Steel, cast and forged wheels for car

Criteria for selecting drives for a car

The first and most important criterion for car disks is strength. This means that they must withstand the maximum load and not crumble in motion. Tests for disks can serve as tram tracks. In practice, there have been cases when these obstacles for poor-quality disks were decisive, i.e. They simply cracked or broke off a small piece of them.

Another criterion is mass. The smaller the mass, the better the behavior of the car on the road. This is explained by the fact that the wheel along with the disc is unsprung mass, which affects the handling, speed characteristics, fuel consumption and smoothness of the traffic.

It is believed that if the mass of one wheel is reduced by one kilogram, you can transport about 50-60 kilograms more cargo.

Automotive stamped wheels

Steel (stamped) wheels for the car are widespread. Until now, cars from the pipeline are coming out with this type of drive. Although this trend is decreasing in favor of cast alloy wheels.

Stamped wheels are inherent in cars in the lowest price category. Steel discs are made from conventional rolled metal by stamping, then covered with varnish or a primer. Due to the ease of production they are the cheapest, their cost is 2 times less than the cost of cast wheels.

The advantage of stamped discs in their reliability. In the case of impacts and maximum loads - they just bend, which in the future can be corrected in the tire installation. Disadvantages of steel discs: large mass, not very beautiful appearance and increased corrosion. The most common manufacturers of steel wheels are "Eurasia TAPO-Disc", plant "KrKZ", Mefro and KFZ .

The advantages of a steel disc are as follows:

• Plastic. At any impact, the disc takes a deforming effect on itself, thereby protecting the suspension, body and tire.
• Repairability. This property directly depends on the plasticity. The bent disk can be unrolled, and put again on the same machine.
• Low price. It is determined by the low production cost of the wheel.

Disadvantages of the steel disc:

• Great weight. This characteristic of the disc affects the dynamics of the car. The car slows down more slowly and slows down, because the wheels act like heavy flywheels. In addition, heavy weight negatively affects the work of the suspension and the comfort of passengers.
• Unaesthetic appearance.
• Low corrosion resistance.

Automotive Alloy Wheels

Light alloy wheels have become popular among car enthusiasts due to their beautiful appearance. Alloy wheels are installed not only on cars of expensive class, but also on budget cars.

In addition to appearance, "casting" has other advantages: low weight, high strength and good resistance to corrosion. The only drawback is the high cost, if compared with the stamped wheels. Light alloy wheels are widely represented on the market. They are sold, as domestic companies of CиК, "Виком", and foreign - AEZ, Artec, BBS, Rondell. The price of cast wheels depends on the brand and on the quality of the products manufactured.

The advantages of a cast disc are as follows:

• Low weight (compared to stamping). It leads to the improvement of the dynamic characteristics of the car, unloads the suspension, increases the comfort of movement and establishes a sparing temperature regime for the braking system.
• Highly aesthetic appearance and multivariate design.

Disadvantages of the cast disc:

• Friability. That's the main drawback! The most unpleasant thing is that when you hit the drive, it not only gives all the energy to the suspension and the car's body, but it can easily split.
• Inoperability. It is very difficult to restore such a disk or it is simply impossible.

Automotive forged wheels

Forged discs have not received such a proper distribution that they deserve. This can be explained that in Europe forged wheels due to price are attributes of luxury sports cars. In the CIS with light alloy forged discs are much better.

What is better forged wheels from light alloy? Forged ones weigh less, are much stronger and do not break with a strong impact , like a cast. Also, forged wheels improve the aerodynamics of the car at high speeds. They are popular among motorists and tuning enthusiasts. For this, the company VSMPO produces magnesium wheels. Among other domestic companies that occupy these drives are KUMZ, KRAMZ and Vils.

The choice of drives for a car is determined by the needs and amount in the wallet. If you want to give the car an improved look, then the choice is alloy wheels. If you are engaged in motorsports or like tuning - forged. For motorists who value reliability and do not have an extra amount, the ideal choice - the stamped wheels.

To see how the discs look on the car can be on the Internet on sites where they sell wheels and tires. You choose your car and the appropriate drives and you are shown how the machine with these disks looks. Very convenient and intuitive.

The advantages of forged wheels are as follows:

• Low weight. - Almost twice as lightweight as stamped steel and 40% lighter than cast aluminum. And what affects the weight of the wheel, we have already considered above.
• Plasticity and high strength - can not be split.
• Resistance to corrosion. Much higher than that of cast and, especially, than for stamped ones.

Disadvantages of forged wheel:

• Price, price and again price! ..
• Design. It is certainly better than punching, but somewhat more stingy and less varied than that of cast discs.