949 Racing 6UL Flow Forming video
 

"An error occurred..." No can see video.

Fixed.

It's amazing that this can be done with the precision/thickness needed for wheels.
It's a little more to it than spinning a water dish.

Thanks for sharing! That's really awesome.

That's pretty cool.
When I was in the lighting industry, they had numerically controlled spinning machines to make architectural downlight reflectors, but they were starting with sheet stock and didn't use heat.

Cold forming works just fine on some 2000 and 6000 series alloys when they are in T-2 or so. Thin enough and they don't heat up and work harden. Cast wheels are made of A356.2. They're not heat treated at this step. Later they're brought to T6 condition in baths then final machined then paint.
In theory at least a wheel of 7075 T6 would be really strong but it doesn't flow. So any wheel from 7075 would have to be cut from billet. Billet wheels cut from forged blocks have stress risers all over and tend to crack over time. Near net die forged requires the alloy to flow hence the use of 356 series alloys. Rays used near net forging in several of their wheels. So the blank looks more or less like our casting blank. Very little final machining needs so stress risers can be controlled or eliminated. TE37's are nigh indestructible for this reason.

Super interesting! Are they coated and painted at the same facility, or is that done elsewhere?

Same factory.

So basically 6ULs are made by robots with flamethrowers. Could they be any cooler?

Explains the $800/each price point.

Know anything about the insanely light TWS wheels?

"TSW"
Rotary forged = Flow Formed = Spun Forged

Really cool stuff.

So when are 15x12's coming out? :D

Who needs 15x12's? What we really need are 15x15's.

I'm waiting for 15x7 wheels so I can have something for my future scion ia. :giggle: (yes, it's happening later this year)

No.

TWS

TWS Motorsport T66-F - 17x9.0J +37 / 5x100 - 56.1mm Bore - BRZ/FRS Competition Spec


TSW wheels aren't that light. These TWS wheels are even lighter than Weds/Volks/etc.

Forged, $840 each

3500 for a set and they're not even in stock. must be a lot of ballers out there.

and they're only like 1-2lb less than rpf's or something

More like double RPF1's weight, unless that website is wrong.

it's in KG, not LB

rpf 17x9 is 16lb if I remember correct