Steel 17" rims vs aluminum 15 rims

[dstryr]

Alright so here is my problem. I have the choice of either running 15x8 centerline draglite rims all the way around and going with 15" firehawks or something. The centerlines are aluminum and pretty light but the downside is they are only 15" and good tires aren't made in this size anymore.

Or I could go with steel cragar soft 8 17" inch rims , which would allow me to step up to 17 performance kuhmo tires. Is the extra weight of the steel rims worth it? I mean I know these things are heavy but how much are they going to hurt my performance.

Also, I've seen a lot of pictures of people using the black cragar 17's but does anyone have pictures of how the chrome 17's look?

Thanks,
Dennis

[TurboLark]

I bought one 17x9 steel wheel for trial fitting. It is a heavy mother. Biggest problem is that thy only come in 1 offset, so you need to be sure they fit, or spend a bunch extra to get them modified to fit. i sont like the chrome ones, they look too much like hubcaps.

[ProBell]

I run a set of steel wheels with slicks on the track. I will try to post some pictures when I get home. They are not the best looking rim but they are strong and cost effective.

[derekf]

The Soft 8s are definitely cheap, but they're heavy enough to actually be noticeable when driving. As soon as I recover from Christmas, I'll be buying something else to replace mine.

[High Plains Mopars]

I wouldn't say either one is a great choice for a handling application. Centerline says right up front that their drag rims should not be used in autocross, road course or any high side loading activity. I have seen lot of them on the road go a lot of miles with no ill effects however.

I seem to recall someone saying that the steel 17" wheels are somewhere around 40# each? This would be over double a decent 15" aluminum wheel and enough to be a noticeable performance difference.