lightweight forged wheels

[RedLight_Si]

Does anyone know of any lightweight forged wheels that arent too expensive? Im looking for 15's that weight around 8-10 lbs. I like the Volk TE-37's but they are $300 a piece. Anyone know of any quality wheels that are cheaper than this?

[oogy-boogy]

You can always grab some Rota's .......Light, but I don't believe that they're forged.

[K-Series]

The Spoon SW's are light but also expensive as hell. What about the Superlegarras from OZ? What do they weigh?


Steve

[anjapower]

the only cheaper forged wheel is the SSR competition. You're not gonna have much luck going cheap with a forged wheel.

[Mighty_Mouse]

SSR Comps are junk though. They don't hold a candle to the TE37s.

Your best bet is to get lightweight cast wheels like Rotas, Enkei RP-F1s (under 10lbs), OZ Superleggeras (the 15s are 11lbs), etc. Forging costs a lot of money because of the equipment, R&D and amount of waste metal associated with it. There's really no way to do forging inexpensively.

[BlasTech]

The RFP-1s are an interesting wheel, as they're made with a diferent casting process. Im thinking they might be the next ones for me.

Something in the superleggara's design or casting process that makes them strong as similarly sized wheels that weigh 3 lbs more.

If anyone knows any details about why superleggaras are so light, yet still considered strong, please enlighten us!

[Mighty_Mouse]

Superleggeras are made from a Ti rich alloy, heat-treated and shot peened. All three of those reasons, plus some very good CAD/CAM designing makes them some of the strongest cast wheels available, even with their light weight. I've got a set of 17s on my car right now with some new PZero Nero M+S's.

[BlasTech]

Ahh, well that explains it. A normal cast wheel cant come close to that wieght without bending easily under the wieght of any car over 2000lbs.

That must explain why the Superleggaras cost more too... I'm starting to like those now :D

[anjapower]

Originally posted by Mighty_Mouse
SSR Comps are junk though. They don't hold a candle to the TE37s.

While they have a bad rap for bending easier than other forged wheels, I would hardly call SSR comps "junk."

[Mighty_Mouse]

Just compared to the TE37s that you also mentioned.

[C1V1C]

but I bent my Superleggera, it still holds the air, but I am not feeling safe driving on it.

[Mighty_Mouse]

Thanks for sharing. Just think what it would look like if it were a lesser wheel.

[Rey]

What's a forged wheel? What other types are there?

[oldschoolimport]

Originally posted by Rey
What's a forged wheel? What other types are there?

forging is when metal (cold or hot,but still solid) is forced into shape under extreme pressure. semi-solid forging is when a semi-solid (almost molten) block of metal is forced into a die under extreme pressure. casting is pouring molten metal into a die at ambient or low pressure. pressure cast is just that, casting that is then put under extreme pressure. it is stronger than cast, but not as strong as forging.

[Mighty_Mouse]

Right on all accounts. Don't forget vacuum casting. The liquid metal is sucked upwards into the mold (BBS uses this technique a lot). It results in a wheel that's stronger than low-pressure casting, but not as strong as forging. It's also more easily heat-treated because the vacuum casting process results in less air intrusion into the metal matrix.