Xenoilphobe
Well-Known Member
option three makes the first two seem reasonable: Vitesse AuDessus "Superior Speed" $35K for four wheels!
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ESE Launch World Lightest Carbon Fibre Wheels
By John Shury @compositestoday Mar 13, 2015
The E1 carbon fibre wheels weigh in at less than 5.22 kg and will be certified for a maximum axle weight of 1,746 kgs – equivalent to a fully loaded BMW X5.
Steel and aluminium alloys have long been the materials of choice when manufacturing car wheels. However, unlike composites these materials are prone to corrosion, are heavier and can’t be further optimised to reduce weight without sacrificing safety.
At just 5.2 kgs ESE say these are currently the lightest production carbon wheels on the market today. The company say that with the unmatched strength and stiffness to weight ratio, these wheels reduce the weight of vehicle which give the car better handling, a quieter and smoother ride, faster acceleration, quicker deceleration and improved fuel efficiency.
The E1 wheels are made using ESE Industries’ Next Generation Autoclave Process (NGAP), which combines high-speed autoclave cure with the low viscosity of the resin to achieve very low de-moulding times. The NGAP technology has all the advantages of autoclave manufacturing with a mass production approach to deliver carbon fibre composites at a price that’s not currently possible with any other production method.
The wheels are available to order from the ESE website and start from $2,000
I'm running 20" pilot super sports and love them. I did not find any value in the $4500 Tesla 21" wheel package and have found the sidewall with the 20" tires combined with the PSS compound and construction to be a very nice compromise.
What is going on alignment wise for you to loose your Contis in 4K miles? Rear camber? Rear toe?
I'm actually really curious to see if it impacts range and efficiency. IF it drops consumption from 320 watts per mile to 250 watts per mile - that is a significant gain in efficiency and would give the car 340 miles of range. (an optimistic guess assuming that 85KW is real = I came up with the 320 watt by dividing 85KW by 265 = the max range of my P85+ and got 320 watts per mile).
Approximately 22% is crazy high. I suspect it might be ~4 to ~7% best case.
The best benefit could be the lower road noise - carbon fiber absorbs a lot of the attenuated sound that aluminum just passes onto the vehicle....
I'm going with I'm just a lug nut who likes to make things even more efficient!
It will put your suspension components at risk of a hard hit from a pot hole. Metal wheels act as a circuit breaker for your suspension components - they are designed to crumple and absorb the energy of a bad hit before that energy is transferred to your suspension components. A wheel is a lot cheaper to replace than a control arm. Be careful with these.
Getting carbon rims is actually cost effective compared with what a friend of mine once did to reduce unsprung weight. He had an aerospace metals foundry fabricate titanium lug nuts for all his old Ferraris. It must have saved him at least an ounce per wheel. And it satisfied his real goal, which was to be able to tell his friends about his titanium lug nuts.
If only he'd known that saving weight in the center of the wheel was no better than saving non rotating mass elsewhere.
Getting carbon rims is actually cost effective compared with what a friend of mine once did to reduce unsprung weight. He had an aerospace metals foundry fabricate titanium lug nuts for all his old Ferraris. It must have saved him at least an ounce per wheel. And it satisfied his real goal, which was to be able to tell his friends about his titanium lug nuts.