Alloy wheel
Characteristics
Alcoa’s heavy-duty alloy wheel, for buses and trucks.
Alloy wheels differ from steel wheels in a number of ways:
Typically lighter weight for the same strength
Better conductors of heat
Improved cosmetic appearance
Lighter wheels can improve handling by reducing unsprung mass, allowing suspension to follow the terrain more closely and thus provide more grip, however it’s not always true that alloy wheels are lighter than the equivalent size steel wheel. Reduction in overall vehicle mass can also help to reduce fuel consumption.
Better heat conduction can help dissipate heat from the brakes, which improves braking performance in more demanding driving conditions and reduces the chance of brake failure due to overheating.
An aluminium alloy wheel
Alloy wheels are not only for improved driving performance, they are also for cosmetic purposes. The alloys used are largely corrosion-resistant, permitting an attractive bare-metal finish, with no need for paint or wheel covers, and the manufacturing processes allow intricate, bold designs. In contrast, steel wheels are usually pressed from sheet metal, and then welded together (often leaving unsightly bumps) and must be painted (as they corrode otherwise) and/or hidden with wheel covers / hub caps.
Alloy wheels are prone to galvanic corrosion if appropriate preventative measures are not taken, which can in turn cause the tires to leak air. Also, alloy wheels are more difficult to repair than steel wheels when bent, but their higher price usually makes repairs cheaper than replacement and even severely damaged wheels can often be repaired to like new, though this depends on how badly the owner wishes to salvage the wheel and its intrinsic worth or availability.
Alloy wheels are more expensive to produce than standard steel wheels, and thus are often not included as standard equipment, instead being marketed as optional add-ons or as part of a more expensive trim package. However, alloy wheels have become considerably more common since 2000, now being offered on economy and subcompact cars, compared to a decade earlier where alloy wheels were often not factory options on inexpensive vehicles. Alloy wheels have long been included as standard equipment on higher-priced luxury or sports cars, with larger-sized or “exclusive” alloy wheels being options. The high cost of alloy wheels makes them attractive to thieves; to counter this, automakers and dealers often use locking wheel nuts which require a special key to remove.
Most alloy wheels are manufactured using casting, but some are forged. Forged wheels are usually lighter, stronger, but much more expensive than cast wheels.
Aftermarket wheels
A sizeable selection of alloy wheels (sometimes called “mags”ee below) are available to automobile owners who want lighter, prettier, rarer, and/or larger wheels on their cars, in order to increase performance, manipulate handling and suspension, and/or signify luxury, sportiness, or wealth. These wheels have become a part of pop culture (as with “dubs”).
Aftermarket brands
Many aftermarket wheel brands include Eurotech Wheels, Akuza, Incubus, Viscera, Cattivo, Ballistic, Menzari, Devino, Antera, Marchesini, Sparco, Speedline, TeamDynamics, NAD Wheels, R2 Wheels, Lowenhart, DONZ, Rennen, Rial, Orobica Line, M.B Italia, Toora, G.M.P Italia, Vellano, MOZ, Watanabe, SSR Wheels, Wolfhart, Wolfrace, Panther Wheel, American Racing Wheels, UsaRim, Motegi Racing Performance Wheels, Weld Racing, BBS Wheels, CMS, 5Zigen, Volk Racing, Konig Wheels and Rimstock. Most aftermarket wheels are cast, while only a few above are forged, such as DONZ forged, Vellano, and Weld. Many companies have been formed over the years (some recently) due to the increasing demand from street racing enthusiasts and the rising demand for larger diameter wheels.
Cast aftermarket wheels have also been oversaturated due to the vast influx of inexpensive chrome wheels from China. India, through Synergies Castings Ltd. and other companies, of late have also emerged as a major supplier of alloy/chrome wheels. They manufacture products to global scale due to primarily cheap but highly skilled and qualified labour.
American Racing, which owns Motegi Racing and Weld Racing among other brands such as TIS, TIS Modular, is the oldest aftermarket wheel company dating back to 1956. The oldest British company is Wolfrace who was the first company to offer a polished alloy wheel in Europe and to achieve TUV approval. Wolfrace also provided the wheels for thrust SSC and the UK’s land speed record bid. A recent trend in the industry includes joint venture partnerships being formed between offshore manufacturers and local importers/distributors such as PDW Wheels which started in Australia in 2006, amongst a few others. Most wheel brands are ultimately sold through dealers such as RhinoTuning.
Some “aftermarket” alloy wheels are/were also available as Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) fitments, with BBS being a notable original equipment supplier to Volkswagen.
Some manufacturers also share patterns and castings, with an example (motorcycle) being the licencing of Marchesini 5-spoke design to Brembo, for the production of alloy (non-magnesium) wheels for Ducati road bikes.
Magnesium alloy wheels
Magnesium alloy wheel on a Porsche Carrera GT
Magnesium alloy wheels, or “mag wheels”, are sometimes used on racing cars, in place of heavier steel or aluminium wheels, for better performance. The wheels are produced by one-step hot forging from a magnesium alloy known as ZK60, AZ31 or AZ91 (MA14 in Russia). Cast magnesium disks are used in motorcycle wheels.
The mass of a typical magnesium automotive wheel is about 59 kg (depending on size).
Magnesium wheels are flammable and have been banned in some forms of motorsport in the UK following fires which are very difficult to extinguish. Mag wheels have been known to catch fire in competition use after a punctured tire has allowed prolonged scraping of the wheel on the road surface.[citation needed] Some variants of Magnesium alloy wheels may have low corrosion resistance.
They have the disadvantages of being expensive and not practical for most road vehicles. Aluminium wheels are often mistakenly called “mag wheels”.
See also
UsaRim
Wheel
Wheel sizing
Hubcap
All cars have a different PCD offset which you need to check when purchasing a set of alloy wheels. For more information visit the alloy wheel pcd guide http://www.maxxdirectory.co.uk/pcd-offset-guides.php
References
^ Wheelweights.Net
External links
SEMA (Specialty Equipment Marketing Association)
Alloy Wheel Guide – Useful UK article on Alloy Wheels.
Alloy Wheel Guide – A very useful UK article on Alloy Wheels.
Categories: Wheels | Automotive styling featuresHidden categories: Articles needing cleanup from July 2009 | All pages needing cleanup | Wikipedia introduction cleanup from July 2009 | Articles lacking sources from March 2007 | All articles lacking sources | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from January 2008
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