Tyre and rim weights

Hello folks, i'm modifying some original wheels for my 200bx V10 mod and I saw that removing the 225/40 R17 front race tyres gets rid of 11kg and the wheels weight 45kg (both front) that's 22.5kg each, that's a lot considering they are an Okudai type so they're supposed to be light. My M3 wheels on real life are 12kg each (with tyre) and they are also 17 inch.

As far as I can tell you can notice a difference in real life between heavy and light wheels, specially in inertia.

Is this also simulated in BeamNG? If so, it would be nice to try and reduce those 55kg to 25kg or something like that.

Thank you very much!

 

For the most part it's an engine limitation of beamNG, which AFAIK is related to the 2000hz physics engine refresh rate. There's a limit to how light nodes can be vs how rigid you can make the beams linking those nodes together. If you make a beam between tow nodes too rigid (too high beamSpringValues), you end up with instability issues, with the stress in the beam going up rapidly on spawn and causing the wheels to literally explode. The higher the weight of the nodes, the more rigid the beam can be.

Wheels and tires are pretty node dense, since they need to be circular enough to function as wheels. This, combined with the previously mentioned limitation, means that it's going to be difficult to make a wheel that is both rigid enough to not be wobbly, and light enough to match the real thing's weight. Since the issues related to the lack of rigidity are a lot more obvious than added unsprung mass, they chose to go with wheels heavier than IRL but with enough rigidity.

You'll see the same issue in general with a lot of the suspension and steering components in beamNG, since they needs to be decently rigid to avoid averse handling issues, meaning the weights often need beefed up above the real weights. The sunburst steering rack for example is nearly 20kg, to make sure the tie-rods and the steering rack itself are rigid enough that the tie-rods don't "flex" too much in a way that would make the steering unresponsive and affect handling negatively.