How much do your wheels weigh?

[Wouter Mollers]

In the never-ending search for weight reduction, the rotating mass of the four wheels have come to our attention. We've used Keizer wheels so far and they seem pretty light. A 13x6 magnesium rim weighs in at 4.3 lbs and the centerpiece is about 2.0 lbs.

But; we reckon that these wheels are designed for something like a 700+ lbs racecar. Has any team produced a lighter wheel than something like the above? We would like to hear some numbers like weight and stiffness combined with material use and production methods if possible. Any input is welcome.

Wouter Mollers
Suspension Manager DUTRacing
Delft University of Technology

[Dominic Venieri]

We used to have a set of lightspeed wheels, 13x7 and 13x7.5, 4x100mm bolt pattern that weighed a tad over 7 lbs.

We have since switched from them because they didn't stay very round and flexed noticeably, especially in hard corners.

We are now using BBS wheels, same dimensions, that weigh about 9 lbs, but are much stiffer, due largely to their thick cast magnesium centers.

As far as lightweight wheels go, I recall a school from Texas as having carbon fiber (center section?) wheels, and I've seen several other teams that have either CNC machined or EDM'd center sections that were very lightweight as well.

www.formularpi.com (http://www.formularpi.com)

[Wizard]

Q: How much do your wheels weigh?

A: To Much!!! http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_mad.gif

"It's not a place you can get to by a boat or a train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain..."

[Charlie]

Our Mag Keizers weigh 7.3 lbs assembled. Perhaps you are neglecting the mounting bolts & nuts.

We had deflection problems with our Keizers, so we are trying Weld this year. They weigh a little over 8 lbs assembled.

-Charlie Ping
Auburn University FSAE 1999-present
http://www.auburn.edu/~pingiii/2002FSAE/carblank.jpg

[Wizard]

The BBS are 9 lbs? When I called I was told around 11 lbs. 3-piece with cast mag centers, right? Whatever it doesn't matter now.

Does anyone run Jongbloed? $$$$$

[Scott Wordley]

Last year we made our own 3 piece wheels which weighed 3kg (6.6lb) and we're going to reduce the weight of them for this year. We had to use 4mm 6061 T6 for the rims because thats all we could get at the time, but this year we will try and source 2.5mm which should knock nearly 1kg (2.2lb) out of each wheel. We're also gonna try and get some 7075 for the wheel centres (budget permitting) and do some FEA to reduce the weight even further.

Regards,

Scott "Maverick" Wordley &
Roan "Goose" Lyddy-Meaney
MOnash FSAE Wingmen

[Dominic Venieri]

Yup, 3 piece BBS with cast mag centers. We've weighed em and they are in the 9 lb range. The price is great on them, and we feel the stiffness makes up for the weight gain from our lightspeeds.

I called the folks at Jongbloed, but they never returned my calls.

Also looked at Kodiak wheels. They looked very much like our (flexy) Litespeeds, so we stuck with the BBS.

With 2 sets of BBS on hand, I'm not sure if we are going to get another (read:lighter) set for rains.

www.formularpi.com (http://www.formularpi.com)

[biggie]

What sources are you using to find the BBS wheels? Ive looked high and low and never find a 13 inch racing wheel.

[Charlie]

http://www.hoerr-racing.com/

HRP sells the BBS wheels. They also have a FSAE specific catalog.

-Charlie Ping
Auburn University FSAE 1999-present

[ben]

A member of our team designed some cast 1-piece mag wheels about three years ago. We convinced Aeromet to cast them about two years ago and convinced Rover to machine them last year.

Suffice it to say that we will not be getting another set anytime soon. Weight? 2.2Kg each.

Ben
UBRacing

[Dominic Venieri]

we get them direct from BBS
Here's the wheel we use:
http://www.formularpi.com/gallery/pages/9.htm

Got them with silver centers this year.

www.formularpi.com (http://www.formularpi.com)

[Scott Wordley]

Out of interest, how much does everyone pay for their wheels. We're looking into the possibility of selling sets of our own design wheels to other teams.

Are there any teams out there who would be interested if the price was right?

Regards,

Scott "Maverick" Wordley &
Roan "Goose" Lyddy-Meaney
MOnash FSAE Wingmen

[Wizard]

How much does a set of mag keizers run???

And the best price I got on the BBS's where direct from BBS.

[Charlie]

I'd say a good average price for wheels (good ones) would be $1000 a set US. There are some cheaper and some more expensive, but if you have something that suits our application well, people would spend that.

-Charlie Ping
Auburn University FSAE 1999-present
http://www.auburn.edu/~pingiii/2002FSAE/carblank.jpg

[formula_geek]

We have run Monocoque 13" wheels for the past two years now. They weigh 5 lbs front and 7 lbs rear (to fit the 6.5" and 8" wide tires).

We have had minor problems with rim flex, solved by adjusting suspension points. Well, and the one major problem with rim flex after that curb incident... http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_redface.gif

[Nam Tran]

Do you have a contact number for Monocoque Racing Wheels?

We ran Monocoque's in the front last year and I wanted to get two more rims, but when I called the number had been disconnected. I went to their website and checked the number and it hadn't changed. I did everything short of driving down to San Diego.

[formula_geek]

Sorry I can't help you out, but we've run into the same problem this year. It's like they disappeared off the face of the earth...

Keizer here we come!

[woollymoof]

Scott and Roan,
are you guys the only ones on the team? You seem to handle then engine, wheels, wings and probably other stuff that I haven't seen.
I'm from swinburne by the way.

[Scott Wordley]

No we're not the only ones, we're just the veterans.

Regards,

Scott Wordley & Roan Lyddy Meaney
Monash FSAE Wingmen
http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae

[LTUFSAERacing]

We had deflection problems with the Keizers last year too and actually broke the wheel center off right where the spokes meet the hubs. We switched to the Welds which have a lot more material but we machinced off material from the Welds because they are overkill for FSAE cars. We also checked out Black Widow Wheels made my DMI Inc. They would still need material taken off though.

[TorqueWrench]

From what I have seen, its that transition from the spokes to the hub and the big holes in the spokes with the Keizers. We ran some FEA on the standard Keizer 10" centerlugs using the models they provided with some surprising results. Next time someone looks at them, put a cut plane through the center of one of the spokes and see if you pick out what they did (may have been changed/fixed since we got ours). Then again, if I knew my wheel FEA was done right we would have much lighter wheels by now....

[MegaDeath]

Custom designed, and manufactured 1 piece mag wheels. 13"x6",4x4"lug pattern, weighing in at 6.005lbs. Only deflect 0.028in at full load.

[ThreeColours]

Braid Formrace. Offsets and weights:

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3774/medidaspesosetformrace4.gif

Cheers