Forged vs. Cast Wheels

You really want to stay away from heavy wheels, they kill handling.

That said at that weight, it is really light for such a large wheel. But light also often translates to weak in absorbing impact.... I think in the archieves a member commented how it is *really* easy to bend them out of shape.

Also, I think that OEM 360 are cast, at least they sure look like it.

 

Light weight is important.

Ductility or durability is nice.

Low cost,... well you get what you pay for.

Cast is more fragile Heavier, less repairable and cheaper.

Forged one piece is probably the strongest, maybe the lightest and most certainly the most expensive.

Assembling a wheel from a forged center section of aluminum or magnesiem or $$$Titaniem, bolted or welded to a spun or formed outer rim of aluminum will probably yield a more cost effective wheel.

Stock wheels bear looking at re: cost, weight, structure, orriginality and style.

I am leaning toward a billett specialties billet center section, spun-formed rim section and flexible off set for ~ $400 each. HRE looks like a more refined, perhaps single piece forged wheel but 2.5 times the price.

Stock 360 wheels fall inthe middle, are orriginal, and a known quantity if they fit your requirements.

HTH,
chris

 

How much does the stock 360 modena/spider wheel weigh? Are they cast aluminum? i thought i read a thread indicating they were magnesium?

 

They are not Mg. They are Al Si if I recall, and my rough and tumble method of putting them on a old measuring scale for people I had in my garage gave me 22lb. I have them sitting in my garage, I will go check later.

 

Thanks Omar i appreciate the info.

Now a good question is whether or not the whole setup including tires will be heavier than stock!

Example my CLK came with 16" wheels which weighed around 18lbs each. I dont think any 18" rim i could find would weigh less than that plus the larger wider tire i had to use for a bigger rim would be heavier.

Forged 1pc rims are very light indeed but im curious to find out how light the new HRE competition wheels will be. I hear they are $200 more expensive than their 840R series!

But i would imagine going with a set of 19" rims on a modena if they total weight was around the same as stock, would improve handling quite a bit due to the lower profile tires and the slightly wider rear setup.

 

Tez (what's up dude?),

You are thinking of the original 550 wheel, which was in fact magnesium before being replaced due to cracking.

--Dan

 

Guys,

While I do not own a Ferrari I did recently buy some wheels, and did a lot of research into this specific question before I bought the wheels I have.

Basically what I found is that forged wheels (depending on the quality of manufacture) can be up to 80% stronger than gravity-cast aluminum wheels. However, Unless the company has a seriously bad rep all gravity-cast wheels will be completely fine for street or track use. It is not like these wheels will ever "fall apart" under normal use and the reason cast wheels are usually heavier is because they have to meet the same basic standard of strength as a forged wheel.

That having been said, it was about 3 months ago that I placed an order for a set of wheels by the Japanese racing company "Volk". This company is a big name in GT racing and makes many competition wheels, all of which are forged. However, after finding out that the wait time to recieve these wheels was in excess of 3 months (ricer mania puts a high demand on the company), I cancelled my order and placed an order for another similar wheel from another company. The only difference was the cast-vs-forged deal, and having recieved my wheels and inspected them, there is no visible difference in quality. The wheels look awesome, drive well (for 19" wheels) and get tons of compliments!

The bottom line is that so long as you don't plan on bottoming out your car on potholes or running into a bunch of curbs, you won't have any issues. It is my opinion that the kind of additional strength that forged wheels present is probably useless since if you nail a giant pothole, the wheels will be damaged anyway and it is going to cost you a fair amount to have it fixed or replaced.

The only benefit I see is if you track your car, in which a lighter wheel will make a difference regarding the amount of response to turn-in. However, seeing as the wheels I bought are basically for show and that I have another set of smaller forged wheels specifically for track use, this doesn't have much effect on me

Hope this helps some...

 

My cast Zender wheels lasted me about 55,000 miles of daily use, until they were bent too far out of round to drive on. Repair was possible, but more expensive than the wheels cost.

In comparison, my HRE 535's have lasted me over 200,000 miles, and just went in to be polished and trued (had slight bends in the outer lips from curb damage). Cost on repairing a modular forged wheel is much lower than repairing a one piece cast wheel.

I've never regretted shelling out for the HRE's.