SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1522709
TURNING POINTS Manufacturers Discuss Trends And New Technologies In Off-Road Wheels By Dan Sanchez In Baja racing, one can say that navigating through an ever-changing landscape requires equipment that can keep up. When it comes to off-road wheels, new technology is being used to keep up with ever-increasing speeds, larger diameter brake systems, and large rocks exposed from the terrain. Wheel manufacturers also have a duty to make their products attractive, which adds another layer of difficulty in making a Baja-worthy wheel. To understand the innovations and trends that are changing how off-road wheels are being produced, we spoke with several representatives of popular wheel manufacturers. Giving us feedback were Sean Kleinshuster, Director of Engineering at Method Race Wheels, Todd Robinson, National Sales Manager at Vision Wheels, and members of Torque Wheels including CEO Joe Interrante, Brand Manager Craig Seeley, and Jonathan Baughman, Director of Marketing. This diverse group of wheel industry professionals provided greater insight from a variety of sectors of the wheel business. They also provided knowledge from their personal experiences in knowing what it takes to win in Baja, and what off-road enthusiasts want in a rugged, yet vehicle-changing wheel design. SCORE JOURNAL: What are some of the lessons learned from your experience in SCORE, and does any of it translate into the latest wheel technology? METHOD - Sean Kleinschuster: We use racing as an extreme testing environment. Throughout our years of participating in off-road racing, we have revised our products numerous times based on feedback from our racers, and them pushing their vehicles to the limit in the harshest terrain. Some notable improvements have been an evolution of our inner rim flange geometry, our beadlock flange and ring designs, and the invention of BeadGrip. TORQUE- Joe Interrante, Craig Seeley, Jonathan Baughman: Torque Wheels was born in Baja and the company is owned and operated by off-road enthusiasts. Joe, our founder and CEO, has successfully finished three SCORE Baja 1000 races including two podiums. From this, we have learned to “expect the unexpected”, especially in Baja where you go through tremendous stresses and hard impacts while at high speeds or navigating difficult terrain, and crawling over rocks. This is at the forefront of our DNA and we put our wheels through rigorous testing starting with computer-simulated FEA (finite element analysis) and SAE-certified laboratory testing. We then finish off with real off-road testing in places like the North Georgia smokies on wet rocks and muddy clay, to the dry deserts and mountains of Baja and Moab. Torque wheel owners can be rest assured that their wheels are designed to withstand tough terrains and environments while maintaining their impressive unique designs and finishes. This is backed up by an industry-leading lifetime structural and three-year finish warranty. VISION - Todd Robinson: Within the last five years, most forms of off-road racing have had some sort of change or major improvement. From 1,000+ horsepower AWD SCORE Trophy Trucks to 225+ horsepower UTVs in the desert, the wheel industry is chasing these developments. We’ve had to restructure barrel clearance, spoke strength, and offset adjustments just to name a few issues we’ve had to address. To put it in perspective, for the past 10-15 years we are still using some older technology where it still works, but not for major competitive levels. We now have 5 and 6-lug chassis UTVs that are faster and heavier in some of the buggy and smaller truck classes. In the short course market, there are a bunch of new cars being built in which having a heavy wheel will cause competitive issues. We have to keep analyzing our styles to get the weight and strength formula correct. Of course, as we develop these new technologies and designs, this directly correlates to the production wheels we offer to the public every day. SJ: Forged, cast, or billet; are there pros and cons for each method of manufacturing? METHOD : Yes there are differences in material strength, manufacturing, and final product cost. Forged wheels offer the best in terms of mechanical properties which are yield strength (when the material begins to bend), ultimate strength (when the material breaks), and elongation (how much the material deforms before breaking). The superior mechanical properties generally allow forged wheels to be lighter than cast wheels and still achieve the same load rating. Forged wheels start out as a billet of aluminum that is pressed into a near-finished profile shape with a hydraulic forging press using up to 12,000 tons of pressure. This creates a forged blank. The forged blank is then finished and machined to its final shape. Finish machining uses CNC lathes and mills, and can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours depending on the complexity of the design. The cons of forging may be viewed as high final part cost which is typically 2x that of a cast wheel, longer manufacturing times, and more manufacturing material waste. Cast wheels offer a great compromise of strength, ease of manufacture, and final product cost. Typical cast wheels in the market can have roughly 45% lower yield strength compared to forged wheels. Casting also has 26% lower ultimate strength and 64% lower elongation. Method Race Wheels has developed a proprietary heat treatment used on all our race wheels