Aftermarket Wheels; Will These Be Okay?

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Spacep0d

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 13, 2019
Messages
63
Location
Santa Clarita, CA
Hi Fellow LEAFers!

I'm eyeballing some new wheels for my car, the last mod I will make until I get a Tesla Model 3 in 1-2 years. The Model 3 is the car that made me fall in love with EVs and is the reason I bought a used LEAF as my first EV, so we're all allies here. :D

Here are the rims;

G3q4use.jpg


https://www.carid.com/motegi-racing-wheels/mr116-matte-black-red-stripe-859997.html

These are all stock specs, except for the width. Specs are +40mm offset. Bolt-pattern is 5 x 114.3mm. Width is 7".

Stock width is 6.5" but these are 7". I was trying to stay as close to stock as possible. These are aluminum wheels too, so they should weigh much less than the stock steel wheels (though I'm still looking for weight specs per wheel). If I can get those red stripes and details in bright EV blue I'll do that.

Does anyone think I can re-use my stock tires or will I need new tires to fit the 7" rim? I don't mind selling the stamped steel wheels with tires if I have to. My stock tires are in great shape.

Any ideas are welcome. Here's a pic of my car as it looks today. Note, I just photoshopped the stock hubcaps black, but the hubcaps are currently off the vehicle.

uwGPHqe.jpg

TrfTS1X.jpg

0ASyIBJ.jpg


Also, if you know certain 17" wheels that will fit, I'm open to suggestions but I want something as close to stock as possible unless there's some other good reason to go with a 17".

Thanks!
 
There are several things to consider: center hole diameter, offset, shape of inside of wheel, and diameter. The front brake calipers are much larger than most cars so the offset and shape of the inside of the wheel are critical to avoid interference. Wider tires of the same type will have slightly higher rolling resistance. You can go a little larger than stock 16" or 17" tires if you don't need clearance for tire chains, otherwise stay with a tire size that does not exceed the stock 17-inch size.
 
GerryAZ said:
There are several things to consider: center hole diameter, offset, shape of inside of wheel, and diameter. The front brake calipers are much larger than most cars so the offset and shape of the inside of the wheel are critical to avoid interference. Wider tires of the same type will have slightly higher rolling resistance. You can go a little larger than stock 16" or 17" tires if you don't need clearance for tire chains, otherwise stay with a tire size that does not exceed the stock 17-inch size.

Thanks Gerry, right now everything with this wheel is the same as stock except width. An extra half inch on each side should be fine I think. Do you think I'll be able to use the stock tire on a 7" wheel, all else being equal?

I was thinking about rolling resistance too, which is why I wanted something closer to stock size. But, aftermarket wheels seem to be a bit wider. No need for tire chains here in SoCal, and I won't be taking the LEAF to the mountains. :)
 
If your car has the same size tires as my 2011 had (205/55 R16), then Tirerack lists rim width range of 5.5 to 7.5 inches for Bridgestone Ecopias. My 2015 came with 215/50 R17 Michelin tires, but I chose 215/55 R17 Bridgestone Ecopias when I bought the last set. They fill the fender openings better, but don't have enough clearance for tire chains (I have other vehicles for trips to the mountains).
 
GerryAZ said:
If your car has the same size tires as my 2011 had (205/55 R16), then Tirerack lists rim width range of 5.5 to 7.5 inches for Bridgestone Ecopias. My 2015 came with 215/50 R17 Michelin tires, but I chose 215/55 R17 Bridgestone Ecopias when I bought the last set. They fill the fender openings better, but don't have enough clearance for tire chains (I have other vehicles for trips to the mountains).

Hi!

Yes, I have that exact same tire. Glad to know it'll fit 7" wide wheels. :) Thanks!
 
I just got wheels for my 2019. For some reason they use the skinniest wheel they could on that tire. I think it is for weight as well as needing that width tire for the load rating, anything smaller and the load rating is too low. The ecopia are sl load rating which means they cant take as much load as the same size xl rated tire.

When taking a turn fast, the car just felt "squishy", which I think is a combo of soft suspension and the tire being wider than optimal(for good handling) on that width rim.

I pretty much looked at all the options for wheels and tires on that car, and for weight and handling the best and cheapest I found are these:

https://www.discounttiredirect.com/buy-wheels/konig-hypergram/p/47826

Konig Hypergram
17x8 45mm offset
16.3 lbs

You can use the ecopia on this wheel but I would recommend for price and performance falken azenis 510 tires or continental extreme contact. They are some of the lightest tires you can get. But they are high performance summer tires so it depends on what you are after.

If you want a wheel that is not that wide, motegi and konig have some inexpensive options as well. The motegi 140 and 131 are both 7" and weigh in around 17 lbs. The wheel you linked to is 20 lbs. So there won't be much weight savings there over stock.

Check out some of the konigs too. If you go to motegi or konig website they list wheel weight for most of their wheels. If you go to a site like discount tire or tire rack they can be wrong about weight.

Discounttiredirect.com has by far the lowest prices on wheels and tires so whatever you get I would look there for it.
 
OP- did you end up getting a set of wheels yet? I'm interested in getting some lightweight wheels as well- I'm thinking about going for either the konig hypergram (mentioned above), or the motegi traklites. Would like to keep my ecopias so I'm leaning towards the motegi traklites for now.
 
The ecopia should fit on an 8" wheel. That said, I found a set of super cheap tsw wheels on craigslist that are 7.5" with a 215 wide tire so I have not tried it myself. But technically you should be able to.
 
BoloLeaf said:
OP- did you end up getting a set of wheels yet? I'm interested in getting some lightweight wheels as well- I'm thinking about going for either the konig hypergram (mentioned above), or the motegi traklites. Would like to keep my ecopias so I'm leaning towards the motegi traklites for now.


Yeah I got the Motegi 16x7" with the machined stripe. They're stock replacement size (slightly wider than stock) and I put the same tires on 'em. They look better than the stamped steel wheels and are noticeably lighter (also lighter by spec, 10 lbs. per wheel from what I see). Stock steel wheel for the S weighs 28 lbs. from what I found, and mine at 18 lbs. per wheel (aluminum).

However, the car needs to be lowered about an inch due to the cavernous wheel well space over the wheel...or I could have gone +1 but I'm selling my car soon (for a lot of reasons, not because there's anything wrong with the car).

Pics coming soon!
 
Thanks for the response! I just installed my new wheels so I'll be posting soon. Went with 17x7.5 konig backbones (~19lbs) with -35mm offset. Kept the stock tires for now. So far, so good!
 
I have a 2018 Leaf s. I lowered the car 1.2 inches on H&R springs and have 18x8 wheels 40mm offset with 235/40r18 Falken g5 tires. The car looks better and handles better. I haven't noticed any milage loss.
 
I bought a steel aftermarket wheel for $70 off ebay to put a full size spare on.
It weighs 20 or 21lb.
I'm really glad I didn't get a used OEM wheel.
 
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