We're all well aware of how wheel weight affects performance, but I just wanted to share my recent experience switching from my 16x7 RPF1's with 19lb 215/40/16 Yoko s drives to winter 15 steelies with heavier taller 195/60/15 michelins. Just driving around town casually its very much apparent that my car is wearing ankle weights. I haven't had a chance to drive it hard but there is significantly less power, its easily the equivalent to switching on the AC. On the scale there is roughly a 10lb difference per corner between summer and winter setups, with also about an inch in diameter difference as well. I must admit, the tire size looks a little silly on my Accord but the performance benefit is staggering and I'm never putting heavy large diameter wheels or tires on any of my cars. Also, I think its worth stressing that from an engineering standpoint, the tire's weight is more critical than that of the wheels since its mass is entirely located on the far outside of the rotational axis. I think any 16in wheel with light tires has a huge advantage over some of the heavier ones out there. Also want to note that I drove the 215/40/16 and RPF1's on my Accord all summer on some ROUGH Illinois roads at high speeds and they had no problem handling it. The ride was remarkably about the same as the 15 stock alloy 205/60/15 setup I had previously. Good stuff.

 

You're wrong. You're looking at the wrong factors for your drop in performance. One major factor is that your Michelins probably aren't as sticky as your S.drives (although you don't state which Michelin tire you're using). Another major factor is that the outer diameter of the taller tire is larger. This causes your acceleration to feel slower in two different ways: (a) it reduces your actual rate of acceleration; it's like putting taller gears on your car, and (b) you feel like you're going even slower because it also introduces some speedometer error into your car (the car is actually going faster than the speedometer registers).

The difference in weight almost certainly has nothing to do with what you're feeling.

 

you're comparing apples to oranges... you claim its only a 1" difference in diameter but you do not realize how much of an effect that it can have on gearing.

you went from a wheel with a grossly undersized tire and switched to a tire closer to stock size and didn't think that maybe that had something to do with it?

not only is there a huge difference in tire size but you're also factoring in different wheels and different tires (brands)...