ersatz928

Forged or cast?

Bill Dearborn

Cast. However, the OEM wheels are also lighter than most cast wheels and very strong.

Bill

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

^^^^ I don't know of any of the new cars that have a forged wheel on them now. The last OEM GM wheel for the cars that was forged was the Gen5 Camaro ZL1 wheel. The "spider" design C6Z wheels were cast, as were the C6 GS wheels. All C7 wheels from the base to the Z07 cars are all cast as well from what I have seen.

They are using a pressure casting method like we have been doing on our wheels so you they push a lot of the air out and make the material more dense so it can be lighter and stronger than a normal cast wheel.

mdiiulio

A little OT but... where does this put Tadge's and other claims in 2014 that Z51 wheels are forged while base wheels are cast? I'm not claiming one way or another, but there is definitely conflicting info out there.

Seems to be a very common question with quite a bit of confusion. The top 4 responses to this search pose similar ???s.
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...vetteforum.com

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

It sure didn't look like it beside the "made in China" label cast into the wheel....but I'll check a newer one when I have one come in next.

Poor-sha

I now have a complete set of 4 GS Cup wheels that I've either cracked or bent on the street. I also have 3 bent stock C7 Z06 wheels.

axr6

Sounds bad! That is why I insist on running 18 & 19 wheels in the hopes of reducing the chances for bending/cracking them in street driving.

ersatz928

My 2016 built GS has cast Speedline wheels, made in Mexico.

BaylorCorvette

Yup.. I've got 3 bent C7 Z51 wheels from running slicks and riding curbs.

davepl

Why would you damage four of your wheels on the street where as I (and most others) have never damaged a single one?

What's different when you drive on the street vs me, for example? Is it just your local roads really suck, or ????

daleong

The Z51 wheels are "Rotary Forged".. as I understand it, they start as cast forms, but the rim area is pressure forged in a machine to the final shape. So its a hybrid casting/forging process in summary.

These videos help explain:

Jump to 7:25 in this one:

village idiot

from what I've read, you can save about 8-10lbs a wheel by going to a true forged wheel on Z06/GS wheels.

Between that and girodisc rear rotors, you can drop about 70-75 lbs of unsprung rotating mass by going to forged wheels and aftermarket rotors That's a lot.

robert miller

My 2014 z51 rims where not forged at all. Plus they the weight was a ton more than the aftermarket set of forged one's I got on it now.

pkincy

Been having Camaros and Corvettes for many years. Last true Forged wheel I had was the 2001 Z06. In 2002 the Z06 went to high pressure casting. They were good wheels. The C6Z had good high pressure cast wheels. Imho the C7Z wheels are unusable they are so heavy (and have so much going on they are very hard to clean.)

Got two sets of forged Monoblocks to get the wheels back in the low 20 lb range.

red62vette

My 21” Porsche Macan wheels are forged. They are expensive, but definitely forged.

pkincy

The last forged wheels I am sure about was the 2001 Z06 wheels. But even those went to a pressure cast process for the 2002 and up model years. The cup wheels on the GS are nice wheels and a reasonable weight but the Z06 wheels are simply a disaster.

NmtMev

Just wondering why GM doesn't come out and just say "hey we have a forged wheel option, check this box and pay more"

My STi has forged wheels stock from the factory. Honestly and realistically its a price a lot of us would pay for, it's way cheaper to do it through the manufacturer insted of aftermarket....

Chevy is really shady with some of their offerings, you can even get forged wheel options on you new Honda Civic Si/Type R for a measily $1500 option for all 4... Just saying. With tires included motherfuzzer.....

ain't nothing special about wheels they are all the same sheet.

I love corvette, but damn sometimes GM cuts the wrong damn corners. Need to fire some people up top. Not just wheels either. Marketing, the guy in charge of paint colors etc... You get my drift.

X25

2014/15 Z28 wheels are also forged, and they're very strong. They're heavy at 26.2 lbs, but the spokes, as well as the hub area looks very thick and strong. Now that you've mentioned Z51 wheels could be spin-forged, though, I wonder if Z28 wheels are, too

The original C6 Z06 wheels (2006-9?) were also very strong, yet very light wheels. They were 21lbs front, 23 lbs rear, if I recall correctly.

The good news is that OEM wheels can be sold for good money, and you can then get a set of forged wheels to do the job.

hcvone

I wish GM offered a forged wheel option, then I wouldn't have to spend money on forged aftermarket wheels, my hellcat and demon came with forged wheels, and cost much less than my Z06's.

village idiot

I'm sure there was a "what gets us the best performance per dollar" study, but I'm surprised they aren't forged, if for no other reason, it's something that increases performance and MPG and durability that customers would be willing to pay for.