True Forged 20" wheels?

[clyde]

Wheel discussions can be overwhelming. Too many threads, too little time, and no easy search terms leading me to what I want:

A true forged (not flow formed) M3P wheel, size: 20x9, +35mm ET. (Not interested in changing the stock wheel geometry of the car).
I am just after significant weight savings and tired of fixing bent Uberturbines.

Where do I start?

I see two brands mentioned a lot: Signature (SV104) and Unplugged UP-03. Both seel to have what I would call "modest" esthetics.
Any opinions on the quality of these? Any other brands come to mind?
I am ready to do the work, just need some pointers. Thank you! C.

 

[Kimmi]

Titan 7?

 

[gearchruncher]

Too many threads, too little time, and no easy search terms leading me to what I want:

I am ready to do the work, just need some pointers.

When I simply search "forged" I get tons of pointers to threads to specific wheels that you can go do the work on.

FYI, better way to save weight and stop bending wheels is to go to 19" or 18" wheels, and unless you really don't care about money, consider rotary forged / flow formed wheels.

 

[The Other Dan]

[Rant] I've recently come to the conclusion the all the die hard "fully forged or nothing" people are old guys like me, but stuck in thr 80s, 90s, 00s. Technology has moved on. The flow formed wheels are just as light and just as strong nowadays. And if lightweight wheels were really the goal, the person would man-up and not screw around with forged anyway, they would get magnesium wheels.
[/rant]

Really, if you want fully forged and have money to burn, go for it. But the cost/benefit ratio isn't what it used to be.

 

[gearchruncher]

....And sticking with forged in 20x9? That's a weird place to spend $$$ on performance when you don't even want to go to a wider tire.

 

[clyde]

And sticking with forged in 20x9? That's a weird place to spend $$$ on performance when you don't even want to go to a wider tire.
My thinking: I do not want to sacrifice range, which is shitty enough on the M3P, but stick to low-noise foam-lined Michelin, Pirelli, etc. tires. That's weird?

P.S.: I could easily go to 245/255 with the 9" wheel, by the way. My current thinking, if they make it: forged 20"wheels mated to 245 Hankook Ion EVO AS.

 

[clyde]

if you want fully forged and have money to burn, go for it. But the cost/benefit ratio isn't what it used to be

Can you point me to any tests that support your opinion?

 

[gearchruncher]

Can you point me to any tests that support your opinion?

What kind of "test" are you looking for that demonstrate price vs performance?

Companies like Koenig make and Eneki make 19" rotary/flow forged wheels for about $250 a wheel at right around 20 lbs. They don't bend, they're well proven. Only you can choose if doubling or tripling the price of a wheel is worth 1 or 2 lbs.

forged 20"wheels mated to 245 Hankook Ion EVO AS

Going to an all season tire from the summer tires will be a big drop in cornering performance. Going to a wider all season is kinda pointless, it will just hurt snow performance.

FYI, wider tires on narrow wheels often work worse than keeping the narrower tire, especially in any weather:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=296

 

[clyde]

Going to an all season tire from the summer tires will be a big drop in cornering performance. Going to a wider all season is kinda pointless, it will just hurt snow performance.

Good point. The brand-new Summer version of the Hankook Evo, which is available in the stock-Tesla 20" size (20/235/35) makes the choice easy:
#116

 

[Cce32]

I did this research a few years ago, decided on VS Forged VS02 20x9 staggered offset +35 front, +26 rear, less than $3k but loooong lead time.

The others on my short list are:
* Signature
* Martian
* Titan 7
* APEX
* MPP Mega Mesh

 

[MODEL+]

Add BC Forged to the list:

Danny

 

[arrow7]

There is good discussion in this thread. Here is my experience.

I only wanted forged because of my past experiences.

My last car was a Mercedes CLS550 that weighed 4300 pounds, a couple hundred more than my now 2023 model 3 RWD. On this Merc, I went plus one in sizing and went from 19" to 20" for looks. The front had 20 x 8.5 wheels with 245/35-20 tires. These were name brand $500 each wheels bought through Discount Tire. Wheels: not forged, Avant Garde M590 One Piece Cast Construction.

After one month, one wheel had to be replaced (three week wait for a new one, $500 later), bent un fixable from hitting normal pothole/very rough surface. The next month a front tire sidewall was pinched, torn from pothole, cords exposed. That car had too many expensive motor problems, so I went Tesla.
You can see the front wheel bend, still held air.

The point is, this time, I said I'm going quality and just pay once. I went with Rays TE37, the 19x9.5 +28. They have a unique forging method, instead of machining a forged block of alloy, they pound a block of alloy into the right shape, getting all the little molecules to flow right. I don't know, the rep sold me. And the title of this thread asks for 20", this wheel comes in that size, but it looks like most go with 19s. I weighed mine at 22 pounds. I realize the original poster here states concern for staying stock dimensions, but I think there is enough time and Teslas running my configuration without any problems. I just took a 2000 mile round trip from Portland to Los Angeles and it was a smooth blast.

 

[gearchruncher]

From MPP's mega Mesh, where they argue you don't want a minimum weight wheel, even a forged one, on a Tesla:
So they're arguing that you don't want a super light wheel. Also notice they don't make 20's.

19×9.5 +37 – 22.7lbs​

​

19×10.5 +33 – 23.4lbs​

A note about weight: Be cautious shopping for wheels based solely on weight. We’ve bent a number of forged wheels which were designed for lighter cars. Be sure the wheels are purpose designed for the large mass the Tesla carries. In doing so, you’ll find that wheels rated to carry the Tesla load will be around the same weight range. Lighter wheels are possible by using a different design, but we are confident this is the lightest that a classic “mesh” style wheel can be while having enough strength to resist bending when used on the racetrack, or to survive large pot-hole hits.

A 23 lb 19x10" wheel is not hard to find at all. The flow formed 19x11 Konig hypergrams that a lot of us run on the track weigh less than that and are $300 each.

 

[gearchruncher]

Just ran into this thread on Reddit I thought was funny. Not a single person that actually tracks their car suggests full forged wheels vs flow/rotary formed:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CarTrackDays/comments/17zse4k