Woven carbon-fibre wheels are now available as an option on the Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive – itself a more lavishly equipped version of the 911 Turbo S. The optional wheel is manufactured entirely from carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, which amounts to a weight saving of 8.5 kg over the standard 911 Turbo wheels.
Aside from a 20% reduction in weight, the wheel is also 20% stronger. Reduced unsprung weight of course has myriad benefits – lower rotating masses and therefore inertia offers better response in acceleration and braking.
The CFRP wheel is made up of two main components – the wheel centre is made from carbon-fibre fabric, which is cut and then assembled from 200 individual components, while the second component is the rim base, which is built from braided carbon-fibre by a braiding machine spanning a diameter of nine metres – currently the largest of its kind.
After which, the wheel centre is braided into the rim base, and then the assembled item is impregnated with resin and pre-hardened at high temperature. The wheel is then hardened at high temperatures followed by a long cooling process before the central lock is inserted, and then the wheel is coated with a clear protective lacquer.
The braiding technology, which Porsche says it is the first in the global automotive industry to use, offers advantages over the more conventional pre-impregnated carbon-fibre fabric manufacturing techniques (commonly known as ‘pre-preg’) by increasing rigidity, thanks to a denser and more compact material structure.
Each wheel constructed this way utilises a total of 18 km of carbon-fibre, or eight square metres of carbon-fibre fabric, says Porsche. These woven carbon-fibre wheels will be optionally available on the 911 Turbo S Exclusive from the beginning of next year, in dimensions measuring 9J x 20 inches for the front, and 11.5J x 20 inches for the rear, priced at EUR 15,232 (RM76,891) including VAT in its native Germany.
Carbon-fibre wheels have made appearances in the automotive OEM world before – the Koenigsegg One:1 and the Regera come factory-equipped with them, while Australian supplier Carbon Revolution outfits the Ford Mustang GT350R with carbon-fibre wheels.
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One of the better news this year! This is great.. carbon-fibre rims!
But here definately ended up with bricks if parked overnight somewhere.
GPS chipset is embedded in each porsche carbon wheel. not easy to hack as some marine gps. 911 I have an emergency I lost my wheels..sir we located your wheel on the way to china..
rims soon worth more than the car
I pity you have ugly rims there
Carbon Fiber wheels already a standard issues on Koenigsegg since four years ago…
How many cars Koenigsegg sold in four years?
20 or 25?
Porsche 911 with buddyclub P1!
if this carbon rim use in malaysia, better buy more spare rim carbon hahahaha. jalan raya malaysia always lubang sini sana
Bicycles got CF wheels since over 20 years ago.
Muahahaha