First post on the new board!
Hey, I'm curious what you guys think of one-piece carbon wheels. Think it's the wave of the future?
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June 23, 2008 3:12 p.m. Rob None
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June 23, 2008 3:38 p.m. phillyj New Reader
so, you're a blogger? Anyways, they look cool and fitting for the expensive Italian cars and maybe for rich owners of track cars but not good for daily driving. I think the price of a superior metal wheel will be much cheaper than this. In comparision, this wheel is 5.94 lbs but KAD F1 wheels are 4.7 and RS Watanabe eightspoke A wheels are 5.1
Look at wheelwights.net
can someone check the weight on a CF wheel?
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June 23, 2008 3:45 p.m. David S. Wallens Editorial Director
Rob's not just a blogger, but the head ed over there. As far as the wheels, 4x100 with a 38mm offset, please.
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June 23, 2008 3:50 p.m. Tim Baxter Online Editor
David, I was thinking the same thing.. 4x100 with 38 mm offset, and they'll fit plenty of things... then you just have to find owners who can afford 'em.
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June 23, 2008 3:53 p.m. neon4891 HalfDork
put those bad boys on a Pinto
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June 23, 2008 4:06 p.m. Thinkkker SuperDork
Hmm..... So, will these resist the urge to spontaneously blow up? What is the time span that you need to go through with a xray?
Sorry, I still remember seeing CF wheels give up the goat. Has that part been addressed?
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June 23, 2008 4:31 p.m. Rob New Reader
I'm not a huge fan of carbon fiber in general but to me it seems like a no brainer in terms of the potential weight savings. The question is durability and price. Seems like the main people they would appeal to are the bling crowd and you racer folks.
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June 23, 2008 4:40 p.m. neon4891 HalfDork
Us "racer folks" try to build cars to compete with a budget of 2 grand. I dont think you will find these wheels on a challenge car
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June 23, 2008 4:45 p.m. Rob New Reader
neon4891 wrote: Us "racer folks" try to build cars to compete with a budget of 2 grand. I dont think you will find these wheels on a challenge car
Maybe a UTCC car, though.
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June 23, 2008 5:12 p.m. John Brown SuperDork
Put a kit on them bitches!
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June 23, 2008 5:27 p.m. fiat22turbo SuperDork
As a Shelby-Dodge guy, I only have to be concerned about the long-term effects that the environment would have on them since Shelby's attempt at Glass-reinforced Kevlar wheel. The issue at the time was the that bonding agent failed due to UV exposure and the wheels would fly off the cars. Eventually the SCCA and other sanctioning bodies banned them altogether.
Newer technology developments might make them more viable, but like the "Fiberides" and other solutions before them, they may or may not be much lighter than typical alloy wheels due to the need for overall strength to deal with the environments they face away from the race track.
Lets not forget also what happens to typical carbon fiber pieces when they are over-stressed, they break. They do not bend and tend to will simply fail. A wheel that is bent can still allow you to bring the vehicle to a stop relatively safely. A wheel that has shattered may have also taken out your brake line or at the very least has left you riding on the brake rotor without much control.
If there is a solution to the above problems then I'd like to see it happen and perhaps someday be able to afford some myself.
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June 23, 2008 5:36 p.m. P90Puma Reader
World's first? Not really.
Though I agree composites are the future. When it comes to basically everything.
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June 23, 2008 7:01 p.m. Gearhead_42 HalfDork
Yeah P90, FSAE teams have been doing variations on this for years... not as refined, obviously, but they're out there.
To the question posed by Rob, I'd suggest looking toward applications that tend to see immediate response from race level manufacturers. Vehicles like the Z06, the Porsche GT2/GT3 and others tend to be at the forefront, and trickle down to mere mortal vehicles.
Could also look to a racing series that rewards innovative design... something like the American LeMans Series GT class...
