I plan on keeping my 2008 xB for 10 years so I don't mind spending money up front to get the best gas mileage. With this in mind I want to get a set of the lighter alloy rims.

When I order the xB I can't imagine our dealer exchanging the stock steel rims for alloy so I'm expecting I'll have to have the rims shipped from the mainland (very expensive shipping to Hawaii).

My questions:

1) Can I get alloy rims that will work with the stock 16 x 6.5 205/66-16 Bridgestones?

2) What's the most economical brand of rims to get? (Can you tell I'm a retiree?)

3) As long as I'm going to the expense of getting alloy rims should I stick with the stock 16.x 6.5 rims or get 17" or 18" rims? Gas mileage is my only concern.

Thanks,

Kerry

 

Interested in this topic...
People have already weighed the stock steelies, I believe they were reportedly 21-22lbs. See this thread here: https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=178258
Stock tires were said to be 20-21 lbs and the hubcap and other hardware are probably good for another pound or so.
42-44 lbs is probably a realistic ballpark figure for the stock setup.
I'm looking into the overall weight yes, unsprung weight = very bad, but also rolling resistance. How do we even get a good measurement for that one!? I'll be watching to see what people chime in with.

 

. Perhaps a cement yard? Ours has drive-on scales.

Note: I even plan on removing the spare tire. I have road service so a tire service truck can get to me within 1 hr. The combined extra weight of 4 steel rims and the spare comes to at least 40lbs. When I vision walking to town and back (50 miles) carrying an extra 40lbs (added to the 20 lbs of my pot belly), over a period of 10 years, that's a lot of extra weight to be carrying around.

Kerry

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear, I meant to say how do we get a good measurement for rolling resistance. I suppose I'll stick to the simplest approach of trying to stay within the stock weight even though I'm eyeing 18" rims.

 

I suspect that the increase in mpg (its going to be very slight and prolly immeasurable) will not be enuf to cover the cost of your wheels. It'll be interesting to see how to calculate this.

 

Sure would be nice if some math whiz could calculate the MPG benefit, if any.

Kerry