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the-hidden-truth-of-rotary-forged-alloy-wheels/
I want to get into some technical detail on alloy wheels and how this pertains not only to performance but your personal safety. I have been in the automotive high performance world since 1990 and I have seen every wheel trend come and go over the years. Back 18 years ago 20 inch wheels were the fad along with Spinners but those DUB days have come and gone quickly for the mass market. You can not blame these innovators in the industry for trying to reinvent the wheel per say because as consumers we are always looking for the next best thing or something that differentiates our choices from the masses. As the trends have cycled away from chrome wheels to the new hot trend of matte and gloss black even OEM manufactures have taken aim at earning buyer awareness on the showroom floors. Wheels can make or break a cars aesthetics in so many ways. A proper set of wheels can also transform a mundane boring car into an aggressive modern masterpiece. The objectives we all have are always simple, we want style, value and performance but the most important thing consumers never even bother asking is what about safety?To get more news about Steel wire wheel, you can visit nnxwheels.com official website.
Safety in regards to automobile engineering lies on two halves of active and passive but they equally go hand in hand. Anything that has to do with hardware of any of the active safety of a vehicle lies on a few key components, tires, wheels and the braking system. If any of these areas of discussion are compromised in any way it can lead to fatalities for you and your loved ones. OEM Manufactures these days make wheels of various forms and construction. Some of the upper end brands such as Ferrari and Porsche are incorporating forged and magnesium wheels for their supercars where as the majority are still using the loose sand cast methods. Sand casting has been around since the industrial revolution and I had the honor to visit one of the oldest foundries in the USA many years ago for a project we were involved in with one of my other companies. The process is simple, cheap and offers good repeatability but at a trade off. The trade off’s to loose sand cast wheels are the heavy weight, increased porosity and a much greater chance for fatigue and cracking. Radial runout is also an issue with sand casting due to poor manufacturing tooling done overseas. Living and driving in the NYC area I am well versed in dealing with rim bending and failures my entire adulthood and as I later learned more about wheels it just emphasized how important wheel construction is for any car on the road today.
As you can see above the rotary forged wheels start out using the standard loose cast method as all wheels do for our industry. What changed in this process is instead of them making a full fixture mold for the wheels face and barrel they re-engineered the mold to be cast with enough material for spin forming while the face profile and design is fully loose cast. Spin forming is done with heat and applied pressure using hardened rollers and a special sequence of a CNC programmer per design and shape. The rollers take the hot annealed aluminum alloy and stretch and shape the barrel and outer flange area. Technically this spin forming is called rotary forged but the term is often misunderstood. The benefits to this are simple and effective at creating new designs with much lighter weight. Every one of these wheel manufactures on the market today will stress and emphasize that rotary forged wheels are just as good as a true forged 1 piece Monoblock wheel. That is false and anyone that understands metallurgy and engineering will argue over such statements to consumers. As a consumer you can not expect to know all the nitty gritty of wheel construction but it is the misleading marketing that gets tossed around through all media channels that causes quite a stir. The advantages to this new trending technology are outstanding for the mass market but not so much for the smaller high performance motorsport segments. By adapting the rotary forged technique to the cast wheel manufacturing these alloy wheel companies are able to offer cutting edge styles for cars that were not possible unless you went to a custom forged wheel. By making the wheels look better, lighter and more affordable the trend of rotary forging is here to stay and should only get better as technology progresses. The mass market of customers driving their cars on the street make up 95% of this market share where as the remaining 5% fall into the higher end luxury and motorsport segments. Not many consumers today with the rate of inflation or practicality can afford or even justify the investment in a true forged wheel. I totally get this because the benefits of a true forged wheel will only be experienced by certain individuals and their needs. Having a set of $15,000 HRE wheels on your BMW M3 that cruises around town is clearly for the looks and status and those same looks can be achieved with a rotary forged wheel for about $2000. With basic economics you can understand why this new rotary forged marketing and manufacturing process has truly dented the forged wheel industry. Customers now are shifting to these brands of wheels because they are much better quality than cast wheels of the past, lighter, look great and offer great value.
FORGED VS. CAST VS. ROTARY FORGED WHEELS: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
If you're looking for aftermarket wheels, there are several things that you should consider. As wheels are made using different methods and alloys, they have distinct advantages and disadvantages over one another. Some wheels are inexpensive to purchase, some offer premium quality and some focus on style solely. Modern car wheels are getting more durable and aesthetically pleasing as technology and manufacturing improves. As we continue our discussion of wheels, we'll take a peek at the difference between cast wheels, rotary formed wheels, and forged wheels.To get more news about Steel wire wheel, you can visit nnxwheels.com official website.
What are cast wheels?
