i like the look of centerlock wheels but began wondering what's the big difference between the two styles? is it weight? personal preference?
I have a 2011 gt3rs and will be upgrading the wheels.

thanks!

 

From what I heard the centerlocks are actually heavier than the 5 bolt wheels.
As far as I see it the only advantage is the fact they significantly reduce the risk of the wheels getting stolen.
I guess someone in marketing thought it will be a cool idea to put them on street cars.

 

From the Porsche website:

 

faster wheel changes?

 

the cup car CL is faster change than 5 lug
the street car CL is much SLOWER than 5 lugs. i bet you with my pink slip on the RS. the alum CL nut must be tightened with hand tool. my 5 lug can use impact wrench and you can be br utal with it.

 

CL = pain in the ***

 

The OE Centerlock wheels are actually about 200 grams lighter than the OE 5-lug version they replace. A very small amount of difference.
HOWEVER, the factory wheels are not exactly light. The fronts are about 24 lbs and the rears 29 lbs. They are high quality cast wheels to be sure, but not light.

In the aftermarket, I believe all of the available CL wheels are heavier than their 5-lug versions. The large mass of the centerlock mechanism simply makes it impossible to reduce the weight to the level of the five smaller fasteners.
This is a marketing exercise by Porsche. They have but one reason for doing it.
And I'll bet you can all guess what that is.
As to the ease of installation and removal, forget it. Gimme the 5-lugs anytime.

In fairness, the centerlocks do look very cool. Very cool indeed.

 

Forget about any performance improvement, the centerlocks simply look far better than the 5 lug wheels. When it comes to wheels, looks matter a lot.

 

I definitely agree it's more cosmetic then serves any actual function

 

Yeah...

 

gotta love marketing...Looks of the wheel does matter and the CL is cool but you can still have a beautiful wheel with the 5 lugs...

 

I am no expert on the subject, but my personal interpretation of this is as follows.

Even if a CL wheel and 5 lug wheel weigh exactly the same, the weight of the lugs themselves must still be accounted for. Secondly, a CL wheel most likely keeps more of the weight closer to the center of rotation where on a 5 lug the weight moves further from the center. My understanding of rotational mass is that keeping the weight closer to center requires less energy?

 

Dailydriver

Of course you have to consider the weight of the lug nuts, but you also have to consider the weight of the Centerlock nut. It a wash, or worse.
Unfortunately, the very slight "moment of inertia" advantage you suggest is more than offset by the much higher overall mass of the Centerlock wheel.
Our lightest wheel, the Tech1-110 is a good example. In 19x9 for a new GT3RS, it weighs 7.9 kgs. The same 19x9 in 5 lug weighs less than 7.4 kgs.
So, there is real world 500 gram (1.1 lbs) difference, just due to the Centerlock.
If you study the formula for measuring "moment of inertia" here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_of_inertia
you will quickly see that increasing the mass by 500 grams will have a huge effect on the kinetic energy required to accelerate the wheel. The small change in MOI, not so much. This is because the energy required to accelerate the wheel increases at the square of the velocity. So, the faster you go, the more lightweight wheels will help you.
I simplified this to make it easy to understand for the non-math majors.
Centerlock wheels look amazing. But they really don't improve performance.

 

if the factory cast wheels are 24lbs front and 29lbs rear, what are some of the aftermarket forged CL wheels of the same dimensions and offsets weighing? Would be nice for people to posts actual weights of their aftermarket versions.

 

so the tech1 wheels in 9x19 weighs 7.9kg or about 18lbs? That means a 6 lb per wheel saving for the fronts?