As a daily driver.. not a race car, will I (or the car) ever notice the difference between 17lb and a 22lb wheels?

 

yes

 

Would a heavier wheel or lighter wheel be better for traction while drag racing? I would think that it would lean more towards tire grip (drag radials vs. street tires), but a friend of mine keeps telling me his 04 Eclipse GT sucks off the line because of wheels spin directly linked to his light weight weld racing rims.

 

Your buddies Eclipse is spinning because of a number of things.

1. He cant drive
2. His tires are not ment to be launched
3. He cant drive

 

I've never really payed attention to wheel weight... so I'm assuming that acceleration, braking, and MPG would suffer slightly? More weight to get rolling and more weight to get stopped...

 

Thats what I kept telling him, but, of course it's never the person's fault, its allways someone or something elses fault!LOL A set of Nitto Drag Radials couldnt hurt though. Plus theres the fact that he wont line up with my Si.