Lightweight forged alloy wheels

[CnC]

Anyone know whether and/or where I can get a nice set of lightweight forged alloy wheels, eg Advans, Volks, Racing Heart etc in Australia?

I am after 18 x 8's front and 18 x 10's for the rear.

Thanks,
Kris.

[Beavis]

CnC: Out of interest, have you done a comparison (if you could get the info, that is) between the Jap brands (Volk, Rays, etc) and the European ones - Speedline, OZ Racing, BBS, Compomotive etc? I'd be rather interested to see who makes the lightest wheels, I have to say

Actually Mario from www.exvitermini.com might be able to point you in the right direction, he uses (taken from his site) Rays Advans for drags and Racing Harts for street use. I'm assuming he bought the lightest ones he could, so if you drop him an email you might get lucky with some info.

Good luck with it, keep me posted!


Chris

[gti6]

That miata site with the wheel weights should give you a good idea. Compomotives are strong, but heavyish to be honest.

I have a friend with 17" Compomotive MOs and they are a lot heavier than the standard 16" WRX wheels (which are about 7.5kg each).

Some of the brands listed above will be lighter than WRX wheels even in a 17". Racing Hart and Volk VE37s? are pretty damn light.

[Beavis]

gti6: Fair call on the Compomotives.. I had rally 15" wheels (TH2s) and they weighed heaps. Strong as an ox, though. The reason I put `em is that I've heard whispers that they've got, or are working on, a strong lightweight 18" specifically designed for tarmac use.

CnC: Actually, I've got a couple of Enkei rims at home. They're works rims, 15" and came off a factory Group N Hyundai car that was here doing Rally Australia a couple of years ago. I imagine they're magnesium, as I can lift both of them with one hand and little effort! They're like absolute feathers. If they're available to the public (and I guess if you've got enough yen they could be), they might be worth sussing out..

[CnC]

One thing to remember is that their needs to be a trade off between strenght and weight.

The wheels arent going on a dedicated track car, it will be driven on the street on the odd occasion. So the wheels will need to be able to withstand this occasional abuse.

Quite an interesting topic anyhow.

[Beavis]

CnC: Yeah.. this is especially prevalent on motorcycles, as there's always the battle to save weight. A couple of manufacturers (Ducati on some models, Aprilia on some, doubtless some Japanese brands as well) use magnesium wheels; and quite a few are available in the aftermarket. However, the aftermarket ones can buckle if you do a wheelie and land hard.. :(

[Matty]

www.wheelweights.net

sorry, can't help on suppliers...

[CnC]

Thanks very much for the link. I am thinking of getting one of the wheels from that list.

[roastbeef]

you can get volks from Chaser performance in sydney.

Be prepared to pay out of your nose though...a ridiculously overpriced shop.

[CnC]

I got a price from Australias Best of roughly 1200-1300 per rim for any of the lightweight jap wheels.

[Nick]

CnC: thought about ordering from takakaria.com or something?

[Matty]

and remember the saying:

Light. Strong. Cheap. Choose any two...