What is physically different about these two styles of rims?

I asked a friend who I thought knew a lot about wheels, but he just said, "Uh, well, you can tell by looking at the centers whether it's 2-piece or 3-piece"

In 2-piece, clearly the 2 pieces are lip and spoke, so what are the 3 pieces of a 3-piece rim, and what is the advantage of getting 3-piece (if any)? I usually can't even tell by looking, whether it's 2 or 3.

 

It's hard to tell when a RIM is 2 or 3 piece just by looking at it. Now I myself am no expert in rims, but what I have seen and understand is that a 3 piece wheel has two pieces that make up the 'rim' plus the spokes for a total of three pieces.

If you ever stop by superautobachs in Stanton, take a look at their WORK wheels rack. They have a cut out of a three peice wheel which will give you a better idea.

As for advantages... I guess if you curb or damage the lip, you can just replace the damaged half and not the whole rim? I'm not sure if that's the main benefit.

 

What's the advantage to a modular design in general? Forced Te-37's are lighter than modular le-37... Is the advantage only in looks or strength, because it certainly is not in weight.

 

One piece wheels are made from a single piece of material that is either cast or forged into the appropriate design and size. Two piece wheels consist of a "center" and an "outer"; the pieces are either welded or assembled with special bolts. Three piece wheels have a seperate "center disk", "outer rim", and "inner rim" the parts are then assembled by welding or with the special bolts. The two and three piece wheels feature more flexibility in applications but are usually more expensive due to more costly machining and more labor to assemble the individual components into a finished product.

 

So, modular rims only serve the purpose of having the flexibility of applications? (Ie - specific offset, bolt pattern.) So, I assume that one-piece cast wheel is the best, all else equal.

If there are two rims, both the same physical size and offset, one being forged one peice and the other one is 2 piece, the one piece should be the lighter and stronger rim.

Why the hell would you want two piece then? Looks?

 

Yes, you are correct but I wouldn't necessarily say 1pc is the best. Multi-piece wheels are for customized applications & are generally for looks. Hence why cars with widebodies use them. Material used will actually determine the weight in addition to construction. But if I'm understanding your comparison correctly, yes the 1pc would be lighter. Example: NISMO LMGT4 is a very light 1pc wheel. With the craze for big lips for our cars, this is why a lot of folks are going with a multi-piece setup which you may not be able to get over a 1pc. Also, I would like to add that if you damage a 1pc, you're going to have a hell of a time trying to fix it. If you damage a multi-piece wheel however, you can just replace that particular piece. So essentially multi-piece wheels are easier to repair.