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[Daniel135i]

So, as we all know forged wheels are the way to go aftermarket if your into lowering un-sprung weight, and getting a solid mono block wheel that will hold up to the rigors of on road, and down track.

Multi piece wheels offer more panache with just about unlimited customizable barrel and center combinations, while sacrificing weight in the process for looks.

Then why is it that all companies that I do look at, thier "track wheels" section is filled with nothing but multi piece, heavier, and all together more expensive "inferior" wheel designs???

Is it so that they can be sure no matter what happens on the track, they can get the wheel apart, and repaired without a long turnaround time, or that they just dont care that much about weight, and want to have a wheel that can fit any number of setup options they decide to go with on the track cars?

And if in doing so, they pick these "inferior wheels" they must be working for the race teams in terms of reliability, performance, and asthetics.

So I ask this... Are forged wheels realy all that better than multi piece constructions at the end of the day. If its good for the track abuse, should be good for my street abuse.

[BrokenVert]

If you are looking at track wheels apex makes the standard. All of the racing 135 teams use em and they are free flow formed if I remember right. It's a process that yeilds similar results to forging but at a much better cost than 5k for a set.

But to answer your question I always thought that forged monoblock was the best aswell

[Daniel135i]

Me as well but... why are all companies "track wheels" silly, heavier, more expensive multi piece wheels when they are supposed to be inferior??? Boggles me really.

Aren't muli piece wheels supposed to be cheaper to make? lol.

[1013mm]

no they take longer to put together. and each piece has to fit the other precisely. all about the labor that goes into them.

[Daniel135i]

Your wrong..... Multi piece wheels are mass produced of parts on standby in a warehouse. Consisting of barrel halves, and center section. It takes a cpl hours to a day to get together a wheel after its ordered. This is why race teams seam like them for quick repair

It takes at LEAST a few days to finish one forged wheel for shipment.

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[timhatimay]

I think a lot of companies use multi-piece also so that they can use different manufacturing processes for the different parts. The wheels may be called forged, but its possible only the barrel is forged and the wheel part is cast or any other combinations of wheel constructions. I wouldn't say all multi-piece wheels are heavy either, but most are probably heavier than a similar monoblock. Multi-piece wheels also allow many different size configurations.

Any lightweight wheel may be more prone to damage on the road as well. Forged wheels maintain a better metal structure than a cast wheel. This means they can get similar strength as a cast by using a thinner (and thus lighter) piece of forged wheel. But a really thin and lightweight forged wheel may not be much if any stronger than a heavy thick cast wheel. Pound for pound a forged wheel will be stronger, but its rarely pound for pound since the objective is lighter wheels. I have 2-piece wheels that are welded together and use SSR's technology which is semi-solid forging. They are about 16lbs for 17x8, so not all mutli-piece wheels are heavy.

Tim

[1013mm]

Originally Posted by Daniel135i

Your wrong..... Multi piece wheels are mass produced of parts on standby in a warehouse. Consisting of barrel halves, and center section. It takes a cpl hours to a day to get together a wheel after its ordered. This is why race teams seam like them for quick repair

It takes at LEAST a few days to finish one forged wheel for shipment.

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whenever i think about multi piece wheels i think iforged, dpe, 360, hre.

[escobar929]

Originally Posted by jzhang

whenever i think about multi piece wheels i think iforged, dpe, 360, hre.

you would be surprised to find out they are made basically the same way. All of the wheel companies you mentioned get their barrels from a company called Triangle. All companies do is make the face and put the wheels together.

[M II]

Originally Posted by Daniel135i

So, as we all know forged wheels are the way to go aftermarket if your into lowering un-sprung weight, and getting a solid mono block wheel that will hold up to the rigors of on road, and down track.

Multi piece wheels offer more panache with just about unlimited customizable barrel and center combinations, while sacrificing weight in the process for looks.

Then why is it that all companies that I do look at, thier "track wheels" section is filled with nothing but multi piece, heavier, and all together more expensive "inferior" wheel designs???

Is it so that they can be sure no matter what happens on the track, they can get the wheel apart, and repaired without a long turnaround time, or that they just dont care that much about weight, and want to have a wheel that can fit any number of setup options they decide to go with on the track cars?

And if in doing so, they pick these "inferior wheels" they must be working for the race teams in terms of reliability, performance, and asthetics.

So I ask this... Are forged wheels realy all that better than multi piece constructions at the end of the day. If its good for the track abuse, should be good for my street abuse.

A lot of BBS Die Forged wheels are multi-piece and has a classic race design - which is the multi-piece designs you see in the LMs, LM-Rs, and RS-GTs these days.

For track abuse, you should be looking at the manufacturing process for the wheel. Rays Engineering uses Mold Form Forging, HRE uses other forging processes, and so does BBS.

Originally Posted by jzhang

whenever i think about multi piece wheels i think iforged, dpe, 360, hre.

Those companies definitely go with multi-piece designs a lot more. These days though.....it seems like the 1-piece Forged wheels are the new in thing!

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by maxnix

If you look at Formula 1, all wheels are forged one piece (usually magnesium) for a reason, and not multipiece. Lighter and stronger.

True, but one of the primary reasons for multi piece wheels for racing is that teams can replace an inner or outer rim, without having to junk the whole wheel. Not really a concern in F1, where you can toss a $15k wheel in the trash heap without thinking about it, and as stated, to save the last few grams, the single piece wheel is lightest.

[HighQ]

Originally Posted by Red Bread

One of the primary reasons for multi piece wheels for racing is that teams can replace an inner or outer rim, without having to junk the whole wheel. Not really a concern in F1, where you can toss a $15k wheel in the trash heap without thinking about it, and as stated, to save the last few grams, the single piece wheel is lightest.

QFT