Anyone heard of a lighter wheel?

And the lightest wheel title goes to ...

RAYS ECO DRIVE's at: 4.6kg / 4.9kg for 15" / 16" respectively.

Bridgestone Japan's ECO FORME Forged One's at: 4.3kg / 4.8kg for 15" / 16" respectively. This should make them the lightest...

We carry all these plus the new PIAA "eco & eco" line at our Prius page. Link in signature.

 

I was looking at the Motegi traklites along with some SSRs. However - the problem is that a lot of these rims scrifice a lot of strength for lightness, making them kind of unsuitable for a daily driver. I don't know how the roads are by you in Florida, but I don't want to have to buy a new rim when I accedentally hit the first Chicago crater-sized pothole.

 

the volk ce28's are extremely strong, I've spun off the road before with the entire car going over the curb and the rims only suffered some curb rash. don't ask me how lol, it wasn't a prius and the car didn't suffer any damage, just needed to get everything realigned.

 

That's why I'm getting the Volks. I've seen pictures of modded cars crashed and the Volks survive (seen TE37s twice like that).

 

hey Gray, how much are you getting the ce28 ECO's for? Pm me is ok too I been getting quotes from a few places as well as some friends in the industry. I wish there was a group buy going on for them.

 

I just bought a set of brand new Scion TC 17 inchers- Alloy wheels and tires for $500.00. I'll have them put on and post some pics in the next few days.

John

 

Sorry to disagree but it's absolutely not true!

"Forging is the process of forcing a solid billet of aluminum alloy between forging dies under an extreme amount of pressure. This creates a finished product that is very dense, very strong."

soooo forged wheels like Volk Racing or SSR are really light and really strong wheels . A lot stronger than the cheap and heavy cast wheels

They are used and abused at tracks around the world and they really are more durable. No wonder they cost so much

 

weds, rivers carbon, dynomeg

they make carbon fiber and carbon kevlar and dry carbon wheels, any size any bolt pattern. you wouldn't want to guess the cost. and the last 2 c.k. and d.c. wheels are both bullet prof, c.f. is not but it is still incredibly strong.

here is a quote I read, "I work for a company in New Zealand, that has made 100% carbon fibre wheels for a 2000hp dragster The have been used for nearly 3 seasons with no signs of damage. In fact one of the first times they were used all the wheel studs sheared off with no damage done to the wheel" I have the video but it isn't uploaded, it was amazing to see this acutally happen where the wheels studs came off the axel and the was no damage to the wheel, that is strong!

 

The cheapest quote that I could find was from driveline motoring (Driveline Motoring v2.0 Coming Soon! (818) 886-3748). Upgrade motoring (Welcome to Upgrade Motoring! Serving the Performance Industry Since 1989!!) was also one of the lowest. I'm inclined to order from evasive motorsports (Welcome to Evasive Motorsports.com! The site is loading...) just because I know other people have gotten the rims through them. All of the quotes are around $2000 though - the difference is really going to be +/- $50 and whatever they charge for center caps.

syco:
Just because rims are forged doesn't mean there isn't variability in the process. Just like all beer is brewed - not all beer is equal in quality.

DarkSide:
Which Weds rims were you thinking about?
I wouldn't mind dropping some WedSports on, but I don't think any of them will fit.
»•iƒJƒ^ƒÂƒO > ƒzƒCÂ[ƒ‹ > ˆÃª—— | weds

here are the rivers carbon rims:
Racing Wheels | Drag Car Wheels | Carbon Fiber | RiversCarbon


Maybe you can get them to make a custom wheel, but it doesn't look like Dymag makes a carbon wheel that will fit:
DYMAG - Manufacturers of High Performance Wheels for Cars and Motorcycles
however they do have a cast magnesium wheel:
DYMAG - Manufacturers of High Performance Wheels for Cars and Motorcycles

 

Ok maybe my reply was not clear because my english is not perfect.

But my point was:

Volk Racing and SSR (among others) sell wheels for the racing circuit and capable of supporting a lot of abuse. Although they are very light.

So they do not sacrifice durability for light weight.

 

that quote is mine, my name is Brent and I am the production manager at Rivers Carbon Technologies in Auckland, New Zealand. We have been developing our carbon wheels for the past 5 years and I hope to soon have road wheels available for certification testing late next year.

Recently we made a 30inch wheel which weighed 14kg compared to the aluminum wheel at 35kg. A rough guide is a carbon wheel will be 2/3's the weight of a identical aluminum rim. With the growing need to increase fuel economy saving weight will be more and more important and the wheels are currently a neglected area. The problem is what size and width to make to meet the biggest market.

I'm not too familiar with Prius specs, what size and stud are the wheels and are they consistant throughout the models and years?

Thank you.

 

Hi
Welcome, I seem to be bold today(type)
01 thru now bolt pattern 4 x 100
15 x 6, 16 x 6
off set (35,40,45)
12mm x 1.5 (stud)
Gleamed this from Discount tyre,
I would'b build without checking further, but it looks like the same bolt patter and offset through the years and 15,16 and now 17" wheels
I am willing to test a set of 17" if you
find testing necessary

 

Thanks for that. A carbon wheel would be under 4Kgs (exact mass would depend on design). Now what would you be willing to pay for a 100% carbon wheel?

 

Probably less than the $5k USD each one will cost (judging from the cost of carbon rims for racing application).

 

No doubt you'd sell a few sets to a niche of wealthy folks wanting to go to extremes. But let's look at some of the build to order options on sporty cars these days. "Custom" wheel sets typically add anywhere from $1200-$3000. So if you wanted to sell in volume instead of to a select money-is-no-object group, you'd need to get a set of 4 down near $3000 I'd think. Knowing what a good carbon fiber bike frame goes for these days, I imagine that would be tough!

- D

 

Hi Brent, welcome to Prius Chat from another down underer.

You Kiwis are right into this custom low volume stuff, I love it!!

 

You are right, it would be tough but not impossible to get the wheels under $3k, currently the cost is nearly double that. It is a matter of scale, the more made the cheaper it is.

The hard part is convincing people that they won't explode if they get a small scratch, unlike metals which crack, and that they won't fatigue, again not like metals.

@Pat: Thanks, I love the challenges that custom parts throw up and having to solve them, keeps the work interesting.

 

$3k for the set or $3k each? I'd drop $3k USD for a set of 4 on 2 conditions:

1. If they were pothole and poorly-kept racetrack damage resistant
2. If the carbon construction was more than just the center of the wheel (since I imagine this is going to be a 2 or 3 piece wheel)

 

The ones pictured earlier in the thread are about $1500 each, but they are the first two and took longer to make. We now know how to do it quicker thus cheaper as most of the cost is in the labour not the carbon.

As for the conditions:
1. Same as any light weight metal wheel, I've had the rims roll off the table and hit the ground about a doz times.
2. These will be the real deal 99.9% carbon (other 0.1% is tire valve and inserts to prevent damage from lug nuts.) And it'll be 1 piece, 2/3 piece = fasteners = weight.