The ultimate 20 wheel - thoughts please.

[macfly]

This is a serious question to all owners who might consider a 20" rim.

While in Germany I noticed several Z8's had moved up to 20" rims, and every owner I spoke to was delighted with the change because the tires available are in another league.

I also understand that Henrik Fisker originally wanted the car to have 20" rims.

So, it seems that a 20" rim is a natural way to go. To save weight and add a taste of the Z07 I'd suggest center locking rims.

It would be possible to make a purpose built Z8 fitting once piece aluminum wheel weighing around 19-21lbs a corner, with TUV approval, from the best wheel maker in the world, for a cost not much higher than around $7K a car if we can get around 40 orders in.

Now that is a tall order in itself, but with so many cars on both sides of the pond considering upgrading to 20's a dedicated Z8 TUV-DOT approved wheel might be the way to go.

The hard part is getting everyone to agree on a design!

I have been looking at wheels since starting my board, and I am currently of the opinion that the style of wheel that best suits every color of the car is a radiant multi spoke design, somewhere in the 14-16 spoke range, with a nice bow, or curve to the spokes. Here are pics of a couple of some two piece wheels in that style, but a one piece will be visually cleaner, and lacking all the fastners and seals it will be lighter too.

Thoughts and opinions??

[dwz8]

take the OEM design and adapt it to 20"?
That would probably be the design that most people would accept.

There is one detail about 20" that I discussed with RD when I bought my wheels. The RD-2 are available in 20", however, they recommended not to mount them unless I would stop tracking because of the danger of contact.
The reason is that 20" wheels will be wider as well to maintain the same ratio of the tires, which is important for speedometer and certification.
If the car is - moderately - lowered, a 20" wheel will most likely make contact with the wings very quickly.
If you have a look at Olaf's wheels you can see how close they are on a non-lowered Z8.
I don't have proof of this, I just report what they said. The 20" wheels would have been more expensive, so I can't see any reason why they should say this if it was not the case.

Cheers,
Dieter

PS: Of course I know that all Alpinas came with 20" wheels.

[macfly]

That OEM 5-10 spoke design needs very hefty spokes for strength, while a finer spread of spokes will allow a lighter wheel, more like a spider's web, strong but light.

I will know more about the clearances very soon, as Cartridge here in the US are trying some Alpina wheels on a lowered car, so if any issues show up with clearances we should know about them soon.

[macfly]

these are some of the best rims out there, but for my taste, and my silver car, none of these ring true; close but no cigar.

[macfly]

I love the centers of these wheels, but not the way the spokes attack to the rims, or the stepped design of the rims themselves. These BBS wheels on the Enzo would make a very good starting place for a 20" Z8 rim.

[macfly]

I said it was rough! :-0
(Thanks for the loan of your car Jonny!)

[Robert Linton]

I like it -- including the centerlock feature.

[Z8-NL]

I have 20 inch Alpina wheels (normal Z8) with the ACS suspension set mounted. this lowers the car aboy 2.5 cm. No problems with clearing though.
Just ordered the Brembo big brake set and once fitted i will post a pic.;)

[Khalil Ghalayini]

what was the $ damage for the alpina wheels

[Z8-NL]

I had them through a UK company for 3500 GBP (tires MPS included)

[Khalil Ghalayini]

Glad to see that the prices are quite consistent through out different continents. just made my order for the wheels and same tires, caps and stems for $6,800 canadian which is quite consistent.
Tnx
KG