The most common type of aftermarket wheels are the cast wheels. They are made by pouring molten aluminum into a mold to form the shape by either gravity or low-pressure. Cast wheels are the most common type of wheels that account for 90% of OE (Originally Equipped) wheels that are found on most cars. There are two popular casting methods used by manufacturers: gravity casting and low-pressure casting.
Gravity Casting: Gravity casting involves utilizing the earth's gravity to fill the mold with molten aluminum. This method is a cost-effective solution for producing a large quantity of identical wheels in a short amount of time. The process solely relies on gravity to do the work, where the aluminum is not as densely packed in the mold as in the other methods would offer. To compensate for the fact there may be voids formed during the cooling process, gravity cast wheels often use extra material on design to account for porosity thus making the wheels heavier.
Low-pressure casting: Low-pressure casting is the most popular casting method used by manufacturers nowadays. It involves injecting molten aluminum quickly into the mold by applying positive pressure. It results in a denser and consistent wheel with better mechanical properties than a gravity cast wheel. This method has a slightly higher production cost over gravity casting, but offers a better value for the product with a higher quality.
It has many different names from different manufactures: spung forged, rotary forged, flow forged, hybrid forged etc. Rotary forged wheels combine the manufacturing techniques of both casting and forging. It begins with low-pressure casting to form the wheel face with a shortened and thickened barrel on the back side. Then a rotary machine will spin, heat up and use rollers to press the thickened part of the barrel into its final width and shape. Through a combination of heat, pressure, and spinning, the process aligns the grain structure and molecular properties of the aluminum alloy, resulting in greater strength on the barrel of the wheel. This hybrid manufacturing technique creates the wheel with a cast spoke face and a forged-like barrel. Many manufacturers now have flow formed wheels lineup available as an intermediate option bridging the gap between cast and fully forged wheels. Rotary formed wheels are suitable for most drivers who are looking to enhance the look and performance of their car at a lower price point.
Weight
Wheel weight is the most popular topic when people talk about aftermarket wheels. Mass of the wheels contribute to unsprung weight on a car. For those who don’t know, unsprung weight refers to car parts weight below vehicle suspension including wheel, tires, and brakes. As the unsprung weight can heavily affect how the vehicle feels and handles. The lighter the unsprung weight, the better the car handles. Weight reduction is a main goal when it comes to performance wheels.
Aftermarket cast wheels can generally be lighter than OE wheels depending on style and sizes. However to combat the material irregularity in the casting aluminum, manufacturers often have to add redundant material to spokes and barrels to increase its strength, thus becoming heavy.
Flow formed wheels being the latest technology combining cast and forge manufacturing techniques together, they are much lighter compared to cast wheels. With the face/spokes being the same as a cast wheel, the barrel is rolled out with heat and pressure. Therefore the barrel poses a forged-like strength which in return reduces its thickness and reduces overall wheel weight.
A fully forged wheel is the lightest among them all, it’s generally 25-30% lighter compared to a cast wheel in the same size. The forged 6061-T6 aluminum has very good mechanical strength, manufacturers are able to use a lot less material to achieve the same strength compared to a cast or rotary formed wheels. Therefore many forged wheels have slimer spoke designs and have weight reduction pockets cut into the back, which further reduces its weight.
Strength
Regardless of what type of manufacturing methods are used to make wheels, all wheels need to undergo physical or computer simulation tests to make sure they meet all applicable regulations and safety standards. However, the difference in material shows if there is an impact to the wheel. Under heavy impact, cast wheels tend to crack and break due to voids presented in the casting aluminum. In most situations it would be fine, but if the wheel snapped, the result can be catastrophic. So when buying cast wheels, it is always recommended to choose a reputable brand because of safety concerns. Rotary wheel barrels are stronger than cast wheels, however due the spokes being the same as cast wheels, a similar cracking and breaking situation would happen under heavy impact. Fully forged wheels are the strongest in theory, however because manufacturers use less material to achieve the same strength as all others, it will take the same amount of force and loading. The difference is that under impact, the forged aluminum will bend out of shape instead of snapping to allow for sufficient time for the driver to stop the car safely.
ALLOY RIM BRAKES WHEELS. 2022 AND BEYOND!
Well, these rims are still getting a lot of attention. Unfortunately we are still awaiting materials to produce these rims. The good news is we have a new extrusion supplier and the materials will be even better quality. We have a pretty big piece of news to go along with the release of these rims, and we are hoping to have them available for the fall of 2022. Don't worry, we remain very dedicated to producing the nicest alloy rim brake rim on the market.To get more news about Alloy wheels, you can visit nnxwheels.com official website.
