Let’s discuss the history of wheels from the early days of wooden spokes on vintage cars to the most advanced wheels of today made from Carbon Fiber and all of the different wheels in between. Just like there are 100’s styles and types of classic cars and vintage cars to choose from, the choice for the perfect wheels can be a tough decision.
Once a decision is made on the type of vehicle you are looking to build and what you are looking to accomplish with your build, the decision does become slightly less complicated. For example, if you are looking to restore a 1903 Cadillac for a trip across the pond to participate in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Rally, then only those wheels with wooden spokes will do.
If you are looking to build a purpose-built race car where every additional pound makes a difference, then you might want to invest in set of carbon fiber wheels, as found on the 2017 Ford GT.
While wheels seem like a simple topic, there are many different variables to consider when choosing the right wheel. These include the diameter, the offset, the back spacing and of course the style and material composition of the wheels. Each of these variables may also affect the tire size (height and width) as well as the type of tire you choose to best compliment your build. To provide these different variables the attention they deserve, we will first concentrate on the materials wheels are made of and the pros and cons of each of these most common materials. We will then address sizing and of course tire choice in separate blogs within this series.
So, let us get started. . .
Wooden Wheels
The wheel is regarded as one of the oldest and most important inventions, which did, according to most authorities, originated in ancient Mesopotamia in the 5th millennium BC. It was a function of potter’s wheels. The wheel is probably the most important mechanical invention of all time. Nearly every machine built since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution involves a single, basic principle embodied in one of mankind’s hugely significant inventions. It is hard to imagine any mechanized system that would be possible without the wheel or the idea of a symmetrical component moving in a circular motion on an axis. From tiny watch gears to automobiles, jet engines and computer disk drives, the principle is the same. While use of the wheel for transportation dates back thousands of years, we will fast forward to the “modern age of the automobile” and the use of the wooden wheel following the invention of the tire.
The pneumatic tire was first used on the bicycle in 1888, when John Dunlop improved and patented the pneumatic tire. These tires only went about 30 to 40 miles before they needed repair replacement, which is quite different from todays 50,000-mile tires.
While it has been over 100 years since wooden wheels were installed on a car from the factory, if you need wooden wheels for you project, all is not lost. The building of a wooden wheel is an art and there are still several companies out there that do build them. Most of these are family owned businesses where the skills have been passed down from one generation to the next. You will find most of those producing these wheels to be true car guys who are passionate about the cars that bore these old wheels from the beginning.
You will generally have to supply them with a point of reference in commissioning the build of some new wheels. These may include some of the following:
- A few old spokes from a front and rear wheel
- A half section of felloe when required.
- Hubs, bolts, brake drums, felloe plates, “T” shaped rivets, and other miscellaneous metal fasteners that need to be installed.
- Felloe bands, or clincher rims, or steel felloes.
- On rare occasions a demountable rim and lugs for wood felloe wheels.
- Pictures are not necessary but help in special cases.
The obvious drawback to wooden wheels are they are not readily available over the counter, can be expensive to have built, and while will generally see very limited use do not compare to the strength of a steel wheel, which is next in line.
But if you are building an old car from the turn of the century nothing else but a wooden spoke wheel will fit the build.
Steel Wheels
Steel wheels became prevalent in the 1920’s and are still the most common wheel used today in the production of new vehicles. The greatest benefits of steel wheels are not only their strength but the relative ease in reproducing them.
Steel wheels consist of two parts the rim and the center of the wheel, known as the wheel disk. During production, the wheel disk is pressed inside the rim and then welded for strength. While the wheels may look remarkably similar, the wheel disk is where much of the difference between one make or model vehicle is noticeable. As common as steel wheels are, the center of the wheel is unmistakable to the right car guy, who can easily spot whether the a particular wheel came from a Ford, Chevy, Pontiac or any other make as well as the time period it was used.
Steel wheels can be found in a variety of finishes including Chrome, painted or powder coated. If not properly cared for, they can tend to rust, but as mentioned above they are extremely strong and tend to be the choice for many off roaders or for cars that will see a lot of winter driving where pot holes can easily destroy a wheel.
The style of steel wheels is easily enhanced with hub caps, beauty rings or center caps that can help distinguish one vehicle from another and are make and model specific depending on the time period.
When shopping for steel wheels for your restoration, it is important to do your homework to make sure that you are getting the right style steel wheel for your project. However, because they are so common and easily produced, finding the right wheel should not be difficult and you may even have the opportunity to maintain that stock look while making subtle changes to the size and width to improve handling and ride quality.
