|
Thanks Frank,
If we go with the idea that the Tempo wheels are comparable, then it looks like I was right - the spare wheels are thinner.
It would also appear the wheels designed for lighter vehicles (the Escort) would also be thinner - and that makes sense as well.
Taking this a step further - if we were to measure steel wheels off a larger vehicle - a pickup comes to mind - then they ought to be thicker still (assumming they are using the same type of steel). I can see it might be pretty easy to introduce all kinds of variables that might throw this whole thing off.
It would be very helpful if someone else would confirm this. I'll state it as a hypothesis:
- The steel spare wheels supplied to passenger car vehicles are made of thinner gauge steel than the street steel wheels supplied to the same vehicle as measured in the "spider".
I stated it that way for a couple of reasons:
1) We know that the weight of the vehicle would affect how strong components - and in this case, wheels - would need to be. So we need to find vehicles where the wheels are comparable. As in Frank's example, the Escort wheels vs the Tempo wheels. It would be best to use a vehicle where the street wheels are steel and not try to compare spare wheels of one vehicle with the street wheels of another.
2) The spider is the center section of the wheels and on steel wheels it will be stamped from a flat piece of steel. That would be a good measuring point because the thickness of the steel is unlikely to have been distorted much by the manufacturing process. By contrast the "rim" portion is typically, I think the term is, "roll forged" where a flat hoop of steel is rolled against a mandrill to produce the shape.
Please guys, a little help here!
|