The opposite of pizza pans
 

In this thread I explained the design for the front wheels on the car in my Profile Pic thus:
http://i.imgur.com/SDT2r.png

Well, in my perambulations around the w-w-web, I discovered the H.A.M.B's Art Archive. Their Friday Art Shows get 100-250 posts a week.

One thread had this post showing the Mariani Farms '34 Ford. I think this optimizes what I was leaning toward—outer, and inner disks with brake cooling:
http://i.imgur.com/UNeFj.jpg

A little Googling around and I landed back in the Restored 1930s Garage thread on The Garage Journal Board (it's up to 301 pages and 6016 comments: :eek:
http://i.imgur.com/do0zF.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/SOW9j.jpg

Nice, if somebody made those for the aftermarket, I might be interested.

agreed, if i had a manual trans i wouldn't even care for brake cooling

Rad Rides by Troy is Troy Trepanier. He did the Blowfish Barracuda.

I'd like to see one opened up. It looks like the inner cap comes off to remove the wheel; but it might be a lot of work to change a tire. I notice the front wheel has an external valve stem but the rear doesn't.

I'm curious how much clearance is needed for sidewall flexing. Since the cap is moving with the tire, it wouldn't rub—just sort of press and release with each rotation.

With a convex shape and close fitting fenders it would be like a [front-]wheel fender skirt.

The sidewalls of a street tire (you are thinking of doing this for the street?) are thin. It would be prudent to stay away from them. Think about a flat tire at night in freezing conditions.

You might consider using the widest recommended rim for the tire. It makes for a flush (almost) transition. Nothing to bolt on or off your tire for service. Less to fall off. I am using 155 section tires on 6" (152mm inside width) wide rims aero wheels on my vw.

I know you are set on your overall design. Consider that having the wheels set out from the body invites a lot of interference drag.

If I were to make some disks for the Insight, this is *exactly* how I would make them regarding partially covering the side-wall of the tire!

The portion of fiberglass that contacts the tire would be maybe only two layers thick, so that it flexes as the tire rotates.

No exposed glass fibers. The inside would have to be *smooth* to avoid chaffing.

As Varn indicated, one would have to make one and keep an eye on the sidewall rubber and check for wear issues.

I have thought about this for two years now.

Jim.

Looks fantastic but I'd still rather have the Mooncraft wheel covers.

http://www.autofiends.com/wp-content.../mooncraft.jpg

wow....some intersting stuff!

As I recall, bias ply tires would lay the sidewall right down on the pavement in corners. :) But as I said I think it would press but not rub. I suspect the Mariani roadster runs ~1/4" clearance and the lip outside the circle of fasteners will flex as much as the sidewall.

Great turn-in, right?

What sort of VW? I've gone from 145s on 5.5" to 165/50/15 (in front). I've watched tire shop guys struggle to spread 145s onto a wide rim, and others just shake it up and down and they pop right on.

That design is circa 1995—although it seems to work for Mariani Farms. The details not shown well include an airfoil shaped cantilevered :eek: axle beam, concealed shocks (hard) and sway bar (easy), and the inner wheel fairing shown in the sketch. That leaves the steering and brake lines. The wheels are pushed forward 8" and outward 6" from the stock location.

Lately I've headed into a different direction—the Very Light Volkswagen (VLVW), inspired in part by the Edison 2 VLC. I've been struggling in 3d and in 1/32 scale plastic. I should lower my standards and scan a pen and pencil sketch. Want to see it?

Uhhh, YEAH!