that enables us to achieve mechanical properties of roughly 27% lower yield (40% improvement relative to industry standard), 10% lower ultimate (61% improvement), and 34% lower elongation (47% improvement). These are all significant improvements in performance all without dramatically increasing product cost. Cast wheels are made by pouring molten aluminum into a mold. After the molten aluminum cools and solidifies a wheel is ejected. The cast wheel requires finish machining on a CNC lathe and mill, similar to a forged wheel, but with much less material removal leading to faster cycle time and less material waste. This efficiency and usage as well as raw material cost is why cast wheels are cheaper than forged ones. There are limited cons to cast wheels outside of them not offering the best material properties. The vast majority of racers on Method products use cast wheels as they offer more than adequate performance at a less costly price point. Billet is not really the correct terminology to use for any Method wheels. Billet is simply a rough form of metal used to manufacture a finished good. There are some wheel manufacturers out there that use billet plate or round stock to machine centers for multiple-piece wheels but Method does not do this as the mechanical material properties, manufacturing time, and manufacturing waste are all deficient when compared to an actual forged product. VISION: Billet and forged are very similar in properties. Billet is stronger due to the actual grain of the aluminum, and takes longer to produce, so they have a higher cost. Forged wheels are very close to the weight and strength of billet, and are easier to produce which equals a lower cost. Cast wheels are in the lowest price range due to the casting process, but in most cases will work just fine. Most all the aftermarket wheels produced are cast due to the price and ease of manufacturing. TORQUE: Forged wheels can be constructed in one-piece, two-piece, and three-piece varieties. The general advantages of forged wheels include a higher degree of customization, lower minimum order quantities, lower weight compared to other manufacturing types, better trueness (particularly for 1pc forged), lower porosity, and increased strength and durability in most cases. The primary disadvantages of forged wheels include a significantly higher price point and extended wait times for custom-built applications. Cast wheels are primarily one-piece. The primary advantage is a much lower price point compared to forged wheels, and far more in-stock options, except for cases of highly unique or rare vehicles. Cast wheels, however, use a lower grade of aluminum alloy compared to forged and billet. This contributes to cost savings but also results in less strength/durability, poor finishing, and greater weight compared to forged. Billet wheels are also forged, and generally built to order. Compared to cast wheels, they tend to exhibit greater strength and durability, lower porosity, and a higher range of fitment customizations. However, they are more expensive than cast wheels, with little to no weight savings compared to cast. Built times can be quite extensive as well. SJ: What unique technologies or manufacturing methods does your company use that differentiate it from others in this category? METHOD : The most important unique technologies to Method Race Wheels include our proprietary heat treatment used on all race products, as well as our patented (US 10,974,543) BeadGrip bead seat technology. This rivals the functional performance of a beadlock without the added weight and maintenance. All our beadlock wheels use forged beadlock rings, and our forging process uses a 12,000-ton press compared to a more typical 10,000-ton press. VISION: This question comes at a great time. Vision Wheel will be introducing a new forged process that is going to set a new standard in the aftermarket wheel business. At this point, I can’t quite say anymore, but soon we will be announcing this new process, stay tuned! TORQUE: We start with a deep dive focused on the engineering process of the wheel. We take into account the specific vehicle fitment to make sure the wheel fits and works as well, if not better than, the Original Equipment. Torque strives for excellence in all aspects of the design and manufacturing process. Once a wheel has been designed, we then have samples created for test fit, as well as for endurance, finish, and strength testing. Once it has passed the rigorous process, we then start production. SJ: Do beadlock wheels offer any advantages for off-road racers? What about regular trucks or UTVs for enthusiasts? METHOD : Unlike a traditional wheel which relies solely on air pressure to keep the tire on the wheel, a beadlock holds a tire to a wheel with mechanical clamping of the bead by the beadlock ring and beadlock ring bolts. This allows the tire to run at very low inflation pressures as well as retain the tire on the wheel if it goes completely flat. These are desirable while racing off-road, as reducing inflation pressure can increase traction and reduce ride harshness. Keeping the tire on the wheel after it has gone flat can allow a racer to continue moving for a short distance to get to a safe place to change the tire without the tire completely coming off the wheel and possibly damaging other vehicle components. In general, we do not recommend beadlocks for street-driven vehicles. The maintenance required can be cumbersome for most people to keep up with correctly, without