Carbon Wheels

[Grimace427]

The same way targeting wheels does. when you replace a 30lb aluminum with an 18lb Carbon Fiber driveshaft. Less total mass to move down the road.

I know it sounds odd. I was hoping to get some answers to this. Because I was like are you positive there is a two piece drive shaft? And The Ford dude was like "yes there is. It's a 2 piece". Which if that is true... at least this is a mod that I know many of us will be doing. Quick ...relatively inexpensive and should show immediate results.

Except the DS is sprung weight, unlike wheels or brakes. It is rotational weight, however, like wheels and brake rotors.


To be honest, I didn't notice much performance improvement swapping my stock two-piece to an aluminum one-piece drive shaft on my 2011 3.73-geared 5.0. I did it mostly for durability at the drag strip. It does vibrate more at 100+mph unlike my stock DS which was rock solid at over 150mph at the Texas Mile.

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[Grimace427]

watch this video and at the 4 minute and 28 sec mark upto the 5 minute and 6 second mark.

I can't see the video here at work, can you share cliff notes? Thanks.

 

[Cruzinaround]

I believe the purpose of the center bearing is to halve the vibrations(1st order, 2nd order, not 100% on that) so they could definitely be smoother especially at very high DS rpm's. There are probably several engineers at Ford who wished they could have put a one-piece CF shaft in there but there were too many issues that we might not see with our personal cars.

They would probably have to target engineering efforts at the points of connection...yoke and u joint. To compensate for the vibration and dampen the harshness???

I'll sit and wait on that one and see if anyone comes out with a way to address this. They did with the FP Crankshaft....so who knows what's in the pipeline?

 

[Cruzinaround]

I can't see the video here at work, can you share cliff notes? Thanks.

The decision was due to Vibration and Harshness concerns. Overall stiffness came into play as well, so they went with a 2 piece steel DS as opposed to Aluminum or Carbon. So you basically hit the nail on the head with NVH concerns.

 

[Cruzinaround]

Here's a review of the Carbon Revolution wheels and a reveal of their intent to make the wheels an OEM option for an Auto manufacturer.

Jay Leno's Garage.

[ame]

 

[Herr_Poopschitz]

EXCELLENT video!

Critical speed is the concern regarding driveshafts.

As for curb checking these wheels, worse that will happen is a scuff in the epoxy...unless it's a massive hit. In those cases, depending on severity, the outer pretty, but not structural CF may see damage, but the inner higher density fibers may not. Worst case, the wheel fractures and comes apart. HUGE loads would be required for that, however.

CF can be repaired, there are approved repair methods in place by the FAA for aircraft...wheels should be easy, yet making an invisible repair will be very difficult.

Can't wait til this process becomes easier or automated and prices come down.

 

[u8mylunch]

Has anyone heard whether the CF wheels will be painted black or remain as they were introduced at NAIAS on the GT350R.

 

[Trevor08gt500]

Has anyone heard whether the CF wheels will be painted black or remain as they were introduced at NAIAS on the GT350R.

They will be painted black

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