Cast vs Flow Formed vs Forged

finazzoty

Well-Known Member
As my search for the perfect set of shoes continues, I've been doing some reading on pros and cons of forged, flow formed and cast. As of right now, I'm on the fence between flow formed and forged (leaning towards flow formed) and I'm wondering...Is there really any reason for a forged wheel on our cars? Even in a track application (crashing aside), it seems forged may be overkill - far more expensive and substantially heavier than a flow formed wheel. Thoughts on this?
 

Chubbs

Well-Known Member
The biggest difference between the two as I understand it, is their failure mode. Forged wheels will bend. Cast and flow formed (which is really just a different variety of casting) will typically break or crack. As for your weight comment, I think you may have it backwards....forged wheels are typically lighter than cast, particularly for a similar strength.

Whether you think forged is worth it or not is up to you, but I personally don't think it is. Particularly for our lightweight goblins, I just can't foresee putting enough stress on them that the strength of a flow formed wheel would be in question (not considering crashing, of course). I've got multiple autocrosses now on my Vors TR4 wheels (relatively cheap flow formed), and have no issues at all. I'm not aware of any other forum members having issues either.
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
When I was looking for light wheels a few years ago, the lightest ones I could find were from Kiezer wheels. At the time, they couldn't take my order, as they had a fire, but it looks like they are back up and running now. Their website is general information, so you have to contact them for your wheel needs, and pricing.
 
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