Carbon Wheel Experience Regarding Damage

[shogun32]

You seem to try to further justify not running CF wheels on the street because you won't feel a difference on the street. THAT is what I'm disagreeing with.

BJ you live in deep Florida and Jmeo lives in MA. How are you wired into his brain and butt-o-meter from 1500 miles away while he's tooling around in his Shelby? Or for that matter Tomster? You can scream till you're blue that you're personally convinced the CF wheels and a random AL wheel can not possibly feel the same under any conditions just as long as the driver is breathing and has a steady heartbeat. You're also assuming every sentient being who has the privilege of choosing between AL and CF gives a sh*t about the "incontrovertable, self-evidently obvious" differences between them.

That's your (highly educated) opinion and nothing more. Now maybe once folks run their cars back to back CF to AL and "experience the truth" they'll recant and kiss your ring. The Inquisition and age of religious dogma was a few hundred years ago, so maybe let folks make up their own mind instead of being yelled at for "wrong think"?

If as you have conceded that there are plausible justifications for owners to toss the CF wheels into the attic in favor of AL for the rest of the car's life, what's it to you? Are you worried that once the Gospel of CF allows the first heretic (eg. Tomster) to go unpunished that there will be a wave of unbelievers electing to mothball the CF rims, eventually reaching a critical mass such that the manufacturer might go out of business?

If Carbon-Revolution wants more disciples, maybe they could figure out how to chop that price down to 2000-2500, and make it a pre-condition of an OEM offering their product to stop being dicks about replacement.

Maybe you could instead offer to relieve them of the unappreciated CF wheels for your own stash when you experience a damage event.

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[stanglife]

I'll throw out a vanity reason... I like how they look. I think the car is "right" with them. I also grew up through the years where FR500...Cobra..whatever wheels were available aftermarket and were the same as the OEM...then the knock-offs came. I don't care how good a knock-off is, I could spot them a mile away and something about that just doesn't work for me. So that's why I DD'd my CF wheels for 12k miles.

 

[kilobravo]

Jeff: And how do they look after 12k?

 

[stanglife]

They look good. I know things happen so I'm not saying a rock isn't going to chip them or something but IMO, the wheels are at much higher risk of (cosmetic) damage when you get tires mounted than they are using them on the street. If someone is worried about curb rash and they are the type of person that hits a lot of curbs...then that's a whole different conversation, really.

Our roads are pretty good here in Florida - serious potholes are rare. If you live in an area with a lot of them, I'd certainly drive my route with a beater before I drove my $100k sportscar (of which about 20% of the price is the wheels...#firstworldproblems) on it.

 

[stanglife]

PS - like Tom said, the calipers are really close to the wheels on the 350R and the 500. I'll add that, I don't feel like that ALONE would lead to a high likelihood of getting a rock in there. I think it's the clearance AND the sticky tires. The tires really grab everything and there's a lot of debris moving around in there. I caught a rock early on (maybe 2k miles) - I was primarily driving on the street and I knew I'd be putting a few miles on it, so I changed to PS4S tires (I know...)...due to the reduced road noise and less debris flying up it really added a touring feel to the car and even with the added weight (the SC2 tires are LIGHT too, so it's really about the package), I didn't really notice it. Enjoyed every mile.

 

[Tomster]

I have reconsidered my position on this matter. Recently, I have been able to buy damaged CF wheels from various sources. 4 GT500 wheels (3 fronts and 1 rear), 3 GT350R wheels (1 front and 2 rears) for very reasonable amounts of money.

1 of those wheels was brand new in the box. 4 of them required minor repairs that I accomplished. 2 of them went off to spyder composites for repair. One of the GT350 wheels was badly damaged from a curb, similar to damage recently in another thread. That was an easy repair and turn around time was quite fast. One of the wheels is still at the shop because spyder is backed up and I told him to take his time and make it like OEM new.

For the ones I repaired, they varied from minimal curb rash to severe curb rash (which is what you would reasonably expect to occur from street use). Once I obtain the last of the 4 wheel set for the CFTP, I will post a "how to" repair guide on taking care of the extremes of reasonable damage that can occur.

I used to be one of those people who was afraid to damage my CF wheels on the street. After repairing several of the more complex carbon weave wheels myself, I have realized that this whole paranoia of damaging the wheels on the street is just that. Furthermore, Bemaro films makes a PPF for the spokes of the GT500 wheel. I installed them and found the process to be easy.

I recently ran a Daytona Speedway track session with the repaired wheels and the PPF installed. I was concerned about the heat that would be generated and how the PPF would react. There was no issue and the PPF held on with no problems.

Attached is a sample before/after of one of the wheels I repaired. This wheel was probably the least damaged out of the lot. As you can see, it really isn't an issue to repair common damage to the exposed CF wheels. GT350 wheels are even easier, repair and paint. Done.

The signature wheels are now off the CFTP and I am enjoying guilt free CF wheels on the street without any worry.


