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M2 Technical Topics > Wheels / Tires -- Sponsored by The Tire Rack > Could somebody explained this to me?

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      05-06-2020, 05:30 PM   #1
Mpowered777
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Could somebody explained this to me?

Hi, i have reached out to a wheel manufacturer and this is their process as described by them. I just, due to ignorance 🤷*♂️?, how this differs from a regular flow formed wheel. As i understand a flow formed wheel has a weak normal cast face and a strong heat and pressure formed barrel. Is there a hybrid where the face is formed using heat and pressure??

Description as follows


The design is a sort of a hybrid technology between flowforming and forged.

We start with flowforming a wheel using a mold for the center. This allows us to be free in the spoke design and go as concave as possible. We design each wheel to perfectly fit on just one vehicle model, like the M2 in your case. By using a mold for the center we are not restricted to pre-defined concavity levels of any raw forgings.

By Flowforming the barrels we can make them thinner than on a forged rim, which is one the first step to saving weight.

Through the maximum concavity of the spokes we can minimize the back pad of the rim, which is usually the heaviest part on any rim. This is the second step to save weight.

Then we machine the entire wheel as you usually do it with forged wheels to get the sharp spoke contour of a forged rim and also certain features like the undercut for example (the dirt channel between spokes and stepped barrel). The machining allows us to remove mass in specific areas where you don’t need it, which is the third step on saving weight.

Features like the undercut take out weight but are also functional. It allows rain water to flow off to prevent unbalances while driving.

Unlike a forged wheel we are not cutting the entire wheel out of a solid block, which is very expensive. We machine the surface of an already existing wheel, which it is much more efficient and allows us to keep the costs of the final product under control.

Last but not least we apply the same T6 heat treatment as on forged wheels to increase the strength and stiffness. The strengthening of the material is what allows us to make the spokes and barrels as thin as they are, which is obviously key saving weight saving and safety.

We are sort of combining the features from different technologies to go a new path.
Appreciate 0
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