much benefit. If beadlock wheels are not properly maintained there is a chance that the bolts can come loose which will result in a rapid loss of tire inflation pressure creating a potential safety issue. We developed BeadGrip specifically to address the most significant issues with beadlock wheels which are required maintenance of the bolts and extra weight. BeadGrip wheels will retain tires on wheels down to single-digit inflation pressures even in the harshest racing conditions with the largest tires without the need to check beadlock bolt torque or having the extra weight of a beadlock ring and bolts. TORQUE: Beadlocks are key when you need to reduce air pressure for optimal traction in an off-road setting. A racer stands to gain a superior advantage when they understand what the tire does at certain air pressures. Beadlocks will ensure the tire bead stays seated to the wheel when aired down for this optimized footprint of the contact patch. Having the right pressure at key points of a race could mean the difference in 1st or 2nd place. For regular trucks, a beadlock is not a necessity if you are street driving only. However, if you are chasing with the vehicle or enjoying an off-road trail, you may want to consider a beadlock option. Especially if you are needing to go below roughly 17-18psi to gain the traction needed for the terrain. In most situations, this is not necessary and a traditional wheel would suffice. Beadlocks should only be used in off-road applications unless the wheel meets DOT standards. Be sure to stay tuned to Torque Wheels to see what we have coming up in this space! VISION: In reality, beadlocks are not the easiest system to use. The whole process of using beadlocks is not the best way to keep tires on a vehicle, but in some cases, there isn’t any alternative. To change this, Vision Wheel has developed a system that aggressively holds the tire in place. This allows the user to air down, not as much as with a beadlock wheel, but substantially without the need for beadlocks. This saves weight, and time and eliminates the issues of the bolts on a beadlock. Our technology is called Tire Lock and it has been proven in Baja, King of Hammers, and in several short-course series in the United States. Tire Lock has proven it works perfectly in both truck, car, and UTV classes. SJ: The trend towards larger diameter wheels in off-road is different from those on the street. Are there reasons why true off-road wheels remain in the 17” and 18” range? METHOD : Historically, 17” wheel sizes in trucks and 15” wheels in buggies and UTVs have been due to tire options and wanting to have as much sidewall as possible. Today, trucks are beginning to transition to 18” while buggies and UTVs are soon going to be going 16” or 17”. Vehicles are transitioning towards larger sizes mainly due to the rapid increase in vehicle performance over the last ten years. The vehicles are so much more capable and faster compared to years ago. Unfortunately, vehicles keep getting heavier as they become more complex. The increased speed and weight require brake system components to grow in size to cope. To be able to fit larger brakes, the wheel size needs to increase. VISION: One of the issues with increasing wheel diameters is that you lose some side wall area of the tire. The sidewall of the tire is a big part of the actual suspension of the vehicle. It also protects the wheel from damage, so with a smaller sidewall there’s more potential for damage. One of the reasons that we are seeing an increase in wheel size is due to the speed and weight of some race vehicles overpowering the brakes. Bigger brakes require a bigger hole to put them into. In desert racing an 18” wheel is becoming standard. In Ultra 4 racing, we are seeing a jump to 20” wheels, used with a 42” or taller tire. We are starting to see 17” wheels invade the UTV classes and 37” tall tires. This size tire makes the sidewall issue less relevant. A smaller sidewall helps improve the drivability, turning, braking, and acceleration. In short-course racing, we are staying at 17” for the time being. The tires are 35” in diameter so it still is the perfect combination. On the street, a bigger wheel in most cases, looks better. A tire is black and round, boring right? The wheel is the sizzle, so on the street sometimes it’s better to look good than feel good! TORQUE: As time progresses, we are seeing the trend in the off-road market increase from 17” to 18”. As vehicles become more advanced, they are traveling at faster speeds. In order to stop, larger brake packages are being applied. This causes the need for larger diameter wheels to clear those brake packages in race applications. Like a lot of other companies, Torque uses data and testing from race applications to enhance those on the street. We feel the trend of larger diameter wheels, seen in the race applications, will ultimately trickle down to the weekend wheeler/enthusiast. We will always have the consumer covered on the 17” sizes, but also know that the market is headed to larger diameter applications. SJ: Learning what goes into a modern off-road wheel gives racers and enthusiasts more confidence in their ability to tackle tough terrain. As these manufacturers offer some of the best wheels in the business, check their latest offerings and those of other wheel manufacturers in the 2024 Off-Road Guide in the next pages. SOURCES: METHOD RACE WHEELS www.methodracewheels.com TORQUE WHEELS www.torquewheels.com VISION WHEELS www.visionwheel.com