Attention! The accuracy of the information and the results of the ranking is subjective and is not an advertisement.
7 best forged wheel manufacturers
Aviation technology for mundane targets
Author: Stepan Kagner
Starting a conversation about the best forged wheels, let's make a reservation right away: the term “forged wheels” popular among motorists is fundamentally incorrect - in fact, aluminum alloys are treated with isothermal stamping. But this term is so ingrained in our language that it is used by serious automobile publications. Well, and we will continue to use it for convenience.
The technology itself came to us from aircraft workshops - steel pressed discs, with all their cheapness and ability to withstand significant deformations without destruction, were too heavy, while aluminum casting, due to the tendency to cracking under impact loads, made hard landings too dangerous. Therefore, the workpieces were subjected to high pressure inside the heated matrix in order to make the metal crystal lattice more dense, at the same time saving it from dangerous structure irregularities - this technology has already been tested on the production of individual airframe components.
Much from aviation comes to motor racing, and forged wheels are no exception. In the highway-ring races their main advantage was the possibility of making thin rims, significantly reducing the inertia of the wheels, and in rally - high strength. Well, already from the sport, these discs received a “voucher” for public roads through the efforts of the tuning studio.
As a result, we now have on the shelves a large selection of various forged wheels, but are they all worth attention? Well, today we will try to answer the question: “Forged wheels of which company is better?” And deal with the players in our market.
| Category | A place | Name | Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The best domestic manufacturers of forged wheels | 1 | Slik | 9.7 / 10 | 6 760 |
| 2 | M & K | 9.3 / 10 | 36 700 | |
| 3 | Magaltek | 9.0 / 10 | 4 300 | |
| The best foreign manufacturers of forged wheels (middle class) | 1 | Oz racing | 9.7 / 10 | 19 000 |
| 2 | Enkei | 9.4 / 10 | 14 500 | |
| The best foreign manufacturers of forged wheels (premium segment) | 1 | Bbs | 9.9 / 10 | 96 900 |
| 2 | Vissol | 8.0 / 10 | 46 980 |
The best domestic manufacturers of forged wheels
|
Slik
6 760 (Slik L194)
Forged wheels under the brand name Slik are produced since 1992 - if initially the Togliatti company worked for the needs of motor sports, then subsequently expanded its production, covering all popular sizes in a variety of designs. Like other domestic manufacturers, the company did not have its own foundry, performing only the processing of discs from finished stampings. The main supplier of production is KraMZ, which was still working in the aerospace industry in Soviet times. The presence of presses with a capacity of up to 10 kilotons at the plant allowed the manufacture of large-diameter discs: a smaller force simply could not push the workpiece. At the moment, Slik is one of the few domestic brands holding tightly in place. To a large extent, this is helped by the release and affordable cast disks of “budget” sizes - alas, the example of many firms engaged exclusively in forged wheels in our country has shown that it is very difficult to keep attractive prices at the profitability of production without leaving strictly for export. Main advantages:
Minuses:
|
 9.7 / 10
Rating
Reviews
By and large, now there is no choice, if you do not take VSMPO or QMS from the hands - in the normal range only forged Slik wheels, but their quality is more than satisfactory. |
|
M & K
36 700 (MK-XXXVII)
If the majority of domestic brands come from the 90s or early 2000s, then MK-Design is a younger player.In fact, the name of the company determines its profile - doing only the design of the wheels, the production they “give over”, finishing polishing is done at all (according to advertising assurances) in Italy. As a result, we get a wide series of forged discs, very interesting in appearance, but clearly targeting exclusively the premium segment, hence, alas, and prevailing over practicality "ryushechki." But it seems that only in this way the company is kept afloat: there are practically no budget series in the M & K catalog (the cheapest discs are MK-XLIII for 4000 per piece, then the price tag jumps sharply to a five-digit one), but the export share in their production can impress. Alas, beauty does not always benefit: if the legendary VSMPO, as they were told, can only bend with a directed explosion, then M & K will be more suitable for glamorous lovers to drive around the Moscow Ring Road and show off at the Lookout. Main advantages:
Minuses:
|
 9.3 / 10
Rating
Reviews
I liked the presence of lines for almost the entire premium segment, the forged wheels with extremely low rubber profiles look just great. |
|
Magaltek
4 300 (Magaltek D2)
At least one fact speaks about the quality of the discs produced under this brand: back in 2011, the domestic company from Tula became the official supplier of forged motorcycle wheels for Marchesini - a company not only known among tuning bikes sportbikes, but also supplying its products to paddocks MotoGP . For cars, they also produced a wide range of disks up to extreme dimensions like 10x22 ”. Naturally, this attention was not justly deserved - all the blanks for Magaltek disks were made at KraMZ on the same line that the aviation enterprises serve. When purchasing Magaltek series discs, one can be sure of high quality - with their light weight they are spared from stress concentrators in the most tense places, which are constantly monitored by cutting out control plots from samples of each batch, aviation aluminum-magnesium alloy is used in production (the nearest foreign the equivalent is Al6061 aviation grade). Alas, the domestic market of forged discs is becoming less and less attractive for sales: the once-religious worshipers from the VSMPO, Aviatechnologies QMS went off the scene, the range of Magaltech offers from a wide range of designs for a customer-sized landing size shrank up to several options ready discs in a small number of stores. Main advantages:
Minuses:
|
 9.0 / 10
Rating
Reviews
The best forged wheels are Magaltek. The sixth season of operation, but the discs are still perfectly smooth - and this is almost twice the weight of the usual "casting"! |
The best foreign manufacturers of forged wheels (middle class)
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Oz racing
19 000 (OZ Racing Anniversary 45)
