Carbon Fiber Wheels- Ideal Price?

[KazooM4]

Im trying to gather some research for my senior design project. We are researching carbon fiber wheels and some of the current markets that would be interested in it. As of right now the aftermarket world is growing for carbon fiber wheels. However, the price is still quite high. Our goal is to develop a cost effect way to produce a custom set of carbon fiber wheels for half of what current companies are offering.

But I would like to know who would be interested in a set and what is an ideal realistic cost? And please don't say free... Haha I wish.

I will be purchasing a M4 in the next few months once we have a prototype. And another student in my group has a Audi RS5 that we can test out, and verify our product.

So I guess to summarize- If you were to pay for a carbon fiber wheel. What would you pay?

[Jaymax85]

What kinda baller school do u go to?? Students with m4 and rs5s?

[Kortho]

No offense, but I would not buy wheels from a senior design project to put on my own car unless I was supremely confident in the structural and failure analysis done, along with extensive destructive testing, and actual operational testing as in how they hold up for say 500,000 miles.

For these reasons and many more dealing with the cost of materials and the manufacturing process is why you'll pay at least 9 grand for a set.

Just 2 cents from a mechanical engineer.

[SakhirM4]

Originally Posted by Kortho

No offense, but I would not buy wheels from a senior design project to put on my own car unless I was supremely confident in the structural and failure analysis done, along with extensive destructive testing, and actual operational testing as in how they hold up for say 500,000 miles.

For these reasons and many more dealing with the cost of materials and the manufacturing process is why you'll pay at least 9 grand for a set.

Just 2 cents from a mechanical engineer.

You can't buy a set for 9 grand - maybe 9 grand per wheel.

http://autoweekusa.kinja.com/would-y...eels-493156966

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015...8-vitesse.html

[Fast4d]

CF wheels wont last with low profile tires.
I have seen a few shatter from hitting pot holes and that is on a motorcycle with taller tires.

I have CF wheels as far as weight forged magnesium is just as light but probably stronger. it will bend instead of shatter if hit hard.

[Kortho]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

You can't buy a set for 9 grand - maybe 9 grand per wheel.

http://autoweekusa.kinja.com/would-y...eels-493156966

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015...8-vitesse.html

To be honest I'm not exactly sure what the cost is, I now carbon revolution has a retail sale of 15,000 but they are also the same wheel ford will use for the Shelby 350 gtr. And I remember reading an article saying you can rest assured the wheels will not be 25% of the cost of the car. That's why I believe they were able to break the less then 10 grand barrier.

[stranger]

Subbed

[JYTsky]

The new GT350r is standard with CF 19inch wheels

[apexit]

With the amount of HRE wheels I see on this board if you can get the set under 10 I think you'll have decent interest. You just need to prove why your wheels are better than HRE which will not be easy.

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Originally Posted by Kortho

To be honest I'm not exactly sure what the cost is, I now carbon revolution has a retail sale of 15,000 but they are also the same wheel ford will use for the Shelby 350 gtr. And I remember reading an article saying you can rest assured the wheels will not be 25% of the cost of the car. That's why I believe they were able to break the less then 10 grand barrier.

Ford's wheels also have "Ceramic plasma arc spray on the front wheels – the same process used on the original Space Shuttle main engine turbine blades – [to] provide thermal protection from brake heat"

Ford is able to produce these wheels at a reasonable cost because they have a $160 billion dollar enterprise behind them enabling economies of scale and massive investment in R&D and capital equipment. I wouldn't presume for a second that you will be able to achieve anything close to the unit costs that Ford has.

That being said, best of luck!

[mshab356]

Originally Posted by Fast4d

CF wheels wont last with low profile tires.
I have seen a few shatter from hitting pot holes and that is on a motorcycle with taller tires.

I have CF wheels as far as weight forged magnesium is just as light but probably stronger. it will bend instead of shatter if hit hard.

I agree. Magnesium > CF for wheels

[Fast4d]

IIRC on jay leno's utube show there was a CF wheel manufacturer showing his ware. I think the price was 15k a set.

[KazooM4]

Wow. Thanks everyone for your response/opinions. There has been a lot of progress in our project the past week. Here is a little more background and more info about what we will be doing next-

My team started Senior Design in January with a company specializing in fiberglass boats. In fact our senior design project is about reverse engineering a boat. But with the new push for Carbon Fiber, we have started to look into products being made out of CB, because the process is very similar to Fiberglass.

Currently we are all scheduled to graduate in December, our goal is to finish the boat project but start to transition to a carbon fiber product(wheel) so that we have something after we graduate. It's always been a dream of mine to create my own product and I think this is the new way to go.

Right now we are looking at different designs and doing analysis about what is structurally better for the wheel given a certain CB pattern. We have narrowed down to about 4 different designs. Once we finalize simulation and testing we will pick a design to make a mold and do physical tests requested from TUV. We are all really excited for this, and it opens the doors for more complex shapes being made out of CB. If you guys have any suggestions/opinions we would love to hear it. Thanks again!

[GraphiteBrawler]

Actual project is to REVERSE engineer one of the simplest draft projects, A boat.

Instead, decides he wants to make one of the hardest projects; a load bearing, rotational mass with large inertial changes and impact resistance.

I like your style kid, way to try something crazy.

Let's see those designs when you get down to the last two or so!

[KazooM4]

Haha thanks man. We are getting the right people together. It will not be a senior design project rather it was the senior design project that helped us get here.

I appreciate the support. And don't worry we have guys that create wheels too. We won't go into the project blind

[W///]

Originally Posted by jawwadh

What kinda baller school do u go to?? Students with m4 and rs5s?

Haha no kidding. I rode the bus when I was in college

[KazooM4]

Originally Posted by W///

Haha no kidding. I rode the bus when I was in college

A lot of university's have a lot of kids with a ton money now a days. There is also a kid with a GTR. And a kid from Saudi Arabia with a 458. It's ridiculous! I go to WMU.

[GraphiteBrawler]

When I was at Harvard a couple years ago, we had kids with GT-R's and RS4's up the wazoo. Maybe 2-3 Bentley's. Not many Porche's or M cars though. TON'S of 3 series sedans and SUV's however.

[KazooM4]

Originally Posted by GraphiteBrawler

When I was at Harvard a couple years ago, we had kids with GT-R's and RS4's up the wazoo. Maybe 2-3 Bentley's. Not many Porche's or M cars though. TON'S of 3 series sedans and SUV's however.

Yea I see them more and more. I think a lot of it is the cars are becoming cheaper to buy. And they put all of their money into them. And some just have parents with a lot of money.

[SlimThugga]

When I was in college kids rode camels and carpets.

[chris @ eas]

i cant wait to see your design!!

[KazooM4]

Originally Posted by andre @ eas

i cant wait to see your design!!

Thanks! We should have one finalized in 6-8 weeks. I'll post some of the simulation as well!