guess.

*But here is the kicker, if you are okay with losing a few MPGs, and you have the money to spend on new rims, DO IT! It's YOUR money, it's YOUR car, all I can offer is a little advise!*


----------



## keveburd (Jul 15, 2011)

Also, I want to point out that I used a heavy wheel on purpose. I was trying to exaggerate the losses to make it easier to see, in the real world using the LTZ wheels it is not going to be anywhere near so drastic a change.


----------

