LVDell

Checking through past threads and cruising over to the CCW website it seems to be that the majority of the wheels purchased for track duty are these 2 in question (for those choosing CCW).

Any thougts on why I should go with one over the other? I really like the look of the C14 and like the 1 piece design strength. I put in a request to CCW to get info on them.

I welcome any advice or suggestions, etc.

Seth Thomas

The 1-piece are very nice wheels. The only downside that I have seen with them is the inside edges to the spokes are not an eased edge and are very sharp. If you are picking them up you will always want to wear gloves for this reason because you will cut your hands on them. They are easy to clean and are very well made. I know of several guys who do run the 1-pc. Each one of them love them with the exception of the sharp inside edges of the spokes I mentioned above.

RJFabCab

Since you're switching from OEM wheels, I'd look closely at the weight differences between the C14 and the Classics.

CCW makes tough wheels but once you crack a one-piece wheel, it's toast. The Classics can be repaired.

It is unlikely that the forged center will fail. Repairs, if necessary, will probably only involve inner or outer barrel replacement along with new seals and hardware. Plus, with multi-piece wheels, you can re-use the centers and change wheels specs later if you wanted to.

AllanJ

I have the CCW C14 and chose them based on comments from other folks here. I completely agree with the sharp edges comment though. Before I toss on my new V710 rubber I'll probably buff off the sharp edges. The spokes are mostly OK, but there are a few spots that are sharp on mine.

You probably won't care about this Dell, but you can see other CNC machine marks on them so they look "rough" compared to other wheels you've seen. Folks always come up to my car to check out the wheels and the vast majority think that they look cool with those machine marks. Only a couple expressed a preference for a more polished looking wheel.

The downside to the C14 for us GT3 guys running SCCA autox events is the fronts are 9" wide. No 8.5" available. So this will bump you into ASP. Maybe later the fronts will be made in 8.5". For your track excursions you won't care.

One more thing I noticed running stock PS2 rubber on the 9" wide fronts is now I get tire rubbing at full lock. I didn't have that before so the extra 1/2" width combined with the PS2 design rubs on my car. No big deal, just expect the odd look as you park in the paddock.



I'll try to get you a pic of the machine marks later on.

Cheers,

mooty

i spoke with john ccw, he said c14 is much stonger than classic.
ccw isn't as nicely finished than others, but they are 2-3k less per set.
i have had my share of bbs, fikses, kinessis. they are nice on day one., after you change them on off on off on off the car for 6 months, they get all dinged up (afterall you dont want to look like a pansy taking 30 min. to CAREFULY change your wheels on track do you?)... so the rough look of C14 is not bad. that's what i will be getting.

CWay27

Didn't you just get another set of stock wheels painted in black?? I would go with classic only because I already bent a wheel on the track and was lucky I was running my Kinesis that day.

LVDell

Great input. Thanks everybody! I looked at the Volk's (TE37) as well but for some reason their "GT3" spec wheels are not really GT3 specs. They advertise the wheels for the GT3 in 8.5" ET49 AND 11" et60. While the rear is only 3mm off from OEM specs, the front is a whopping 9mm. WTF?

LVDell

Yes, I did. But now I am thinking I would prefer something much lighter than stock since that damn Nitto rubber is weighing a ton! I love the OEM wheels, and even more in black, but I gots ta do what I gots ta do

nkhalidi

The photo AllanJ posted above is the C14 track wheel, with a bored-out center. It's a little bit lighter than the C14 street wheel, which is what i have on my M3 street car. Both are great options. I'm very happy with my C14s, would definitely buy another set.

LA964RS

He has come out w/a C10 and its 2 lbs lighter...ask about that one...has a much MUCH nicer hub finish.

LVDell

He doesn't have it posted online yet. Just the T10 which is new. If the C10 is anything like that one I'll pass. That 14 spoke C14 is sweet.

10 GT3

C14

Advantages:

1. Being a fully forged wheel they are stronger. This is much more important driving over potholes on the steet than driving on a smooth track.

2. They are much lighter than OEM wheel and 1-2 lbs lighter, depending on size, than Classics.

3. Relatively inexpensive compared to other 1-piece forged wheels, start at $2600 a set.

Disadvantages:

1. More expensive that Classics.

2. Limited sizes and fitting. Offset and width are determined by the mold, so the exact size or fitting you desire may not be available. They are only available in 7 sizes: 18X8", 18X9", 18X9.5", 18X10", 18X11", 18x12" and 18x13" with extremely limited offsets/backspacing.

3. If you bend or break one, you have to pay for a complete new wheel which is expensive. Due to the design of the lips of the wheel, some of the wheel repair services like Wheel America will not repair them.

Classics

Advantages:

1. They the least expensive 3-piece wheel you can get custom built. The race version is hundreds less a set than C14s. Race version starts at $2000 a set and the street version starts at $2250 a set.

2. Much lighter than OEM wheels.

3. They are available in a much greater range of sizes in 16", 17" and 18" diameters with width up to 17" wide in 1/2" increments. Backspacing/offsets availble for almost any application with with adjustments in .25"/6mm increments.

4. If you bend or break one, the individual rim halves and centers can be replaced at a fraction of the cost of replacing an entire wheel.

Disadvantages:

1. Depending on size, they are 1-2 lbs heavier than C14s.

2. Having cast outer lips like most 3-piece wheels (HRE, Fikse, Forgeline, iForged, BBS, etc.), they are weaker than a fully forged wheel. This is very important if you are spending significantly more time driving over potholes on the steet than driving on a smooth track.

3. If you bend or break one, components have to be replaced; they can not be repaired.

10 GT3

The reason for this is simple. For every size and offset for a 1-piece wheel, they have to make a specific mold. No wheel manufacturer is going to make molds to exactly fit the partciular OEM specs of every manufacturer. Hence they will make just a couple of offsets that can fit the greatest number of vehicles. Only wheels that use hubcentric rings are cast or forged with the center bores as part of the molds.

Most wheels are cast or forged with a following process where the hub centerbore and bolt pattern are dilled after the blank is made. It is very easy to program a CNC drilling machine to make many different sizes of centerbores and bolt patterns. Hence an easy ability to make wheels for most applications. One interesting example of this is that Tirerack buys Kosei K1 Racing Wheel Blanks from Kosei and uses their own drilling machine to make the bolt holes and centerbores. If you know a wheel size and offset you want, but they don't show the correct bolt pattern; you just call the racing department and the will custom drill a set at no additional cost (I've personally done this).

Here is an obvious advantage to a 3-piece wheel. Even with just a single unique center, with the ability to CNC drill the hub bore and bolt pattern you will have a far greater range of applications available than even a dozen 1-piece molds. In fact, with just 2 different centers; you could be within 3mm of the fitting for any application...big +1 for 3-piece wheels.

LVDell

Wow! Great ADV/DIS write-up

That really helps. Well sort of. Now I'm not as ignorant to the differences and have to make a rational decision now

LA964RS

CALL John (?) @ CCW and ask about the C10....guys at Speed Gallery in LA have them on one of their cars in black and looks very slick.