The Italian company is not a newcomer to the business: since 1971, this brand has become recognizable in motor racing, having been noted both in the F-1 stables and on WRC cars. Well, a rich rally past may well recommend the strength of the discs with the OZ badge on the decorative cap. In the production of OZ Racing rims, several stages are used: first, billets of aluminum-magnesium alloy are cast under low pressure to avoid the formation of micropores and irregularities, then pass the stage of isothermal punching with subsequent thermal hardening. It is noteworthy that the company purchased a part of its blanks on the same Krasnodar KraMZ: Italian specialists highly appreciated the quality of the products of the domestic plant, not being afraid to put the famous brand on these wheels. The advantages of the brand include accessibility: the company, which has been a supplier of leading sports teams for more than 30 years, also produces quite budget products.If, for example, the Superleggera III discs in Moscow cost about 60 thousand apiece, then the “anniversary” disc set as an example, referring to the design of the first wheels of the brand, will cost 19: given the inevitable “surcharges for the name”, this is not the case a lot with this quality. Main advantages:
Minuses:
|
 9.7 / 10
Rating
Reviews
OZ Racing - the best, lightweight and at the same time very durable forged wheels. Carried away by amateur sports, not once convinced of both statements. |
|
Enkei
14 500 (Enkei RPF1)
One of the first Japanese firms to start producing automotive alloy wheels is Enshu Keigokin, now known around the world under the Enkei brand. The main advantage of this company's products is an acceptable price level: after all, with sufficient quality control, it does not matter whether production itself is in Japan itself or in neighboring regions of Asia.
But, if you basically want to get the wheels "as in Formula 1," then the Enkei line also has a "purebred Japanese" series, produced using the most modern technologies in Japan itself. Naturally, all this will cost a completely different money. If we talk about forged wheels (and the Enkei assortment, of course, has casting), then the Racing series is the most attractive: all discs of this series are manufactured using MAT proprietary technology (casting of the workpiece with subsequent rolling of the rim). Since the production of discs in this way does not require pressing equipment of enormous power, the cost of production of such discs can be maintained at an acceptable level while maintaining excellent characteristics. Main advantages:
Minuses:
|
 9.4 / 10
Rating
Reviews
Beautiful wheels, and at the same time really stand our roads. The Japanese still understand this sense. |
The best foreign manufacturers of forged wheels (premium segment)
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Bbs
96 900 (BBS FI)
It is hardly necessary to represent the German company BBS - in nearly 50 years of history, a small plant has grown to an international scale, becoming the official supplier to the conveyors of many companies, including Maserati, Rolls Royce and Ferrari. It was her engineers who at one time developed composite rims with a cast middle and a forged rim, which became the subject of multiple copying. As for the BBS Forged Series, this is undoubtedly the best forged wheels, created using state-of-the-art technologies. In the process of manufacturing, the workpieces are subjected to pressure up to 8 kilotons, which allows you to create lightweight external structures with a large margin of safety and a small moment of inertia - and, after all, it is for this that we value forged wheels. For example, one 12x20 ”FI-D wheel rim weighs only 9.2 kg - that is how much 18-inch“ casting ”of decent quality usually weighs much more modest in size. Alas, you have to pay for everything, and in this case literally - the original BBS forged wheels in our country are now ... Hmm ... Perhaps the price of a set of four wheels will make many people remember that their car costs about the same. Main advantages:
Minuses:
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 9.9 / 10
Rating
Reviews
It is foolish to describe the impressions of disks of such quality. Pros are known to all, with all the desire you will not find any minuses. |
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Vissol
46 980 (Vissol F-305L)
The American (according to advertising) brand is positioning itself as a producer of discs exclusively for the premium segment - so you’ll pick something up for your Lexus, but it’s unlikely for the “combat” Impreza STi.However, from the point of view of a purely practical drive, it is senseless to consider drives in a similar price category, with all the merits they are primarily required to “beautiful”, and not the ability to withstand five-meter jumps. Well, it’s impossible to complain about the quality of the Vissol Forged line of forged disks, although their design and the brand name itself involuntarily refer to “neighbors in the United States” - much more renowned Vossen. It seems that brandomimicry has reached the premium segments, which seems to most readers of this article rather curiosity than really useful information: yet the price of a set of four Vissol discs noticeably exceeds the threshold of 100,000 rubles. Nevertheless, it is sarcastically that the international group of companies YST Group is hiding under the Vissol brand, which was originally called ... yes, YarShinTorg. Main advantages:
Minuses:
|
 8.0 / 10
Rating
Reviews
A good replica of premium brands, and of very decent quality - there is no imbalance, the weight is decent. I will not come to strength, although I drive on a low profile. |
Collecting information on the brands of forged disks most widely represented in our sales, we could not repeatedly note the fact that domestic products in this segment are not only cheaper than imported ones, but they are not inferior in quality. Yes, this is the case when the groundwork of aviation (read - first of all military) technologies could find a new use for itself and not lose face: products of world brands are manufactured using the same technologies as in Russia and foreign companies are interested in it proof of that.
It is a pity that in our market it is difficult to survive with a rather specific product - the legendary VSMPO has not been produced for five years, the QMS has disappeared, the production of Magaltek has practically curtailed. But on the market, foreign brands with Asian roots of production are becoming increasingly active, filling the gap, but significantly inferior in quality.
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Updated: 17.04.2018
Rating in categories:
