[Timpo]

Weds Sport Full Carbon Fiber Wheel
by Dave in Automotive/Motorcycle
http://www.weds.co.jp/

A Japanese company by the name of Weds Sport has come up with the first full carbon fiber wheel. They unveiled the wheels with what they call their Dry Carbon Wheel Project at the last Tokyo Auto Salon show.

http://www.carbonfibergear.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/weds-sport-carbon-fiber-wheel.jpg

One wheel weighs in at just 2.76kg, which works out to be 6.08475844 pounds. Interested in getting a set of these for your car? Expect to pay around $10,000-$12,000 for the set. While it sounds expensive, you can easily spend $8,000+ on custom three-piece forged wheels from a company like HRE.

http://www.carbonfibergear.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/carbon-fiber-wheel-weight.jpg
http://www.carbonfibergear.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/dry-carbon-wheel-project.jpg

I tried to get somebody to translate the Japanese from the above display at Tokyo Auto Salon, but this was the best I got from user fithamoto on the Nissan 350Z forums:

"Its kinda of complicated, but it basically says its a Dry Carbon Fiber process that can be used on automobile & motorcycle tires. Something about the weight and color too. It points out the differences between a wet CF proces & Dry CF process.
Sorry, really not much help after all. I guess your gonna need to get a first gen. Japanese to translate it correctly."

If anybody else can translate better, we’d love to know what the rest says…just post a comment below.

Weds Sport’s display also featured a wheel with a carbon fiber face, but more than likely a forged aluminum wheel surrounding. This is probably a much cheaper solution, and potentially arguably better looks.

http://www.carbonfibergear.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/carbon-fiber-aluminum-wheel.jpg

There is some concern about a wheel being 100% carbon fiber that I’ve seen from people online…especially considering the weight of the wheel. Is it strong enough to support a car normally driving, let alone at a race track? What about the cost of repairing the wheel if something gets damaged? Does it need to get fully replaced, or can it be fixed for substantially less cost?

There is another company by the name of Dymag that makes carbon fiber wheels (which we’ll cover in a future post), but their hub is made out of magnesium. Apparently this is for strength reasons, which makes me think these fully carbon fiber rims should only be used for show cars. I’d like to hear Weds Sport’s thoughts on this.

[twitchyzero]

id buy it if i could ever afford an exotic..it would probably look ugly on one though

[Death2Theft]

I'd love to see you make a claim against the city if u hit a pothole in one of these.

[woob]

curb that shit.

[underscore]

I think it looks kinda tacky, and if it's too weak to actually drive on, who cares if its light?

[daval]

dymag copycats~

[124Y]

Old news.

Sexy wheels though.

[Spy228]

One wheel weighs in at just 2.76kg, which works out to be 6.08475844 pounds.
very nice wheels!

but your unit conversion makes me laugh.

[124Y]

Audi should look into investing in these... they go well with the R8's "Carbon-Fibre-Everything" package. :haha:

[ilvtofu]

Is that really an investment though?
How hard can it be...
but what are the downsides to using CF, besides being obviously more expensive than regular alloys?

[death_blossom]

Looks like that post is from a news article. The article uses "we" as reference to the reporting group.

I wonder who's going to buy it, and then do something stupid like powdercoat the wheels haha.

[BNR32_Coupe]

challenges this wheel faces during

street driving: bumpy roads. especially on coilovers+low profile tires

track racing: extreme differences in temperatures from braking/cooling down rapidly

[mas604]

will those even hold up? I assume it wont since company like dymag makes carbon fibre wheel barrels only same with HRE.

[flagella]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3353/3440343109_6993c1154e_o.jpg

[ilvtofu]

That combination is pure sex, not down with the calipers though. but still the colour and wheels are perfect

[CanadaGoose]

How are they for durability though?

They have to put with lots of vibration and flex fatigue, and heat cycles from hot brakes...hate to have to buy a new set every yr (not that I could even afford 12g rims anyways lol)


ps. that F430 is HOT!! :drool:

[Harvey Specter]

360 forged was all show, shit wheels and ripped a lot of people off. They recently shut down and opened under a new name.

[!Aznboi128]

if I had money hahaha these are pretty awesome

[Nightwalker]

I remember reading about Dymag wheels a long time ago. Dymag makes CF barrel/magnesium hub & center spoke wheels. They're OEM on Koenigsegg and Mosler.

http://www.dymag.com/

Their testing has shown their CF/magnesium wheels to be stronger than forged aluminum wheels. They're a bit cheaper than the Weds Sport too.

[asian_XL]

this > all...haha

http://horsepowersports.com/images/clearwheel.jpg

[124Y]

Is that really an investment though?
How hard can it be...
but what are the downsides to using CF, besides being obviously more expensive than regular alloys?

It was meant as a joke buddy. Take it easy. :D

[shenmecar]

this > all...haha

http://horsepowersports.com/images/clearwheel.jpg

wtf.....????

[Blue92]

Is that really an investment though?
How hard can it be...
but what are the downsides to using CF, besides being obviously more expensive than regular alloys?

It is extremely difficult to design a cfrp wheel. cfrp is a very anisotropic material, and as such, determining and executing the lay up of the cf which will yield the required wheel properties is a challenge.

[dark0821]

ya.. a clear wheel :D

[Ferra]

wouldn't carbon fiber simply snap and shatter when under too much stress? (where else alloy wheel will simply bend)

[Shun Izaki]

just a show wheel.. im sure it's not intended for "TRACK" purposes or anyhting/...