Before:

After:

 

[WD Pro]

I have reconsidered my position on this matter. Recently, I have been able to buy damaged CF wheels from various sources. 4 GT500 wheels (3 fronts and 1 rear), 3 GT350R wheels (1 front and 2 rears) for very reasonable amounts of money.

1 of those wheels was brand new in the box. 4 of them required minor repairs that I accomplished. 2 of them went off to spyder composites for repair. One of the GT350 wheels was badly damaged from a curb, similar to damage recently in another thread. That was an easy repair and turn around time was quite fast. One of the wheels is still at the shop because spyder is backed up and I told him to take his time and make it like OEM new.

For the ones I repaired, they varied from minimal curb rash to severe curb rash (which is what you would reasonably expect to occur from street use). Once I obtain the last of the 4 wheel set for the CFTP, I will post a "how to" repair guide on taking care of the extremes of reasonable damage that can occur.

I used to be one of those people who was afraid to damage my CF wheels on the street. After repairing several of the more complex carbon weave wheels myself, I have realized that this whole paranoia of damaging the wheels on the street is just that. Furthermore, Bemaro films makes a PPF for the spokes of the GT500 wheel. I installed them and found the process to be easy.

I recently ran a Daytona Speedway track session with the repaired wheels and the PPF installed. I was concerned about the heat that would be generated and how the PPF would react. There was no issue and the PPF held on with no problems.

Attached is a sample before/after of one of the wheels I repaired. This wheel was probably the least damaged out of the lot. As you can see, it really isn't an issue to repair common damage to the exposed CF wheels. GT350 wheels are even easier, repair and paint. Done.

The signature wheels are now off the CFTP and I am enjoying guilt free CF wheels on the street without any worry.


Before:

After:

Bearing in mind some of the shit flying around on other threads please don’t think I’m being an arse …

Do you have a photo from the same angle as the one that shows the damage ?

I’m genuinely interested - not that I can afford carbon rims for my car, but I fixed some broken carbon on my (push) bike and I currently have a damaged wheel that I’m wondering if I should have a go at fixing.

I kind of like bringing things back to life / giving them a second chance etc

I’m also looking forward to reading your repair procedures

WD

 

[Tomster]

Bearing in mind some of the shit flying around on other threads please don’t think I’m being an arse …

Do you have a photo from the same angle as the one that shows the damage ?

I’m genuinely interested - not that I can afford carbon rims for my car, but I fixed some broken carbon on my (push) bike and I currently have a damaged wheel that I’m wondering if I should have a go at fixing.

I kind of like bringing things back to life / giving them a second chance etc

I’m also looking forward to reading your repair procedures

WD

those are the photos of that wheel as I took them at the time. I didn't take them for the purpose of this thread, so no, I don't have any more. I could take more photos of the finished product, but that will all be part of the "how to" when and if I get the last rear wheel.

As for the other threads, This post was written as result of those. I don't agree with scare tactics of "this is what will happen to your CF wheels" garbage.

The wheels can be fixed and the majority of the damage can be repaired by yourself.

 

[shogun32]

I’m also looking forward to reading your repair procedures

ditto. I could see a slurry of fiber particles and epoxy acting as 'bondo' but how you are able to 'melt' the existing epoxy and chemically bond with the new patch is intriguing. Would also like to see a repaired wheel put on a deformation rig to measure how it withstands the original spec point loads compared to the rest of the undamaged wheel.

 

[wingnutt]

I could take more photos of the finished product, but that will all be part of the "how to" when and if I get the last rear wheel.

devils advocate here, cause I have seen this quote in more than one thread now…but why hold the whole place hostage for your wanting one more wheel?

release the kraken or gtfo

 

[Tomster]

devils advocate here, cause I have seen this quote in more than one thread now…but why hold the whole place hostage for your wanting one more wheel?

release the kraken or gtfo

because I will probably never be able to get another one once the genie is let out of the bottle, lol.

I think that's fair, let me complete my set and then share the wealth. Let me know if you see one on social media and then we can get this rolling.

 

[JNS_PP2]

Here is my solution to Carbon Fiber Wheel issues. 20 x 11 and 20 x 12 Magnesium alloy wheels.
19 Lbs. front 20 lbs. rear with titanium lugs. Lightspeed racing did the wheels. Less than 8k

 

[Glenn]

Here is my solution to Carbon Fiber Wheel issues. 20 x 11 and 20 x 12 Magnesium alloy wheels.
19 Lbs. front 20 lbs. rear with titanium lugs. Lightspeed racing did the wheels. Less than 8k

The question is, who makes them and where did you buy them at?

 

[JNS_PP2]

They are made here in southern California. They are forged magnesium. See Patrick's web sight link below. Yes I did misspelled the correct name of company in my post sorry.
Mine are gun metal gray to match the cobra badges. I am very pleased with the wheels.

Litespeed racing makes a lot of wheels for exotics. The wheel strength specs and flex numbers are very impressive.


Patrick

www.litespeedracing.com

 

[Shelby2]

Great information. Thanks for posting.

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