robertdot

What with all the carbon fiber appearance mods, any hopes of finding a legitimate post concerning this topic are crushed.

Does anyone know of any companies making carbon fiber wheels that will work on the '8? 18" would be nice, but I'm interested in seeing any that would work. I googled around, and found a plethora of CF wheels for motorcycles and bicycles, but no car wheels. I'm looking for wheels that are mostly composed of CF. I'm *not* looking for a metal wheel with CF accents.

From what I've seen from motorcycle wheels, they will be expensive but I'd like to at least look at them.

Any clues?

Thanks.

PUR NRG

They are out there although I dont' know if an RX-8 fitment exists. Expect to pay $1000 per wheel at a minimum. You're better off contacting Fiske about custom wheels made to order.
________
ASIAN TEEN

wayneside

try these guys out...

http://www.fiberimages.com

they might be able to get something done for you as far as carbon fiber wheels...and tell them wayne from TRAXION sent you...

wakeech

...wouldn't even magnesium wheels be more streetable than carbon fibre ones?? i know they'd be stupid light, but i'd worry about the brittleness... i don't know much about the material's performance in this application.

northern-8

Even Formula 1 cars, where cost/engineering issues are irrelevent, use magnesium wheels. Carbon fibre is NOT a good material for wheels. It's too brittle. And there would still need to be a metal rim for mounting the tire bead.

Need For Speed

AZEV make a carbon fiber wheel
pics

Need For Speed

the link
http://www.azev.com/index_eng.html;)

Need For Speed

the link
http://www.azev.com/index_eng.html

Need For Speed

you have to look in news and you whel see the carbon fiber wheel. -30 to -40% of wheig loos, not bad.

robertdot

Thanks. That was what I was looking for. Now only if they looked a little cooler...

Navybeardbb

These are kinda cool...

Navybeardbb

and
http://www.01designsystem.com/

robertdot

The 18 X 7.5 is 21 lbs... I think stock was 22? Not much of a weight saving. Maybe they are lighter than other car's stock wheels.

I'm not really interested in the look, but the weight. *IF* I could afford a good/working CF wheel, I would probably paint it white anyway.

Thanks for the time and effort, however. It is much appreciated.

Omicron

Stock wheels are 23 Lbs.

robertdot

Even still, I think the Volks and/or SSRs are lighter than the CF ones mentioned by Navybeardbb.

But I guess 6 lbs is still 6 lbs. I could always toss my back seats...

Landon_Starr

Sounds like another "sprung weight" vs. "un-sprung weight" lecture is looming in the near future.....=)

I'll summarize as quickly as possible.

Due to inertia wheel weight is equivalent to twice (this figure isn't a consensus here, but the most recent physics calculations I seen had it come out just under 2x or something like that) the weight of "sprung" weight in the vehicle. Do a search on "sprung weight" and you'll get some interesting info.

I like to take the route of starving myself to lose 6 lbs, though, versus tossing the back seats. =)

Eating disorders can do WONDERS for the performance of your car. =)


--Landon

Sputnik

Actually, I think you made it a little too brief, and combined rotational weight and unsprung weight, which are different things. Since it greatly depends on wheel/tire design, the effect of rotational weight varies, but 2x is a good rule of thumb. You can theoretically subtract twice as much weight in the car to make up for rotational weight. On the other hand, unsprung weight affects how well a suspension can maintain the tire contact patch, the lighter the better, and you cannot make up for that by removing weight from elsewhere in the car.

Meanwhille, I personally would be leery of a carbon fiber wheel. Carbon fiber can be strong in one, two or more directions, and fragile in others, depending on how the fibers themselves are oriented. So depending on how it's designed, they could be very susceptible to damage if you happen to do something like hit a curb or nasty pothole the wrong way.

---jps