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All-round Panorama

2024

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Video: All-round Panorama

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All-round Panorama
All-round Panorama
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Designers pay special attention to the wheels: elegant wheels can significantly improve the appearance of even an inconspicuous car. However, beauty is by no means their only virtue. Let's take a look at modern rims - from the simplest ones familiar to ordinary motorists to the expensive and complex in design.

STAMPS AND ORIGINALS

Wheels evolved along with cars. On the first machines, as well as on horse-drawn carriages, they were wooden, with a steel band around the rim.

At the end of the XIX century, they began to mount molded rubber tires. Around the same time, steel wheels appeared, the so-called bicycle wheels - a narrow rim and many spokes. Such designs were a matter of pride; it was not for nothing that the Daimler company named one of its models “Stahlradvagen” (Stahlradwagen - a crew with steel disks). And at the beginning of the last century, the wheels were already wearing pneumatic tires.

The first light alloy wheels adorned the expensive sports “bugatti” in the 1920s. Ten years later, when wheels with spokes were still spinning on prestigious cars, the masses were equipped with steel discs, which are often called stamped. On these, most of the production cars leave the factory gates today. The technology has been proven for decades. Naturally, the disk is stamped, and the rim is rolled from sheet steel, then the parts are joined by contact spot welding, they are marked and a protective coating is applied.

The main advantage of stamped discs is the low price. Of course, there are many shortcomings. For example, due to structural and technological features, it is difficult to minimize runout and ensure accurate wheel geometry. In addition, the steel rim is quite malleable - it bends with a strong impact, and the tire (usually tubeless) quickly bleeds the air.

Beauty, of course, is far from the strongest side of steel wheels. It is no coincidence that manufacturers hide a rough “stamping” behind decorative caps, and alloy wheels are installed on expensive modifications. By the way, steel disks of a large - from 17 inches - diameter can hardly be found nowadays, it is painfully heavy. Thanks to the fashion for huge wheels and, of course, the increase in the dimension of brakes, light alloys have become very widespread in recent years.

Most often, high-strength aluminum alloys with additives of silicon, magnesium, titanium and boron are used. In addition to the main components, almost half of the periodic table is present in the material. But manufacturers keep the exact recipe secret.

Light alloys are cleaned of harmful toxins by treating with saline and argon. Sometimes the basis of the alloy is not aluminum, but magnesium or titanium. Such discs are lighter than aluminum, but magnesium is afraid of corrosion and flammable, and titanium is very expensive. Therefore, they are used on very expensive, prestigious, usually sports cars, not intended for everyday driving.

Alloy wheels are machined on high-precision machines, so their runout is minimal, when balancing it is not necessary to hang heavy loads. Modern protective coatings resist corrosion well; before painting, the disc undergoes electrochemical or galvanic treatment. Light wheels are painted in different colors, but most often - with powder paints of silver shades.

Since the alloy wheel is tougher than the stamped one, the probability that it will suffer from falling into the hole is less. But miracles do not happen - with strong impacts, the tire is more often damaged, which is forced to extinguish energy more efficiently. And if the aluminum disk bends, repair will cost much more than putting in order the usual “stamping”.

Of course, the main advantage of alloy wheels is the reduction of unsprung masses of the car and the moment of inertia of the wheels. This is from the point of view of designers, but for us, the car becomes more comfortable, more convenient to drive, and the acceleration dynamics improves. Of course, engineers scrupulously calculate the load on the wheel, which directly depends on the mass. The seventeen-inch wheel of the well-known BBS company weighing 9.9 kg is guaranteed to withstand 830 kgf. A similarly sized OZ drive is 1.3 kg lighter, but the permitted load is 140 kgf lower. Do not forget about such an important advantage of alloy wheels as an interesting, original design: the technology of their manufacture liberates the imagination of the artist.

For reasons of unification, many models use, as they say, oversized disks. For example, the 17-inch ones are installed on the BMW 3 Series, whose total mass is about 2 tons, and the “seven”, which is more than 500 kg heavier, are equipped with the same. It is economically unprofitable to mass-produce wheels of the same dimension with different permitted loads. Tuning is another matter: tuners are ready to satisfy any (of course, technically competent) customer wishes. But a set of luxury wheels is sometimes more expensive than a small car.

LESSONS FORGING AND CASTING

Alloy wheels are divided into two large groups according to manufacturing technology. Most firms produce cast, and only a few make forged. For the production of the latter, huge, powerful, expensive presses are needed that develop an effort of tens of thousands of tons.

The most common injection technology is low pressure. This method allows to obtain blanks with good strength characteristics without microcracks, air bubbles and shells. Then the castings are processed on high-precision machine tools with program control.

Computer tests greatly accelerate wheel development. However, full-scale tests are indispensable. Before starting mass production, make a control casting. The resulting billet is cut to assess the structure of the metal, check the mechanical strength. Well-known companies X-rayed each disk, revealing possible casting defects. Selectively, the wheels are driven for impact tests and lengthy dynamic tests on running drums.

Forged discs are usually made by hot forging: the preform is heated to a temperature of 400–500 ° C, at which the metal acquires plasticity, and is applied to a blank with a force of tens of thousands of tons. In this case, the metal becomes “fibrous”, and the product is durable and tough.

After forging, the future wheel is machined on metal cutting machines, removing excess material, which is much more than after casting. It is because of the limited capabilities of the cutter and cutter that the forged wheels are inferior to cast wheels in a variety of patterns. But the forged wheels are the undisputed leaders in terms of weight (about 20-30% lighter than cast from aluminum and 30-50% lighter than steel "stamping"), because the walls of the forged disc can be made 20% thinner than that of cast, without fear for strength.

A significant drawback of forged wheels is the irrational use of metal: about half goes to waste. Therefore, the cost of the product is quite high.

ROUND MIX

In recent years, many firms are increasingly producing compound wheels. Such a compromise between cast and forged is an attempt to reduce flaws and emphasize the merits of both. Wheel parts are manufactured using different technologies: for example, the rim is forged, and the disc is cast. They are connected by bolts (usually titanium). Steel fasteners are susceptible to electrochemical corrosion, so manufacturers try not to save on matches.

One of the advantages of "hybrids" is maintainability. Although it is not cheap to repair such a disk, the cost of spare parts and work will be close to the price of a new wheel. Another important aspect is the attractive appearance. Today, bolted wheels are especially fashionable. That is why some companies produce "pseudo-composite" wheels cheaper - non-separable. From a distance, it is almost impossible to distinguish doubles.

Today, manufacturers are increasingly equipping with alloy wheels even relatively inexpensive cars. In Europe, more than 40% of machines coming off the assembly line are cast and forged. Probably in the near future, stamping will become history. After all, car prices are gradually rising, and the buyer, in the end, will not even pay attention to a slight increase in the cost that light and beautiful wheels will make.

OUR HELP

Strictly speaking, the disk is only the central part of the wheel (and not of any design) with mounting and ventilation holes. However, in everyday life, a disk is called a “non-shoe” wheel, regardless of its type. In a magazine, we often use these words as synonyms, assuming some convention (see the Handbook Wheels and Tires, ed. Za Rulem, 2000).

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