Oh the laggs...how exactly was this done?
alot of work and boredom
Wow, sure seems like it. Though, you could have cheated and use max to setup proxies and be done in a few seconds.
First, when you create something cylinder like, look at the segements and sides. They should be low.
The quickest way to reduce poly count would be something like the modifier optimize.
Well, I didn't know how to do them, so I just tried different wheels. I liked this the most after all, but you are right, they need improvement. The model isn't done, so all the critics are welcome.