Pothole did me in

I nailed one of PA's famous potholes and put a dent in my rim. Fortunately it's on the back side so I smacked on it with a hammer and got it bent back to at least hold air now but I'm going to need to replace it and I'm not sure what to replace it with. I could go OEM which would be the cheapest as I don't need to replace all of them, or I could sell the others and buy something different all around. I'm curious what rims people have put on their leafs and mileage impact.

Since you have 17 inch wheels, some Leafers (starting from when Leafs weren't available with 17 inch wheels) put in the 17 inch wheels from the Juke. Search this forum for pics.

I'm using 17" wheels from an Infiniti G35.

I mounted snow tires on my original 16" wheels.

I like my Juke Wheels .
Center caps transfer over also.

Get a replacement rim for $169 and be done with it.
http://www.hubcaphaven.com/c/3848/nissan_leaf_wheels_rims.html

JR

jms said:

I nailed one of PA's famous potholes and put a dent in my rim. Fortunately it's on the back side so I smacked on it with a hammer and got it bent back to at least hold air now but I'm going to need to replace it and I'm not sure what to replace it with. I could go OEM which would be the cheapest as I don't need to replace all of them, or I could sell the others and buy something different all around. I'm curious what rims people have put on their leafs and mileage impact.

Click to expand...

Do you know how much the OEM 17" rims you have weigh?

I'm looking at replacing my OEM 16" with aftermarket 15" rims that weigh 15 lbs each.

I like the greater variety in tire sizes at 15" than at 17" and I like the idea of saving several pounds a piece per tire and per wheel. Dropping 5-10 pounds per corner is doable and the thought of 20-40 less pounds unsprung weight is a big plus for handling and acceleration.

In addition the extra sidewall means more shock absorption and generally speaking less wheel damage.

I'm thinking about Sport Tuning T2 at 13.5 pounds for the 15" but its on closeout and it may sell out before I pull the trigger.

another 15" is Sport Tuning T9 at 15 pounds.

a 16" choice is Enkei Performance J10 at 16.5 pounds, you'd gain some damage resistance with a 16" vs the 17" but won't gain anything on tire choices worth noting.

Either way going to 15" or 16" will be more durable dealing with potholes, but 15" will gain you some more range/efficiency as well.

Very few 15" wheels will have enough clearance for the front brake rotors. Be sure to test fit any wheels that you're considering.

garsh said:

Very few 15" wheels will have enough clearance for the front brake rotors. Be sure to test fit any wheels that you're considering.

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Tirerack does all the checking on that before they list them. The 15" wheels I listed are approved by tirerack.com.

Hit another "PA pothole" recently as well - this time I lost both the front and rear passenger tires!

Dinged-up the rims a bit, but didn't have to beat them back into shape as you did.

It's crazy that we have managed to spend as much on replacement tires and wheel alignment for the LEAF each year as we have for electricity to run it.

In over 30 years of driving, have never lost as many tires due to potholes as I have since driving the LEAF.

If we keep it once the lease is up, I will certainly look into what can be done to improve the situation.

Aside from not hitting the pothole in the first place!

dhanson865 said:

garsh said:

Very few 15" wheels will have enough clearance for the front brake rotors. Be sure to test fit any wheels that you're considering.

Click to expand...

Tirerack does all the checking on that before they list them. The 15" wheels I listed are approved by tirerack.com.

Click to expand...

It's a shame that tirerack only lists the 15s under a search for winter tires and doesn't test all the 15s.

I went with some used SSR Comp 10lbs each and they make the car feel faster and the brakes are a bit too responsive with them. They are on winter tires which is where I wanted the range boost. They are super tight, like super super tight. Had to take my rears back to the tire shop to get them to rebalance them when I rotated. I also hit a curb and caused damage to one so I bought some old infiniti J45 or something rims. I read that 240SX people use those brakes as a big brake kit and they are similar in size (rotor) to the 300zx however they didn't fit. I would have needed a .75" spacer to fit them on the front min but maybe 1". So I ran the winter with different back rims.

Tire sizes 205 65 15 looks a bit too bubble like but is a good overall diameter at 25.5". 195 65 15 which I have on my prius looks better but is smaller at 24.9" IIRC. The smaller tire won't roll as well as a larger one but the weight and width might offset that. In terms of rolling my much taller 215 55 17 Contis roll really well, they are on very un aerodynamic 20lb wheels and I can get numbers very similar to stock 16s.

If you want light weight also try the Kosei K4R in 16x6.6 12.4lbs. I emailed tire rack they said they fit but the centre cap doesn't fit on the front. Price them out with a Hyundai Veloster to see them. $159 per and you can reuse your stock tire if they are still good. If not I'd recommend the 205 60 16, my cousin runs it on his winters 25.7".

minispeed said:

dhanson865 said:

garsh said:

Very few 15" wheels will have enough clearance for the front brake rotors. Be sure to test fit any wheels that you're considering.

Click to expand...

Tirerack does all the checking on that before they list them. The 15" wheels I listed are approved by tirerack.com.

Click to expand...

It's a shame that tirerack only lists the 15s under a search for winter tires and doesn't test all the 15s.

Click to expand...

Its very important that you search for the wheels only and choose them based on that search.

If you try and find a wheel/tire combo their system hides things from you that would be a valid pairing on your car. They do not test the tires and wheels together. They only test the wheels but the website isn't coded properly to show you all the possible valid combinations.

As to the tires I'd consider any width/aspect/size that has the correct diameter and revs per mile. Ideally the diameter would be slightly higher than the 16" OEM tire or roughly equal to the OEM 17" tire. Think about 25" to 25.4" diameter and about 830 to 825 revs per mile or thereabouts.

OakLeaf"]Hit another "PA pothole" recently as well - this time I lost both the front and rear passenger tires!

Dinged-up the rims a bit, but didn't have to beat them back into shape as you did.

It's crazy that we have managed to spend as much on replacement tires and wheel alignment for the LEAF each year as we have for electricity to run it.

In over 30 years of driving, have never lost as many tires due to potholes as I have since driving the LEAF.

If we keep it once the lease is up, I will certainly look into what can be done to improve the situation.

Aside from not hitting the pothole in the first place!

Click to expand...

I'm afraid that is because you still have the OEM thin sidewall "E-Crapia" tires on there.

True, I am a slow learner sometimes... LOL

KillaWhat said:

I'm afraid that is because you still have the OEM thin sidewall "E-Crapia" tires on there.

Click to expand...

To be fair, that was some severe damage to those tires/wheels, I highly doubt any tire would have held up to that kind of abuse.

The juke wheels do sap some range so I think I will not be doing that even though they can be had under $100. I found that I can get a wheel for under $150 delivered. I was hoping to get closer to $100. It's too small a claim to present to my insurance but if I lost 2 of them at once I would certainly do that. Right now it loses one or two psi per day so I have to fill it every 3-4 days so I'll live with it until I find the rim I'm looking for.

Actually wound up replacing all 4 tires, but it helped me make a decision too.

When I hit that pothole, the lease was going to be up in just a little over a week, and I still hadn't decided what to do as I knew if we extended the lease for another year we would certainly have to put new tires on before turning it in.

So, being forced to put new tires on made it an easy decision to keep the Leaf a bit longer while waiting to see what will be available in the next 12 months.