jeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzz greg,

i resemble that remark, we have to stay on the road, or the euphemism is "canyon retrieval" where the fireman goes down a 400' cable to haul up your body.

i love those mag weights but i have be known to hit a 3" rock after a rain bring thems down.... can the mags take it? can the hre's take it?

Oak who has weights on the hre's??

 

MY KINESIS BEND LIKE HELL...
for the price tag of $4,500, u all know i'm gonna cry like hell.

for future reference, i'll never go back again...

 

That's not too good. I would have thought a custom wheel manufacturer of Fikse's caliber would offer offsets with smaller increments.

 

You never know until it happens....

My guess is your tire would take the brunt of it. I have been off track at a pretty high rate and not had a problem with any rims. Pounded curbs I shouldn't have, gotten two wheels off ground, etc.

But if you hit something just right, any rim can/will bend. Nice thing about the BBS is when I needed new centers they sent them right out, with new bolts and gaskets. I put them together myself and used a inch/lb torque wrench to tighten as spec'd, had tires installed and I was ready to go. Took no more than a week from the time I called BBS to the time the wheels were on my car.

 

watt, give Guy a call at HRE 760-598-1960. He can help you with weight info. If I recall correctly, the 545 0r 547 in the Reverse Dropped Centers were the lightest, they were much lighter than the stock hollows and the older non reversed design. The new 845 and 847 should be even lighter due to less hardware.

I'm running Yoks AVS 32lbs and 35lbs with 19" on the new HRE 843's. I also run the MPSC on hollows at the same pressures. The 843's were lighter than the 540R's I had. I've hit some pot holes that I thought would for surely have damaged the lip but to my surprise haven't had any. If you go with the 18" you should be fine.

 

OAK,

Guy says the 8.5 18 845 wheel about 23-23.5 #; and the 12 about 25.5-26, so 2-3# heavier than the fikse... his 540 is lighter than the 845, but hearing my usage he recommends the stronger 845. this means the unsprung savings from stock is about 20 pounds vs. 28.3 pounds for the fikse... figure about $250 per pound saved......

btw Guys,

Oak helped me get my car ready for Elko last week end which i truly appreciate, but the best mechanic i ever saw is Regis:

 

LOL! Regis is a saint, he's selped me through all my mods.

 

This thread seems to have pretty much run its' course but I just wanted to weigh in with some direct experience.

FIKSE: I had these wheels on my '95 C2. A very fine light weight wheel. And the people at Fikse are very helpful and responsive. Quite often if you call you will speak to Mr. Fikse himself so you know they are involved with all details.

All aluminum wheels will bend. That's just the way it is. Hit them right and they will bend. Of course the idea is they bend and not shatter and if you have the modular design you can buy the part that is bent without buying the whole wheel. Fikse serial numbers their wheels so that they know exactly what you are talking about when you call in. Certainly thicker is harder to bend but thicker is also heavier, so there is a trade-off there.

MAGNESIUM: Is a more granular structure and the mode of failure is cracking or shattering at impact. Again a modular wheel can possibly be replaced in sections but I would ALWAYS have the wheel halves X-Rayed after an impact to see if there were cracks. In fact in a racing car you should probably X-Ray the wheels after every season looking for cracks. There are lots of magnesium wheels on the street of course but they do require thier own type of care or perhaps checking. If I was going to do a high speed run on them after banging around on the steet for a while I'd think seriously about getting them checked first.

In my racing days I broke a few magnesium wheels. This was long ago (60's and 70's) and materials may have improved since then. Magnesium will also burn; I've seen a magnesium fire and it's a spectacle. You can only put it out by cutting off the oxygen supply. I don't think the fire issue looms large for street use. The most famous incidence of this was Dave MacDonald crashing into Eddie Sachs (or vice versa?) at Indianapolis. Dave MacDonald was in a super special monocoque design by Mickey Thompson with cast magnesium bulkheads. The crash and ensuing fire killed both drivers but the fire was virtually unstoppable with the track technology of the time. This was also pre-fuel cell.

Bottom line is; Fikse makes a good wheel as I am sure the other manufacturers do as well. Any choice involves risk/reward and trade-offs.

 

Good points Garey. Only thing I disagree on is the need to x-ray them. At least in the BBS wheels it is very easy to see the cracks if you check them. My mechanic's team checks them after every run session, not just every season. At the end of the season (depending on # of races, etc) they get relegated to practice or roller wheels.

BTW who would you get to x-ray the wheels? And do you think my HMO would cover it?

 

I actually took one of my wheels down to radiologist at my hospital and he x-rayed my HRE 540R after a blow out on the highway. I still have the film up on my lightbox.

 

Greg, I haven't had the magnesium wheels since the last millenium! But I'd try the local airport for sources. The FAA has some pretty strict rules about checking parts. Also there are independent testing labs out there.

Hmmmm. about the medical coverage; I wonder what DRG they'd be put in?

 

Garey,
Thanks for the info. Might be worth checking into during the off season. Wonder if magnafluxing has taken the place of x-ray in the modern millenium.

Re: DRG.

 

Magnaflux only works for ferrous metals. Zyglo works pretty well for non-ferrous metals.

http://www.magnaflux.com

 

magnafluxing was even around in the last millenium Greg! But I'm a little fuzzy on what type of metallurgy it works best on. I don't know if it will work on a casting for instance. I know it works on non-ferrous materials but I seem to recall that we used it on forgings and machined parts only.

Any metallurgist out there care to weigh in and help an old corrosion technician?

 

Oak - when you gonna post pics of the new HREs?? (or at least put them on your Hobbystage??)...Cant wait to see them...Once I am done with all my engine mods I think I will be getting 847Rs from Santa