Simple. What are the lightest wheels that you guys know or can find made in 11" wide, 17's or 18's but preferably 17's. I'm assuming 1peice forged will be the lightest, but post whatever you can find.

Extra points if you can find Magnessium wheels!

 

Simple. What are the lightest wheels that you guys know or can find made in 11" wide, 17's or 18's but preferably 17's. I'm assuming 1peice forged will be the lightest, but post whatever you can find.

Extra points if you can find Magnessium wheels!

 

did you check wheelweights.com? I don't know if this is the site or not.

 

yes, but I don't think they have all wheels made

 

That is the best resource that I know of. I think that the only way to find out would be to contact the individual manufacturers, eventhough this could take awhile.

 

I don't know any company that makes 1 piece 11" wheels for consumers. I have looked everywhere and asked several manufacturers. It's not economical to produce them according to several manufacturers. If you have a race car and are willing to pay for a few set, it can be produced.

Since I can't get them, I widened a set of 1-piece Work wheels. 17x11 is about 20 lbs. It was professionallly done by Eric Vaughn, who does widening rims for living. I never had a chance to put them on. Anyone interested to buy them, 17x9.5 and 17x11, brand new?

cheers,

--Joey

 

See how much a swiss-cheesed CCW (http://www.ccwheel.com/) race wheel would weigh in that size. I would guess a tad under 20 lbs. 3-piece may be your only option for 11" width.

-Max

 

NA2TT,
Can you pass along Eric Vaugh's contact info? The only place i could find that did this was in canada... maybe i'll have my 17x9" SSRs turned in to 10's.

 

When you figure that out, let me know...

 

Greens Automotive in Canada does itr... i have their number somewhere... basically they welsd a section to the backsite of your wheel... so you'll need to have backspace room. And ship your wheels to Alberta.

It seems like a drastic thing to do, but since i'm having trouble finding an ideal wheel, i just might do it.

 

How much to add an inch?

 

They quoted me $150 per wheel. They tell me they mostly do it for folks who want "cheater" stock wheels for autocrossing. They admit that it will possibly weaken the wheel a bit (10%) but since its the insite, its not the most stressed area.

I emailed:

info@greensautomotive.com

 

Forgeline wheels can probably set you up.

Forgeline Competition

Bring yer wallet!!

 

I think I might have to start thinking about making my own 11" Mg Forged wheels. Perhaps I can just copy the buddy racer design it will insure structural integrity (design is the hardest part right?) and it the right offset for an FD...anyone interested? My dad is in the metals and alloys business so it's certainly not unfeasable for me to atleast get pricing and see if it can actually be done. The Buddy Racing 16.1 lb 18x10's wheels are made of aluminum I beleive, and my dad tells me that Al isn't as strong or as light as Mg, so by that knowledge it might be possible to use less even a bit less material to get the same strength and the material that is used will be lighter anyways. If any of you guys might be interested let me know...it'll be cheaper ofcourse if I make more than one set.

 

Uhhh, FORGED magnesium?
Do you know how much forge tool and die costs? Or a 6000 ton press?

If you do, then I wanna be your friend cause you got too much money to know what to do with it

 

I wouldn't be doing it myself TYSON...I'd have someone with the equipment do it, a custom job. I don't know how much it'd cost though, or if it'd be substantially more to use Mg instead of Al.

 

The key is in the manufacturing process:

2-3 piece wheels generally use a spun rim/rim halves bolted to a forged (billet) center.

1-piece forged wheels... geez, i believe they use a semi solid, heated metal process to press them into a basic shape, then machine the details... don't quote me on this, and maybe someone more knowledgeable can chime in.

If they aren't forged, no way you'd want em being that light. it seems to me the modular wheel would be easier to build from scratch and without specific, wheel-forging equipment. Arent SSRs and Volks processes proprietary?

 

I think material will be the cheapest part of the whole thing. Whomever you hire would still have to make the tooling. This may cost $50,000, ~$100,000. I'm not kidding. I think you would be better off approaching someone like Forgeline, for example, and ask them what they would charge to make you a magnesium wheel to the same design as their own. That way they at least use existing dies.