Alloy Wheels
Since as the name implies, steel wheels are heavy, and weight ultimately became the driving force behind the development of the alloy wheels that will be discussed next. Alloy wheels are best described as a combination of various alloys, namely magnesium or aluminum. It is the mixture of different metals and elements that allow for the production of a lightweight wheel that still maintains a high degree of strength. Both aluminum and magnesium in their purest form are not by themselves suitable for the production of a “strong” wheel.
While it is possible that an alloy wheel can weigh as much as a steel wheel, in general they are considerably lighter and this reduction in weight leads to improved handling, better suspension travel and, by reducing the overall weight of the vehicle, better fuel mileage. The more open design of alloy wheels is better for heat reduction especially from the brakes, which improves braking performance under more demanding conditions. All these reasons are why the use of alloy wheels began within the sports car and racing industries.
While alloy wheels also enhance the cosmetic look of a car by allowing different designs and the use of bare finishes that can be polished to a chrome like finish or left to a more brushed look, cheaper alloys are not corrosion resistant. It is important to consider the quality of the wheel when shopping for alloys. Lower quality alloys will need to be sealed with paint or clear coated to preserve their appearance and as such will need to be cleaned with special cleaners in order to increase the life of those protective coatings.
The first of the alloy wheels were magnesium wheels. These wheels were extremely popular for racing and on sports cars. The use of magnesium for production vehicles was uncommon but the term “mag wheels” became synonymous with all alloy wheels. Compared to magnesium wheels, aluminum wheels are more durable and will last longer than other materials. Aluminum wheels are stronger than magnesium wheels, with the latter being more delicate and more difficult to make. They are strong enough for use with your car without suffering significant wear and tear in the process.
Cast Alloy Wheels
Alloy wheels are manufactured using two different methods the most common and cheapest is casting. Casting consists of pouring molten aluminum into a mold where it is formed to the correct shape and sits there until it cools down. Once the wheel cools down, they perform trimming and drilling. Unfortunately, there is one massive flaw with this method of producing wheels: porosity. Porosity is the physical space inside the material once it has cooled, and it allows for weak points to form. The cheapest workaround for this problem is to use larger tolerances, ultimately making the wheel heavier. This method of wheel manufacturing is quick and cheap, allowing for mass production of cheap wheels.
Contrary to what some enthusiasts will tell you, cast wheels are not terrible. A properly built cast wheel will weigh more than a forged wheel, but the build quality is typically more than enough for street use and light track use. Heavy track usage is where you will see low-quality cast wheels (often replica wheels) fail, resulting in an ugly crash. A high-quality cast wheel will survive heavy track usage, but the heavier design is not ideal.
Forged Alloy Wheels
The second method of manufacturing alloy wheels is forging. Forged wheels are usually lighter and stronger but considerably more expensive than cast wheels.
There are two ways to create forged wheels. These include the following:
Machine Forging
This process takes a chunk of billet aluminum and applies an enormous amount of pressure and high temperature compressing the block of aluminum into a smaller shape to be used to produce the wheel. Compressing a block of aluminum in this manner makes the wheel stronger than the original block of aluminum that was used to make the wheel. The large piece of forged aluminum is machine cut into the desired shape. This is the traditional process for building traditional forged wheels.
Mold-Form Forging
There are a few companies, most notably Rays Engineering, who use the Mold-Form process of creating forged wheels. The Mold-Form process is different, in that the shape of the wheel is creating during the forging process. By creating the shape of the wheel during the forging process, the grain of the metal flows with the shape of the wheel, resulting in much greater strength. After they make the rough forging, a massive machine applies upwards of 10,000 tons of force to the inner and outer rim to create the desired shape.
Again, cast wheels are inherently porous; forged wheels are not thanks to the heat and pressure they undergo. That strength allows for less material to be used to achieve the desired structural integrity, resulting in a significantly lighter wheel. Often time forged wheels use a one-piece design, but they can also use a two-piece or three-piece design which allows for greater fitment flexibility.
Composite Wheels
The last wheel type that we will address in this blog are composite wheels. Composite wheels are those that are made using composite materials most notably, Carbon Fiber. These wheels are extremely light and as one would expect extremely expensive. They are most often found on very high-end builds where cost is not a factor and the need to keep the weight of the vehicle down is most important.
We have talked about the wheel finish so in the Where the Rubber Meets the Road blog we will discuss the tire fit, and then we will take a look at the sizing and of course, back spacing and offset of the wheels.
Jamie
Slowa maja ogromna moc, Ja bardzo w to wierze. Moga inspirowac, dawac motywacje lub pocieszenie, a gdy go potrzeba. Czasem w jednym zdaniu jak zakleta jest madrosc, ktlrej szukamy w zyciu przez bardzo dlugi czas. zapraszam do siebie 🙂