Volk TE37 and Rays Extended Lug Nuts

This morning I took the Volk TE37s that I had in storage in the garage from the Honda Fit and put them on the Roadster. I was a little concerned that the fitment wouldn't be right but they fit just fine. The Volks are 15x7, +35 with Yokohama AVS ES100 195/50 tires. I also removed the Rays extended lugs that were holding on the Fits stock wheels and put them on the Roadster.

Acceleration is signifigantly faster and throttle response is a lot better. It makes sense, the wheels that were on the Roadster were 14x6 solid-spoke wheels (http://www.miata.net/faq/wheel_weights.html#weight) that weigh 11.5lbs each. The lug nuts that were on there weigh 2.1 oz (0.131 lbs) each. Now the TE37 wheel weighs 9.15 lbs (http://www.miata.net/faq/wheel_weights.html#weight) and each lug nut weighs 0.8 oz (0.05 lbs) (http://www.upgrademotoring.com/wheels/lugnuts.htm).

Stock: (11.5*4)+(0.131*16)=48.096 lbs
TE37 & Rays Lug Nuts: (9.15*4)+(0.05*16)=37.4 lbs Down 10.69 lbs!

So we saved a total of 10.69 lbs with this upgrade. Although that may not be a massive weight savings, the key here is that it reduces the unsprung weight. Simply put, less mass to spin up means better acceleration, braking, and handling. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsprung_weight

Here are some pictures from the day: