Carbon wheels...good?bad?ugly?

[Butzi]

www.designtek.eu/PDF/Carbonwheel.pdf

weight saving is impressive, but is it worth £5k+, and the look?

Edited by Butzi on Sunday 14th January 23:14

[996tt_stevo]

If used for track they might be ok (pretty pricey though!) I know they have been run on a GT3 Cup car and lasted the distance, but I still have my doubts on any street use.

[Butzi]

Leaving the magnesium centre alone, what likely problems would there be, other than difficulty in refub?

[Church of Noise]

Difficult to say to be honest!

I've worked in composites (moved on to airplanes, different thread) and some carbon reinforced composites are pretty indestructible (600 MPa in tension and an insanely good fatigue resistance). It all depends on the composite's composition and the design of the wheel...

Butzi said:

Leaving the magnesium centre alone, what likely problems would there be, other than difficulty in refub?

One of their biggest problems is the fact that it can be damaged without you being able to see it from the outside (delaminations). There are ways to check, though most are not mainstream (C-scan etc). It can be possible to check by gently tapping on a number of places regularly (damage can make the sound change).

Edited by Church of Noise on Sunday 14th January 23:25

[egomeister]

The biggest worry would be kerb damage, but then don't drive into kerbs and its no longer a problem....

[DucatiGary]

I just made a love wee.

well thats a new pair of undercrackers you owe me.

the wife wont be pleased.

Edited by DucatiGary on Monday 15th January 00:30

[DanH]

Timmo's got some.

[Fidgits]

i think they would look ace on a track day motor...

infact, they would look awesome on that GT3 Darren posted up the other week!

[Henry-F]

Funnily enough we are looking to stock Carbon wheels at the moment and if we do will run them on the GT3 cup car next year. I`ve seen them for a while and wasn`t convinced, having spent a while chatting to the manufacturers recently it seems they really might work! Apparently they have flexed the carbon around 5 inches in testing and it didn`t fracture, my concern (especially in the cup car) was kerb damage but it seems they are less prone to damage than magnesium wheels (which obviously have no flex).

Watch this space.

Henry

[GTWayne]

As they are becoming more popular, do you think the cost will come down?

[Henry-F]

I think their specialist nature and need for tight manufacturing control will keep prices stable for a while, I suspect they are a lot more labour intensive to produce than alloy wheels.

Henry

[GTWayne]

I agree. Surely they are only worth the investment if they are for a race car as although they would look super cool and it would be nice just to have them, ultimately, they have no practical advantage on a road car. Split rim CF wheels may be an idea for the road as replacing a damaged inner or outer would (or may) be less costly?

P.S. I have magnesium Dymags (centre locks) on my Ultima and I must say, I am sorely tempted to go CF.

Edited by GTWayne on Monday 15th January 02:31

[egomeister]

Henry, will you be allowed to use them for racing? Most (high level, ie FIA) series do not allow them but I guess regulations on domestic series may not have been written with technology such as this in mind.

[timmo]

Try doing 180+ mph on the Autobahn with Carbon wheels on !


tim

[Vesuvius 996]

I saw these at Autosport.

A girl in very very tight pants (think cheesewire) tried to sell me a set.


She very nearly succeeded.

[GTWayne]

Vesuvius 996 said:

I saw these at Autosport.

A girl in very very tight pants (think cheesewire) tried to sell me a set.


She very nearly succeeded.

And if she had succeeded would you really have worn said cheese wire pants or were you thinking of buying them as a gift for a loved one?

So busy trying to be amusing nearly forgot to ask, were they Dymags? I missed the stand altogether.

Edited by GTWayne on Monday 15th January 10:40

[henry-f]

egomeister said:

Henry, will you be allowed to use them for racing? Most (high level, ie FIA) series do not allow them but I guess regulations on domestic series may not have been written with technology such as this in mind.

In Britcar the "rules" are more "guidelines" !

Henry

[johnny senna]

timmo said:

Try doing 180+ mph on the Autobahn with Carbon wheels on !


tim

Go on Tim......what happens?!

[gfreeman]

Yeah come on Tim, as the guy trying out a set of Dymags for Parr last season you are the man!!

Any discernable effects???

[timmo]

Ive been running these on my Track/Road going GT3 RS for a year now .
I originally had the 5 spoke ( mule ) wheels from
Dymag, they then sent a set of 9 spokes
The wheels are so light the rear wheels spin in the 1st 3 gears

Dymag wanted me to try and break them ( serious - they asked me to do this )!
I tried ... using all the kerbs at every cicuit I went to and used them in the Porsche Speed
Championship last year
The mules went back and I bought a set of 9 spokes as they looked better and I reckon 9 points of contact are better than 5 ! apparently the middle section have been
beefed up a lot more

When I 1st ran the car going into Paddock Hill Bend at Brands It was scary
as with doing 180 + on the Autobahn

but Ive done over 10,000miles now and I feel they are safe.
The Koniggsegg thing has those wheels as standard

Dont forget all the GP motorbike racers use them as standard !


tim