Seeking wheel advice from someone who KNOWS

[09TRD]

Originally Posted by Tamago

question...

what makes a wheel a "racing" wheel?...

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/w...treet-use.html

"A word on BBS Race wheels for street use
I see many inquiries and threads on these wheels, and I think it's fair to warn people that don't know that these wheels were not designed for street use and BBS does not recommend them to be used off of a track. The barrel sections are roll formed and they are considerably thinner on these wheels than they would be on one of their road wheels. It saves weight, but it makes the wheel much more likely to be damaged by potholes, etc."

Cast aluminum racing wheels are typically made from A356 aluminum and are very light. By definition they can't be strong, since the material properties of that aluminum are quite low and since real racing wheels use very thin walls (in the barrel and the spokes).

Here are the material properties of A356, which is the most commonly used aluminum in cast wheels. They are laughable compared to a good forging:

http://www.mse.mtu.edu/classes/my413...inum/a356.html

Centerline wheels are fabricated exclusively from 6061-T6, which is a forged, aircraft grade aluminum. They also use thick walls, since they are designed primarily for STREET use.

http://asm.matweb.com/search/Specifi...ssnum=MA6061T6