Carbon Fibre Wheels

[Yipper]

Anyone running carbon fibre wheels on their car?

Worth the extra money?

Any pros or cons for speed, weight, ride quality, ease of cleaning, stone chips, tyre changes, and so on?

[alephnull]

Also, who makes them and how much do they cost?

[GG33]

Carbon Fiber wheels have a massive benefit in that they reduce the unsprung weight by a very large margin. I seem to recall they were made by Dymag and price was in the region of £1k per corner. Not sure if they still make them as it was a few years ago. I knew a guy that had them fitted on an Ultima.

GG

[sone]

I’d imagine catching a kerb would destroy a wheel.

[mwstewart]

Well and truly on my radar but the price needs to come down a bit first.

I think Carbon Revolution were one of the first after market manufacturers (2010 maybe?) and a couple of years ago they began to supply European distributors.

The cost is similar to what Ferrari ask for the 488 option.

[PompeyReece]

sone said:

I’d imagine catching a kerb would destroy a wheel.

Indeed. I ride carbon fibre bike frames and wheel sets - any accident/hard knock and there's a chance the frame is cracked/damaged and it's a write off. One of the reasons why with my bikes, I always buy new.

[Yipper]

The 488 option is ~£18k for 4 wheels. Aftermarket designs, like Carbon Revolution, are £10-30k for 4 wheels.

[cptsideways]

One slight nick & they are good for a table base.

[Durzel]

sone said:

I’d imagine catching a kerb would destroy a wheel.

I agree with this.

Supposedly the Pista CF wheels are 40% lighter, which is great in Top Trump terms, but the car is already going to be stupendously quick, so much so that I struggle to see the benefit relative to the obvious and considerable downsides. Ignoring the cost aspect, I'd have seriously concerns about them - particularly on UK roads. One deep pothole and I could well imagine you cracking a spoke...

Also, 40% lighter isn't really that much when you consider how light CF is, which suggests the regular 488 Pista wheels are already pretty damn light already.

All in all, it sounds great if you're already ticking almost every box on the configurator anyway, and parked up at meets and such.. not sure it's so great when you're leaning forwards in your seat, watching the road and every kerb like a hawk.

[RamboLambo]

Must have option on the Pista IMHO. Anything else and you will look like a cheapskate

[griff7]

Durzel said:

sone said:

I’d imagine catching a kerb would destroy a wheel.

I agree with this.

Supposedly the Pista CF wheels are 40% lighter, which is great in Top Trump terms, but the car is already going to be stupendously quick, so much so that I struggle to see the benefit relative to the obvious and considerable downsides. Ignoring the cost aspect, I'd have seriously concerns about them - particularly on UK roads. One deep pothole and I could well imagine you cracking a spoke...

Also, 40% lighter isn't really that much when you consider how light CF is, which suggests the regular 488 Pista wheels are already pretty damn light already.

All in all, it sounds great if you're already ticking almost every box on the configurator anyway, and parked up at meets and such.. not sure it's so great when you're leaning forwards in your seat, watching the road and every kerb like a hawk.

I agree and the silver ones on the Geneva show stand look brilliant.

[RamboLambo]

griff7 said:

I agree and the silver ones on the Geneva show stand look brilliant.

Really I think they look really cheap and nasty. In fact the whole car is a bit meh

[anonymous-user]

Yipper said:

Anyone running carbon fibre wheels on their car?

Worth the extra money?

Any pros or cons for speed, weight, ride quality, ease of cleaning, stone chips, tyre changes, and so on?

[mwstewart]

Durzel said:

I agree with this.

Supposedly the Pista CF wheels are 40% lighter, which is great in Top Trump terms, but the car is already going to be stupendously quick, so much so that I struggle to see the benefit relative to the obvious and considerable downsides. Ignoring the cost aspect, I'd have seriously concerns about them - particularly on UK roads. One deep pothole and I could well imagine you cracking a spoke...

Also, 40% lighter isn't really that much when you consider how light CF is, which suggests the regular 488 Pista wheels are already pretty damn light already.

All in all, it sounds great if you're already ticking almost every box on the configurator anyway, and parked up at meets and such.. not sure it's so great when you're leaning forwards in your seat, watching the road and every kerb like a hawk.

Unsprung weight is a benefit that can be felt at pretty much any speed. It is especially important on our terrible roads. 1-2kg per wheel is actually a lot and very noticable.

[Durzel]

mwstewart said:

Unsprung weight is a benefit that can be felt at pretty much any speed. It is especially important on our terrible roads. 1-2kg per wheel is actually a lot and very noticable.

I don't doubt it, however - for arguments sake - I had some semi-solid forged wheels on my daily driver, which were very light, but also soft. I buckled & refurbished the same wheel 3 times hitting very mild potholes that were hidden or otherwise unavoidable.

I stand by my belief that relative to the gains spending £18k on CF wheels, with essentially no way to refurbish them if you even graze a kerb, the benefits are not worth it outside of people that absolutely must tick every configurator box, or are happy to drive along everywhere scared of what might be around the next corner. I had enough stress as it was with my diamond cut 458 alloys to be honest.

[Yipper]

The four carbon wheels on the Pista save around 10-15kg in total, so roughly the same weight as 3-5 gallons of fuel.

[Durzel]

Yipper said:

The four carbon wheels on the Pista save around 10-15kg in total, so roughly the same weight as 3-5 gallons of fuel.

And you know this how? I've also never heard of a CF part saving a variable amount of weight before.

[RevsPerMinute]

The weight saving on a wheel offers so many more benefits than just the numerical weight figure saved off the kerb weight.

[Beefmeister]

Durzel said:

Yipper said:

The four carbon wheels on the Pista save around 10-15kg in total, so roughly the same weight as 3-5 gallons of fuel.

And you know this how? I've also never heard of a CF part saving a variable amount of weight before.

Never thought i'd find myself defending Yipper..... but the 10-15kg comes from the weight saving over the non-carbon wheel options on the 488. They offer a lighter alloy wheel option and the standard wheel, so a 10 and 15kg saving respectively. I was told this by the lead engineer on the Pista, on Tuesday, in person.

[Durzel]

Beefmeister said:

Durzel said:

Yipper said:

The four carbon wheels on the Pista save around 10-15kg in total, so roughly the same weight as 3-5 gallons of fuel.

And you know this how? I've also never heard of a CF part saving a variable amount of weight before.

Never thought i'd find myself defending Yipper..... but the 10-15kg comes from the weight saving over the non-carbon wheel options on the 488. They offer a lighter alloy wheel option and the standard wheel, so a 10 and 15kg saving respectively. I was told this by the lead engineer on the Pista, on Tuesday, in person.

Ah, I wasn't aware of a lighter alloy wheel option, so took the statement to mean CF or alloy. Apologies Yipper!