Next set of rims!

[Xenonk]

I thought I would share this information with all of you guys (in case you all havent opened up a ricer magazine in a while).

www.6061forged.com

19"x7.5" rim at @ 12 lbs. starting at $350/rim (quoted on their magazine ad, they also have other sizes available).


Keefe

[Drift Monkey]

Sounds nice and well priced! Tires will be the $$$ though...

[Xenonk]

I have a deal for Toyo tires through www.tireswap.com (my sponsor)... Proxes4 would be the only thing I would get to fit on them since RA-1s and T1-S dont come in 225/35/19.

I sent an email to the company to see how much it would be or if they can even make a set of rims spec'd out for my GT that I listed out for them.

Keefe

[sandwood]

nothing personal but those rims look absolutely awful on the audi on their website. yuck!

but anwyay....

super cheap for the weight and size

[GranTourer]

Whuuut! :o How come other wheel designers don't use 6061 aluminum, excluding Boyd Coddington's crew?

Too bad they don't offer other wheels designs or sizes ...mmmm 10lb 18" wheels garrrghhhh.

[Xenonk]

um.. I guess you havent looked at BBS, FIKSE, HRE and other companies of the sort that uses 6061.. BBS and FIKSE have Stronger wheels based on the forging process.. it's the process that makes the difference after the metal choice.. unless you can find some 7071, (close to mild steel) then 6061 is just the typical aluminum used.

Keefe

[GranTourer]

No, you guessed wrong :) Of course I've looked at BBS, Fikse, and HRE! I've been looking at HRE wheels on the C4 Corvette since I was a freshman in highschool. I just never knew they used 6000 series Al. I thought using Mg was popular.

This so called 6061forged must be doing something different to make their claims of high strength and, from what I've seen, very very light wheels. 12lbs for a 19x7.5" wheel is the same weight as a forged Mugen MF8 16x7" wheel, according to wheelweights.net (http://www.wheelweights.net/)!

I was just wondering why is it that the long time pros with their bigger budgets haven't thrown out a 17"-19" forged wheel as light as the 19" 6061forged piece?

[Xenonk]

by science and physical traits/limits of how rims are made, it's very hard to maintain the strength of a rim and be under a particular weight.. it goes back to the notion of having mass to actually hold stuff up/together... in this case, aluminum.. you need mass, there's no doubt on that.. and you can't skimp out too much before you end up with a brittle rim. The only thing left to actually improve on is the processing procedure to forge the metal to have structural integrity, but even that has a limit (see chemical and electrical bonds). Unless NASA perfects the use of Aerogel for rims, I'll be the first one to buy a get of rims that weigh no more than an ounce TOTAL, and say good by to any kind of metal.. but until then, looking at FIKSE's process and using them as a standard, lightweight rim is it.

see what aerogel is:

http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/tech/aerogel.html
http://www.aerogel.com/

Keefe

[GranTourer]

Aerogel and other "nano aligned" materials seem to be the way to go.

I think the research labs are far away from a cost effective commercial product. But then again, if I'm already seeing carbon nanotube briefcases on SciFi channel, then hopefully the real deal isn't too far off.