New Magnesium Wheels

[Dan Case]

As more companies make their interpretations of the final evolution of the six spoke wheels maybe somebody will do the most common 1963 design six spoke wheels. These wheels were used widely by Shelby American. The 7.50 rear wheels are real hard to find now but were used a lot before the 8.50 wheels were introduced.

[1985 CCX]

Dan

Nice!

[TEAM THREE WHEE]

Here is what i see in the magnesium wheel production study. We have produced several Mag wheels for customers. Here is the facts.
first wheel is a 13 by 10.5 wide for a shadow dn3/4 cars small black wheel
cast mag face with custom spun aluminum inner half. 10.5#
cost
tooling to cast face $5000.00 , machined casting cost 980.00 , black chromate coating 80.00
this was for a 12 casting run which yielded 10 good parts. casting by M&A castings. Inner rim was custom spun 16ea ordered 350.00 ea
so parts equal $1410.00 plus 196.00 for the bad castings and 400.00 in tooling equals 2000.00 per wheel face and no profit yet, assume 20% profit then 2400 per face and the finished wheel would be 2750 plus some labor to assemble.
Alternative was tooling to make the wheel as a 1 piece wheel. tooling 23000.00 and 1500 per finished wheel.
the problem is the market is to small to justify a 1 piece wheel.

the other wheel is a 19x12 forged Mag face at 5k for each face and 16.8# finished wheel
again cost is high since the market is so small---10 wheels------ value of the car was 8 to 12 million so customer can afford, yet still have to think about cost.

So mag wheels for cobras and gt40s
2 moulds per style 20 to 25k per mould for sand casting, as Mag and permanent moulds doesn't work. Then 50 to 100 per size run to get cost down and process worked out to get rid of porosity.
raw casting cost 1000 ea , then machine and finish
initial investment------assume 100 wheels total, 25 cars, ie 25 customers and how many more will you sell in the next 5 years. $146,000.00 casting and tooling if we assum we will sell another 100 in 5 years so we only amortize 1/2 the tooling then 1230 ea wheel and we still need to machine and finish and add profit so 1500 + 30% profit 1950 per wheel
great we made 45000 and it took a year of energy and headaches.

this is just what i see , $6000 to 8000 for wheels for a 50 to 80k car, it is different when the value of the car is above 350,000k as in some hot rods or is a vintage race car the mag can be justified in some cases. But the maintenance and inspection for road used mag wheels should be considered.
Most of our customers end up choosing aluminum as a cost and durability option, since a damaged wheel can be replaced or repaired reasonably.

scott

[fordracing65]

What are the yellow balls in the spinners made of???

[Dan Case]

Yellow somethings in CSX2019's hubs in 2006, I have no idea. SAI used what appears to have been red cover foam rubber balls from a toy store for some of its early racers just on the front presumably to help protect the outer hub bearings. Plugging the end of rear hubs would be a decoration.

[rodneym]

Well, there you have it. Thanks for the info, Scott.


Fran is offering one piece wheels, $6k for the set, and a history of mag runs.

[1985 CCX]

Team III

Agree tooling is a cost, still a fan though.....

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by TEAM THREE WHEE

this is just what i see , $6000 to 8000 for wheels for a 50 to 80k car, it is different when the value of the car is above 350,000k as in some hot rods or is a vintage race car the mag can be justified in some cases.
scott

Scott, you must not be keeping up with the Cobra replica market.

ERA's are probably getting fairly close to $100,000 to build now. And have a 1-2 year wait. Backdraft's and Superformance are probably in the $60,000-$80,000 range, but that's just an uneducated guess.

Kirkham and Shelby are sold out for year+ and pumping out replicas with a value anywhere between, at the low-end of about $150,000, to well-over $200,000+. And for the latest and greatest "competition" CSX 3000-series cars, you have to write a check for $500,000. And they allegedly come with magnesium wheels from Fran Kress.