Kyflyer

BMW is gearing up to produce carbon fiber wheels.

http://www.motoringfile.com/2014/02/...and+Podcast%29

nlgrav182

Carbon fiber is strong and light, sure, but it disintegrates when it breaks. I'd rather have an alloy wheel that can hit a pot hole and crack and get me home than a CF wheel that shatters, throws debris, and could do some damage.

Maybe they'll post some destructive testing videos to show off the strength.

MitchAlsup

Notice that even F1 races of metal wheels (Forged magnesium). Motorcycles only qualify on CF wheels and revert to metal wheels for the race.

Glen e

I hardly think BMW will put a CF wheel on the street that shatters when hit...you may not like them, but they are not stupid......

slief

Carbon fiber wheels have been around a while. They are extremely expensive though. If I am not mistaken, I think Halltech is working on them for the C7.

slief

It is Halltech.
Here is a thread.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c7-t...free-pscs.html

Steve Garrett

I love Carbon Fiber, but they are $15,000 for a set.

vetteLT193

The main reason why CF wheels aren't already everywhere is the price of CF. The price has steadily come down which is why we are finally seeing it used on cars. Wheels are the obvious next thing that will be made more mainstream because of the pricing.

The reason why BMW is doing it is to make use of waste. It is a win win.

B Stead

A carbon fiber wheel broke in F1 motorcycle racing in 1984 and were avoided for many years.

But I don't really see the need for carbon fiber wheels. For instance, the Volk forged aluminum wheels for street cars are thick in size or substantial in spoke number but come in at unbelievable light weights. Then the Volk wheels for race cars are forged magnesium (and don't look anything like hollow spoke cast wheels). The Volk sports car wheels are the CE28N, RE30, and TE37. There was a TE37 for the C6 Z06.

Basically, to understand the difference between forged aluminum and cast aluminum then go look at steel versus cast iron. Both steel and cast iron are iron-with-carbon but steel is three to four times stronger than cast iron.

Now carbon fiber used to be wrapped and layered over cores but now the process is more like injection molding. So fabrication costs are no problem for large scale production and the remaining issue is the cost of the raw material
.

Elleby13

I have heard that carbon fiber wheels are too lite and cause the wheels to spin too much? Idk if that is true or not but I have heard that from a few different sources.

vetteLT193

This is not true. The BMW wheels as an example save 10 percent for the full carbon version and 25 percent on the carbon / metal hybrid version. It isn't as if we are putting wheels and tires on that weigh in ounces, they will still have weight and plenty of it.

Furthermore, reducing unsprung weight and rotational weight is VERY good. There is a reason why guys running stupid big wheels end up doing brake and performance upgrades to simply get back the performance lost through the massive weight increase.

Supermassive

I've run with CF wheels on my Aprilia RSV4 and they were worth their rather extreme cost ($1500 a wheel) because they allowed the bike to transition from full lean to opposite lean much quicker than the aluminum wheels it comes stock with. Mag wheels for bikes are roughly the same price and amateur riders like myslef would be hard pressed to feel the difference.

For cars I don't think CF wheels would pose as great of an improvement in handling as they do on motorcycles and the weight savings would be barely noticeable to the average driver behind the steering wheel. I think CF wheels are more of a "because i can" type of upgrade than a necessary one. As for shattering, CF wheels don't shatter per say...but they can delaminate and cause issues later with losing air pressure in the tire. CF wheels are actually more flexible than aluminum wheels and can even absorb shock better than metals with their construction. CF technology has come a long way and if the price ever comes down enough to make them actually viable then they would most certainly be worth using on sports cars. But at their current price you could buy two sets of HRE's with nice tires on them...not exactly a strong selling point when you look at it like that.

slief

I can only imagine how a set of CF wheels would have been on a road race bike. When I was racing, I picked up a set of Dymag Magnesium wheels for my R1 race bike and it was amazing what a difference a set of magnesium wheels made to the bikes performance and handling. It was much much more "flickable"! I couldn't imagine running a set of CF wheels. Boy would that have been fun!

As for running CF wheels on a car, I completely agree.. Definitely not worth the cost unless the car is a full race car with an unlimited budget. One run over a good bump and the days costs would skyrocket.

stevebz06

One of the big reasons for the cost of CF parts is the fact that they are produced almost completely by hand. GM and a partner is working on automating the production which will bring costs down dramatically.

As far as whether the weight reduction is worth it on a street car, you have to keep in mind that CAFE standards are going to start requiring a huge increase in fleet mileage soon, and the manufacturers are going to have to really start scratching to find efficiencies.

3 Z06ZR1

I've had many Corvette's and different wheels on them and light wheels make a nice difference in many ways.