BMW carbon fibre wheels nearing production

BMW is planning to offer the carbon-fibre technologies developed during the BMW i3 and i8 project to the market, and the highlight is a set of ultra-light, fully carbon fibre rims.

BMW’s lightweight construction manager, Franz Storkenmaier, led this project including a full carbon fibre steering wheel, a one-piece carbon fibre propeller shaft for the BMW X5 and a new carbon-plastic compound that is light and strong, made from i3 production waste. BMW developed not only new carbon fibre wheels, but also a carbon fibre/alloy hybrid wheel, with alloy spokes and a carbon fibre rim.

“We save 25 percent in weight compared to a forged alloy wheel with the hybrid wheel and another 10 percent if it’s completely carbon,” Mr Storkenmaier said.

“It’s the most important kind of weight because it’s unsprung mass and there are also rotating mass advantages.”

In terms of safety, Storkenmaier said: “The carbon fibre wheels are very damage resistant. They’re actually more damage resistant to kerb hits than standard alloy wheels because the damage polishes out really easily. You can scratch it when you park and it’s better to polish out than aluminium. You can have the metal finish to it with the alloy hybrid, but it’s technically a better solution to go all the way and have a full carbon fibre wheel.”

Source: AutoExpress