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AWC forged magnesium wheels, amazing unsprung weight saving for the money
Disclaimer: I'm not paid or benefited in anyway by AWC to post this thread. I just want more people to know about this awesome company and their products.
AWC just post a story on their Instagram showcasing one of their forged magnesium wheels. I took a screenshot of it to show what the wheels look like. I can't link it since it's a story post.
The wheels seem to be in similar design as the Forgeline GS1R. The split 5 open lug design is considered to be one of the most optimized design in terms of strength to weight ratio. Here are the specs based on the audio in the post. Fronts are 19x9 and weigh 15.5lbs each. Rears are 19x10 and weigh "just under 16lbs" each. In my case, I have the heaviest 997 wheels the Carrera Sport. I will be able to achieve around 42.75 lbs of unsprung weight saving if I were to go with the same design but in 19x9 and 19x11 size. That's pretty insane. Also the starting price for a set of forged magnesium is around $5,800. I think that's pretty reasonable for a set of custom forged magnesium wheels.
They also showcased another set of forged magnesium wheels in the Ruf 5 spoke design. 19x8.5 18 lbs. 19x11 20 lbs. They are still pretty light but the weight is definitely compromised due to the chucky 5 spoke design.
Personally, I'd rather spend $6k for a set of wheels like these than wheels like BBS E88.
AWC has been pretty interesting. They can make anything you want pretty much as each wheel is a bespoke design tailored to your setup. They also do 3 piece wheels if that's the look you're after which is pretty cool. Their phone dial style wheels look pretty amazing.
In terms of amazing weight saving/$. They are only slightly better than a set of Titan T-S5 wheels, although the potential to save more weight is larger.
In terms of amazing weight saving/$. They are only slightly better than a set of Titan T-S5 wheels, although the potential to save more weight is larger.
24lbs of unsprung weight is pretty significant savings over the Titan7s. Prob not the most cost effective when compared to the Titan7 wheels but if the goal is to make as much savings as possible, it's a matter of grams and ounces.
@arscottp & @andino , we definitely think alike! I'm a big fan of the Titan7 wheels too. They are by far the best bang for buck forged wheels. I was in fact one click away from buying a set of Titan7 T-S7 in iridium silver, but then I found out about the forged magnesium wheels that AWC makes. Typically the weight saving/$ ratio tanks badly once the wheels become really light. Like some of the high end BBS, Forgeline and HRE monoblock forged wheels. There are also carbon wheels like Carbon Revolution C9 wheels. Those typically range from $8k to more than $10k to achieve about the same or worse weight saving as the AWC mag wheels. So I consider the AWC mag wheels a bargain.
Hmm , nice selection of wheels and choices. Any idea of HP/Trq to rotating weight ratio? For example , losing 30lbs of rotating weight is equivalent in feel to adding xxx HP / Trq ?? Aslo, how strong are these wheels for street use, potholes , etc. compared to a typical, OEM , heavier cast wheel I wonder?
Too bad Canadian $ has just gotten stronger against the US$; few a months ago would've been even more of a bargain if paying in US$.
Hmm , nice selection of wheels and choices. Any idea of HP/Trq to rotating weight ratio? For example , losing 30lbs of rotating weight is equivalent in feel to adding xxx HP / Trq ?? Aslo, how strong are these wheels for street use, potholes , etc. compared to a typical, OEM , heavier cast wheel I wonder?
Too bad Canadian $ has just gotten stronger against the US$; few a months ago would've been even more of a bargain if paying in US$.
There are debates all over the internet about the conversion ratios. I don't want to trigger another one here. But I will show it for reference.
For me, 1lb of rotating weight equals to 6lbs of static weight. And every 9lbs of static weight removed equals to 1 hp. So saving 42.75 lbs of rotating weight is equivalent to gaining 28.5 hp. Again this is for refence ONLY. There's also the benefit of handling and braking improvement from much lighter wheels.
There's a comparison from Litespeed Racing, another great company that makes mag wheels but not as cheap as AWC. Forged magnesium is superior in both fatigue strength and tensile strength, yet it's less dense than 6061 T6 aluminum. 6061 T6 aluminum are the typical material used to make forged aluminum wheels. The typical order of strength in terms of wheel construction type is forged magnesium > forged aluminum > flowformed > low pressure cast > gravity cast. I'm only comparing monoblock vs monoblock. Most OEM style wheels are low pressure cast.
Not a bad deal, improved looks, strength, handling and more effective "power increase" for the $. Thanks for the thorough response and good luck with the project.
PCCB conversion is nice but lb/$ wise. It's not great. Good thing is that the base Carrera has the smallest and lightest steel brake setup in the lineup. I won't need to upgrade them since I don't track and car. There's also a lot less mass for the brakes to stop with all the weight I'm removing too.
For reference, I had a set of customer Signature Wheels made for my C4S to replace my Turbo wheels. They cost $3,600 all in including shipping: custom offsets, made to order door to door in 4-6 weeks, and the 19 x 11.5" rear wheel was under 20 lbs. The front wheel was 19 x 8.5" and around 16 lbs. Get some titanium lug bolts and you are saving at least 35 lbs of unsprung weight -- more if you were using spacers.
Just found this. These are my 19" wheels for a GT4. Excellent except just too tight for the 991 GT3 front calipers. Swapped to 997.2 GT3Rs calipers, no change to discs and wonderful fit and massive weight saving!