Anyone got info on these PLASTIC Olds Gbody rims? Picture

[shotgun]

I remember Shelby played with the idea in the 80 on his GLH
or CSX maybe?


Never saw anythiing until I stumbled on this photo. They are supposed to be prototype plastic Olds rims :shock: ?

The fender has a "Motor Wheel " sticker who made race rims back in the day....

Anyone know anything about these?

 

[DrRansom442]

no but googling that I found this

http://www.fraunhofer.de/fhg/EN/press/p ... Thema6.jsp

 

[axisg]

those look like Buick rims painted white....

 

[XbeasleyX]

Plastic rims are an interesting concept. These days though better results would be had with carbon fiber and other materials.

As a side note, shotgun, can you clean up/shorten your sig. Takes up a ton of room.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Plastic wheels were a concept that was discussed in the early 1970's, but never really took off. I have an article on them somewhere in an old car magazine I bought from the library for 10 cents many years ago. My major concerns with them would be their resistance to UV light, and how brittle the plastic becomes after a period of time. I also can't see them being much lighter than today's lightest 15 in aluminum rims, which weigh around 10 lbs (I.E. Konig Helium, and a bunch of others that slip my mind right now).

 

[supercrackerbox]

I remember Shelby played with the idea in the 80 on his GLH
or CSX maybe?

That would have been on the 1989 Shelby CSX-VNT. The wheels were 15"x6.5" and made of fiberglass reinforced plastic. At the national club meet in '05 I sat in on a tech seminar with one of the Whittier team members as the guest speaker. When designing these wheels, they underwent excessive testing (Much like the wheels Hurst tried to commision to be factory equipment on the first gen GTO) which proved them to be considerably stronger than their aluminum counterparts. Downside is they are suceptible to UV rays, and having only been on 500 cars, are next to irreplacable. Also I've heard say that these wheels are actually heavier than the aluminum ones, although I'm not positive on that one.

http://www.dempseybowling.com/sheldodg/sheldod9.htm

Also please note that THIS was the first production car to feature the variable vane turbocharger, despite Porsche's claim to it a few years ago.

Plastic rims are an interesting concept. These days though better results would be had with carbon fiber and other materials.

As a side note, shotgun, can you clean up/shorten your sig. Takes up a ton of room.

There are currently carbon fiber wheels on the market for super-high end sports cars, but they are far, far from cheap. Polycarbonate is also out there ( the 'invisible' wheels you may have seen on Donks ), but I believe they are more of an appearance wheel than a performance wheel.

 

[jonnyslick]

Was that pic in the OP's post a rally car?

Never knew Olds did rally.

 

[supreme_eighty5]

my neighbor recently informed me that in the late 70s, General Electric near my house made wheels out of lexan i believe, ill have to ask him more info about it and post it up here.

 

[jonnyslick]

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2006/12/06/the-d ... ough-rims/

 

[jonnyslick]

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2006/12/06/the-d ... ough-rims/