acceleration vs wheel size and weight

[Loren]

That's a nice idea, but if you look into it, you'll find that it doesn't hold up.

Your average "lightweight" 15" wheel trips the scales at around 12 pounds. Your average "lightweight" 17" wheel is (and I'm being generous) 16 pounds. The weight of the tires is usually about the same. Though for performance tires, because the heavily reinforced bead area of the larger diameter tire is larger, larger wheel's tire will be heavier than the smaller wheel's tire, even though it has less sidewall. Less rubber, more steel.

An when you're talking Yaris tires, the car doesn't need more than 195 treadwidth, but you can't get that in a 17... so you're adding width with the 17, which adds more weight.

Have a peek here and tell me which tire size is lighter, the 15" or the 17":
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.j...irePageLocQty=

It's always better to go with the smaller diameter wheel if your aim is to save weight. Even 14" wheels would be good if the tire selection wasn't so poor these days.

195/60-14 (typical 18 pounds) on an 11-pound wheel = about 29 pounds.
195/55-15 (typical 19 pounds) on a 12-pound wheel = about 31 pounds.
195/50-16 (typical 19 pounds) on a 14-pound wheel = about 33 pounds.
205/45-17 (typical 20 pounds) on a 16-pound wheel = about 36 pounds.