Remember some of these wheel makers do offer magnesium wheels, they just don't advertise them. BBS for example.
Also, while Magnesium only weighs 2/3 of aluminum, it's only 2/3 the strength. It also is more brittle. If you hit a curb with a low profile tire, you are much more likely to damage magnesium than aluminum.

 

Volk, i believe, makes a Magnesium TE37, that should be awful light... although i'm not clear on the sizes available. i think the come in blue (WTF?)

They may only be available as a center-locking wheel, but i gather Pettit Racing has the parts to do a center-lock hub conversion, if you have the cheeze for all that.

 

You can get the Volk's in 5-bolt. They just don't come in 11"

TE37 Magnesium Fitment

132000 yen = $1110 USD

 

Eric Vaughn Machine
210 E Pomona Avenue
Monrovia, CA 91016
626-358-6413

I think his address or the phone number changed. I don't remember. I brought the widened wheels to several shops and all of them said the work is top notch. According the Eric, each wheel is balanced and machined to 1/1000 of an inch. You got to see the weld; it's like a piece of art. He does widen wheel for living and he has been around for a while. If his works were not good, his shop wouldn't be around. Oh, max diameter is 17 inch. He won't widen 18-inch wheels

As for making your own wheels, I have to say that's almost impossible. I called Fikse and ask them to make me 1-piece 11-inch wheels. They said no. It's very difficult and not economical to make a mold for 11+ inch wheels. Multi piece 11+ inch wheels are easy to make and are readily available. There are quite a few wheels, like RacingHart CP-035R, that are actually 2-piece wheels, though they look like one piece. This is because the two pieces are welded together, much like what Eric did to my Work wheels.

Magnesium is a perfect material for racing wheels, not street wheels. It's light and super strong. There is just one drawback - it can explode. Once a magnesium alloy catches fire, you can't put the fire out with water. As hydrogen from water are released, they can be highly explosive. Powder must be used first to stop the fire. So, a good Samaritan trying to help stop a burning magnesium wheel with water can make matter worse. I think that's one of the reasons why VW and Porsche stop building their engines with magnesium. Speedline, I think, is the only wheel company that has TUV approved street legal MAG wheels. VOLK supplies MAG wheels to JGTC teams. Some Supras used 19x13 fornt and 18x13 last year. NSX and Skylines uses 18x13.

To my knowledge, max width for a 1-piece wheel, that is available to the consumer, is 10.5 inches. There are several of them, like Volk TE37, GramLight 57F, Stark, BBS.... If I can find a company that can make affordable high quality forged 11+ inch width 1-piece wheel, I would buy the wheels in a heartbeat.

Cheers,

--Joey

 

yeah, thx for the help

 

I heard from my dad (who owns a metal and alloys business) that Mg was actually stronger than Al, but he also said that he's not aware of ALL the newest alloys. The reason why I proposed having my own units be made in the first place is because I thought he might know where I could get it done, but he tells me the same thing, it would cost lots of money to create the die, and it's not economical unless I make a lot of units. Right now I'm settling on 10.5" Volk CE28N's, only being .5" off of what I want. I also read on another thread that a slightly staggered setup is better in some cases, so I'm also considering 10" fronts...

Edit: Btw NA2TT, if your inquiry to fiske was on my part, I thank you for that. And I'm also aware of what happens to magnessium when it catches on fire...we used to take old vw blocks out to the desert and set them on fire...the only problem is getting them to ignite, it's takes a huge amount of heat to get it started - we just keep throwing gasoline on it until it does start, and once it does...the whole ****** desert is lit up like day! Talk about a great help beacon

 

can build you 11-inch wide forged aluminum rear wheels. Weight will be 20+ lbs CE28N in 10.5 x 18 will be your best bet with one-piece forged Volks.

 

in 17" you would have to go custom (as far as I know)from CCW, Fikse, HRE and whomever else. In 18 you could get Racing Hart CP035R's in 11" width.