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June 23, 2008 8:05 p.m. MadScientistMatt HalfDork
I knew I wasn't the only one here thinking "Fiberides" when I saw the title of this post. And carbon fiber is worse at that than fiberglass. GM spent a small fortune on finding a way to keep the bare-looking carbon fiber on the new ZR1 from delaminating.
fiat22turbo wrote: As a Shelby-Dodge guy, I only have to be concerned about the long-term effects that the environment would have on them since Shelby's attempt at Glass-reinforced Kevlar wheel. The issue at the time was the that bonding agent failed due to UV exposure and the wheels would fly off the cars. Eventually the SCCA and other sanctioning bodies banned them altogether.
Newer technology developments might make them more viable, but like the "Fiberides" and other solutions before them, they may or may not be much lighter than typical alloy wheels due to the need for overall strength to deal with the environments they face away from the race track.
P.S. Rob, is there anything Plymouth related about that keychain?
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June 23, 2008 9:09 p.m. carguy123 Reader
It would seem to me that using Carbon Fiber would warrant a completely different styling than just trying to copy existing rims.
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June 23, 2008 9:45 p.m. Rob New Reader
P.S. Rob, is there anything Plymouth related about that keychain?
Yep, I've always driven old Plymouths. Currently have a '66 Satellite:
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June 24, 2008 10:07 a.m. pinchvalve SuperDork
fiat22turbo wrote: As a Shelby-Dodge guy, I only have to be concerned about the long-term effects that the environment would have on them since Shelby's attempt at Glass-reinforced Kevlar wheel. The issue at the time was the that bonding agent failed due to UV exposure and the wheels would fly off the cars. Eventually the SCCA and other sanctioning bodies banned them altogether.
Thank you for saying that. I had a freind with a Shelby CSX-VNT (Dodge Shadow) in highschool that had "plastic" wheels. I tell people that and they think I am crazy. People swear that no one ever made a composite wheel, and I swear that Dodge did it in the 80's. (As usual, I am right.) They were called Fiber Rides or something.
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June 24, 2008 1:58 p.m. GameboyRMH Dork
pinchvalve wrote: They were called Fiber Rides or something.
Fiberides:
http://www.shelbycsx.com/specs.wheels.shtml
Now that I think of it, I've seen those before, I just thought they were really ugly wheels.
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June 24, 2008 6:35 p.m. fiat22turbo SuperDork
Yep, I can't argue with you on that. The 89 CSX-VNT's were neat cars, but their styling left a little to be desired. I just wish they would have produced the blue cars in 1990 with the 16-valve motor, that would have been much nicer to look at, IMHO.
Anyway, the Fiberides really weren't all that light compared to the factory alloys, which were horrendously heavy compared to wheels of today.
Speaking of which, I need to go over to EdgeRacing and drool over the Falken Hanabi wheels. I wish I could score a set for the CSX so I can put the Centurian II's in storage.
Stefan
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June 26, 2008 3:16 a.m. InigoMontoya New Reader
Heh, had a set of hanabi's for the miata, made for an interesting look since the 'spokes' go one way. Depending on the side of the car.
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June 26, 2008 8:50 a.m. confuZion3 HalfDork
They've been making bicycle wheels out of the stuff for years now. Koenigsegg has carbon fiber wheels on one of their cars. It's pretty good stuff.
A friend of mine has a big chunk of carbon fiber wafer board. It's two layers of 2 or maybe 4 ply carbon fiber with a honeycomb of PAPER separating them. It feels like (and weighs as much as) cardboard. Similar structure I guess, too. However, I can't break the stuff. It gives a little bit, but then that's it.
I even had just a sliver of 6 ply that was a quarter inch wide and 4 inches long. I couldn't break that for the life of me. I carried it around for a month and would try just for fun when I got bored.
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June 26, 2008 2:52 p.m. motogpfan New Reader
CF wheels have been available for motorcycles for quite a while. Many have ran them but keep going back to light weight alloys. CF is incredibly light and strong but I still prefer metal.
