Possible Alternative to Aero wheels

[rtz]

If anyone here is good at drawing wheel designs; might take a go at having a new wheel design brought to market:

Bogart Racing Wheels

Home - Hole Shot Performance Wheels - Drag Race Wheels - SFI Certified

 

[rtz]

How about these?

Center Line Wheels

 

[jerry33]

How about these?

View attachment 67155

Center Line Wheels

The disk needs to be close to the outer rim flange to improve the aerodynamics. Also there needs to be some holes in the wheels so that cooling can work properly. Even the Tesla car covers have mesh around the wheels for this purpose.

 

[bxr140]

I'd guess that brake cooling isn't a huge problem for those that use regen for the majority of their braking. One emergency event won't brake the thermal bank, as it were.

There's also an aerodynamic benefit in eliminating airflow through the wheel, but certainly if the disk was closer to the outer edge it would disturb the flow past the outside of the wheels less...and thats got to be more important than the airflow through the wheel.

Tooting my off topic horn, over the winter I'm going to experiment with making some molds of my 19's to lay up aero disks along the lines of those sheet metal brake dust shields. The big question is going to be whether I can get consistency out of a mold that contours in and out of the wheel 'spokes' to, in line with your comment, keep the outer surface relatively flush...

 

[Knobby]

Guys... have we forgotten about this?

Aero wheels - Page 39

 

[bxr140]

Forgotten about pizza pans? :smile:

Love the proof of concept. Prefer something a little more aesthetic, even at the expense of maximizing efficiency.

 

[jerry33]

Guys... have we forgotten about this?

Aero wheels - Page 39

No, but it was dropped because no viable way was found to attach the pizza pan without damaging the wheels. It also has the cooling problem (cooling of the battery, not cooling of the brakes).

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

If anyone here is good at drawing wheel designs /...

No. But this might serve as inspiration:

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Another one:

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Or this (they sit on the previous version of the S Class):

 

[jerry33]

The middle two cars show the best because are convex and seem like they will disrupt the airflow the least--although they could use a cap for the centre part. The Mercedes one is concave which isn't as good, and the Maserati has too many holes.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

Here’s one set of wheels on the SSC Tuatara. I wonder what they’ll look like if someone were to make them five or seven spoke, remove the concave element, adapt them for five lug nuts and cover those lug nuts with a stylish hubcap. Something like that.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

The following was posted in this thread:

GetYourWheels - Avant Garde Wheels for the Tesla Model S! - Post #87

Aerodynamic wheels need not be ugly disc that remove all brake cooling. They just need to act like disc at higher speeds. No need for the aerodynamic disc effect driving to the corner store and back. /...

Very interesting! I know directional fan cooling wheels were popular in the past.
Unfortunately there aren't many aftermarket wheels out now with these designs other than the Tesla replica wheels that are already out and a few forged options.
Closest option I can think of is Vossens new limited edition VLE-1, however I dont believe these were designed to cool the brakes. [Images cropped for size... (My edit.)]

Since they're made by Vossen – and have "limited" in their name – they are probably not available for a relatively 'average' price...

And depending on their size they also appear to have a variable (customizable?) concave element to them which evidently isn't a good thing from an aero efficiency point of view...


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Two more pics:

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In post #85 in that thread (GetYourWheels - Avant Garde Wheels for the Tesla Model S! - Post #85) Rob also posted these Volvo (conceptual?) wheels:

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And here: http://static.technologicvehicles.com/news/1614/Volvo_V40%20(2).jpg

...is a high-def picture of a Volvo V40 with those actual wheels.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

Another wheel from the previous S class:

Image credit: Yours truly and my trusty ole iPhône fünf

Image credit: Yours truly and my trusty ole iPhône fünf

 

[dhanson865]

No. But this might serve as inspiration:


Or this (they sit on the previous version of the S Class):

View attachment 67227

I like that but as it sits I think Chrysler when I first see it.

I'd like to see something that closed with a more Tesla look.