MethodRN

iTrader: (13)

I knew there was a reason why I Love VOLK wheels so much.

Sensi09

This is good information, but we can't measure for rigidity, so the information can't really be put to use. Heavy wheels won't necessarily be more rigid and light wheels don't necessarily have to lack rigidity.

For the lightweight wheel, they take a regular wheel and basically chip away at it to make it lighter. If you take any properly designed wheel and take parts off it, I doubt it will react and perform in the same manner. Lightweight, forged wheels are designed as such, so I doubt they will be lacking in rigidity.

If this were a U.S. article someone would say it was biased, and I'm not sure we can count that out. Enkei has quality wheels, but they claim that a wheel with the same design will weigh the same whether it's cast or forged. Also, the wheel will have the same strength/rigidity whether its cast or forged. There are some advanced casting techniques out there, but I don't know about that. Enkei goes on to say that most of their wheels are cast....

918 Z

iTrader: (11)

good article. the enkei nt03 +m wheels are ridiculous. many time attack cars in the US, mainly evo and sti, use these wheels. im sure their rigidity rivals that of the volks re30. those fender lips on that nismo Z are sweet.

blazed54

iTrader: (1)

awesome article! thx for the post

hiz-n-herz

iTrader: (11)

Yeah, thanks for the post... great info...

So does this mean that the (06+ style) Rays forged GT rims that I took off the Z are more rigid than the AME Circular Spec-R wheels that I put on? I still have the GT wheels.

When I switched out to the AME rims with the Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires, I noticed a huge reduction in how tight the suspension felt in the corners.

My initial thought was that the GS-D3 tires are much softer in the sidewall (which they are), but I wonder how much is attributed to a less rigid wheel.

I had a sneaking suspicion that the concave shape and wide-spoke shape of the factory Rays are more rigid that the super-deep lip and narrow-spoke design of the AME circular Spec-R.

Hmmm...

I am thinkig about switching out to PS2 tires on these rims, but what if I am feeling the wheel being more flexy too?

Hmmm...

blitzkrgct9a

iTrader: (27)

hiz-n-herz, I think it is evident that your factory Forged Rays wheels are far more rigid than the AME circular Spec-Rs. As far as I know, these deep-dish/fat lip wheels are designed more towards show/street rather than for motorsports activity. They are still very nice wheels and can perform well on the track. But putting a set of true track wheels will definitely see better performance gains.

Sensi09, you are absolutely right. The test is a bit flawed sicne there's no way we can obtain these rigidity informations about the wheels we see or use on the market today. The informations and data in questions are intellectual property of these wheel manufacturers. I doubt they would disclose anything to general public.

918 z, yep.. The NT03M or even the early model of NT03 or NT03RR (road race) models were the most sought-after motorsports wheels in Japan. I was lucky enough to score a set NT03RR off a Grp. N R34 GTR race car.

gsazabi

iTrader: (51)

Nice info. I was the first one to have those wheels on this forum! lol

blitzkrgct9a

iTrader: (27)

Nice! But your Mag Blue TEs are even better!

Chebosto

iTrader: (43)

I personally think this article is just to show off to the mass market about Enkei's mfg processes and why they believe their MAT technology is nearing the structural boundaries only previously obtained through forging (aka Rays). however i dont think you can arbitrarily shave off weight on a wheel just to lighten it, when it wasn't designed in the first place to be like that. I bet you can shave off material on a Forged rim and see the same results.

i say: new test, and then cast the gold wheel originally with the weight taken off and them compare!

Sensi09

Werd

Andy@Performance

iTrader: (92)

I'm glad SOMEBODY noticed.