Well, the supply chain issues have not gotten better. We have a great supply of CCC and Altamont Disc rims arriving, but rim brake has been hard to produce. Don't worry, we are still dedicated to making these rims. They would have been the best selling model if we would have had them available in 2021. That being said, these rims will probably not arrive until after Q1 2022. However, there is a really amazing piece of news coming along with the release of these. Stay tuned!!
Lots of people have read this, and it is currently Mid May. That being said, the materials shortages have gotten even worse and so the new Altamont rim brake rims have been delayed a little longer. We are now hoping to have the new rims in stock later this Fall. Yes, we know it's not what everybody was hoping to hear, but there's just not any aluminum available to make rim extrusions at the moment.
We had a planned model change for the beginning of 2021, and according to our forecasts we had plenty of inventory to last us until the new models came in. However when looking into the crystal ball we did not see a global pandemic, and we did not see that resulting in a bike boom that would clear us out of ALL of our alloy wheels months before we planned. Everybody was buying alloy rim brake like it was still 2013.
Yes! We are still dedicated to rim brakes, in fact we are probably the only wheel company out there who just opened up new tooling on a brand new version of the Altamont rim brake rims.
The new rims feature a front and rear specific design. The front is a bit shallower at 27mm and features a symmetrical rim shape. The rear rim is a bit deeper at 31mm and has a 2.8mm spoke offset. Both rims feature 6069 series aluminum and a welded seam. Weights are expected in the 440g front and 475g rear range and will feature the new sleek black logos.
However, material shortages combined with a huge increase in demand of cycling parts means the new Altamonts are going to be delivered later than we hoped. We are expecting the first batch of rims hopefully late April to early May (and this may get adjusted)
Ceramic Coating
Sorry fans of the ceramic coating, but we have decided not to continue offering rims with the coating into 2021. When we had a rim produced with the ceramic coating it had to move between multiple vendors and multiple times, exponentially raising the risk of a part that we couldn't sell. With this, the cost of production was extremely high and the quantities were even higher. It just didn't make sense to sit on 2 years worth of inventory just to bring the coating to market.
We do feel confident the changes we have made for the new Altamont rim brake rims will more than make up for having a silver brake track.
Aluminum Alloy Wheel
The global aluminum alloy wheel market size was valued at USD 14.23 billion in 2020. The market is forecast to rise from USD 16.43 billion in 2021 to USD 30.98 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 9.5% during the forecast period 2021-2028. Fortune Business Insights? has mentioned these insights in the latest research report, titled, “Aluminum Alloy Wheel Market, 2021-2028.” According to the analysis, shifting consumer pattern along with robust urbanization is expected to act as a catalyst in the global business outlook. Moreover, rigorous regulations about fuel efficiency will compel automakers to invest in lightweight components.To get more news about Alloy wheels, you can visit nnxwheels.com official website.
The onslaught of the COVID-19 outbreak has had a pressing impact on the aluminum alloy wheel industry. Notably, automakers witnessed a plunge in the sale of passenger vehicles. According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, there was around a 2.24% dip in the sales of passenger vehicles from April 2020 through March 2021. Meanwhile, China was reported to have witnessed approximately 23% lower sales in 2020, accounting for an average of 1.3 million new passenger cars compared to the first half of the preceding year.
In terms of finishing type, the market is segregated into polished alloy wheel and tow-toned alloy wheel.
Based on vehicle type, the market is segmented into passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
With respect to geography, the market covers North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the rest of the world.The report has been prepared painstakingly through qualitative and quantitative analysis, emphasizing industry landscape, trends and market dynamics. The use of top-down and bottom-up approaches further validates the authenticity of the research report. Efforts have also been taken to boost primary and secondary research. The report also provides a birds-eye-view on global and regional market size, share, and volume.
Shifting industry trends toward lightweight vehicles have encouraged leading OEMs and automakers to invest in aluminum alloys. The metal has an innate ability to resist corrosion and rust. Besides, the penetration of luxury vehicles on the back of urbanization and rising purchasing power will foster market growth.
Leading companies are expected to inject funds into the Asia Pacific aluminum alloy wheel market share in the wake of burgeoning urbanization. Moreover, emerging economies, such as China and India, have witnessed an upsurge in automotive production. According to the OICA, China produced around 25.72 million vehicles while India’s production stood at 4.51 million automobiles in 2019.
Europe is also expected to emerge as a viable investment hub due to consumers’ preference for upgraded aluminum alloy wheels. According to an analysis in BVRLA, car fleet size in the U.K. surged by 1.5% in Q1 2021. Robust government policies will support the regional expansion with Germany and the U.K. poised to witness investments galore.
Automakers and OEMs are poised to up their investments in the metal with the U.S. likely to lead from the front. Expanding globalization, as well as the presence of leading manufacturers, will aid key players vying to bolster the North America aluminum alloy wheel market growth.