Quote:
Originally Posted by Tokay444
There is no such thing a, “flow forging”. That’s a marketing gimmick to make people feel better about buying a cast wheel.
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So you’re a materials scientist?
Yea I didn’t think so.
Flow forming aligns the crystal structure of the barrel through heat and pressure. It’s not the same as forging but it gives you much much better material properties on the barrel than a cast wheel. The barrel is the most highly stressed part of the wheel so it helps a lot.
I’ve bent almost every aftermarket cast wheel I’ve owned. I’ve never bent a flowformed wheel. My Apex wheels on my BMW have taken a beating that sometimes I was convinced they would be bent. They’re still perfectly straight and true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 86-75309
Every cast wheel I've come across, whether OEM or aftermarket, will have features on the back side that are obviously cast. Machining is typically limited to a few critical surfaces. See the first photo. The gray TRD wheels have no cast features at all. The entire hub, including the relief pockets, is machined. The only markings are engraved on the barrel. That leads me to believe they are forged and not cast. Most likely they are billet forged and not die forged.
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Not necessarily, but I could be wrong. Just because the pockets on the back are CNC cut doesn’t mean the wheels are forged. It could simply be that they make a 4 lug version of that wheel as well. I highly doubt Toyota would offer a forged wheel for this car. You can probably count the number of cars that have OEM forged wheels available on 2 hands.