Titanium car wheels are a kind of quality indicator. They are considered the best on the market. But is this really the case?
No, it’s not. Because titanium wheels do not exist.
The thing is, titanium is such an expensive material that wheels made from it would be more expensive than most cars on the market, with the exception of premium-class and supercars. Pure titanium is 250 times more expensive than pure aluminum and 1000 times more expensive than the best steel.
Manufacturing wheels from pure titanium or its alloys is simply not cost-effective.
The melting point of aluminum, from the alloys of which most alloy wheels are made, is 660 °C.
Titanium melts at 1668 °C. In essence, to produce titanium wheels by casting or hot forging, production lines would need to be completely reorganized to withstand such temperatures. And considering that the finished wheels would be more expensive than most cars and demand for them would be single, their production becomes absolutely unprofitable. The cost of one set of real titanium wheels would be about $4000, and the market price would be 2-3 times higher.
Furthermore, processing titanium alloys is much more difficult than aluminum. This is justified in the case of manufacturing parts for spacecraft, but these are isolated projects.
For mass production of large parts, titanium and its alloys are not suitable at all.
In essence, “titanium wheels” are an invention of marketers who exploit the insufficient awareness of motorists. And to be honest, it works great – not all car owners know that titanium wheels are not really entirely titanium.
Nevertheless, pure titanium and its alloys are still used in automotive engineering. Titanium is perfect for creating super-strong engine elements, turbochargers, intake components, exhaust systems, and mufflers. Such parts are very expensive, so they are installed only in expensive sports cars.
What titanium wheels really are
Titanium wheels are a type of aluminum alloy wheels. Actually, there isn’t much titanium in them, but thanks to other constituents, such wheels are indeed stronger and lighter than regular alloy ones.
The amount of titanium in such alloys does not exceed 2%, and in most cases, it is at the level of 0.15-0.25%.
This means that in a 5-kilogram wheel, there will be only 7.5-12.5 grams of titanium. You will agree, this is not exactly what one expects from “titanium wheels”.
In rare cases, the percentage of titanium in alloys is raised to 4, but even in this case, the finished wheels are too expensive for the average motorist. They will cost 2-6 times more than even the highest quality alloy wheels.
There are still advantages in such wheels:
- Alloys even with a small specific fraction of titanium are indeed stronger and more resistant to damage. Titanium creates a strong molecular lattice with aluminum and other metals.
- Aluminum-titanium alloys are more wear-resistant in the visual sense. If ordinary alloy wheels need cleaning and polishing at least once a month, then titanium ones can be polished once every three.
However, there are also disadvantages:
- Wheels with titanium are heavier than ordinary aluminum ones by 10-15%.
It’s all about the additional components of the alloys, which make the finished product heavier. Acceleration speed will slightly decrease, so if you love sporty driving, choose something else.
- We’ve already mentioned the price, but the thing is that marketers specifically inflate it. “Titanium wheels” are a kind of brand that cannot be cheap, even if there is very little titanium in them.
Overall, one can assume that titanium wheels do not exist. On Western markets, such a concept does not exist at all. There are steel wheels and alloy wheels, that’s all.
You can find out as much as you want about the characteristics of specific alloys used in production. No one particularly highlights alloys with increased titanium content.
However, in post-Soviet countries, every other motorist wants to have “titanium” wheels.
We are not saying that they are somehow worse than ordinary aluminum wheels. But their price is excessively inflated, and you can easily find models that are as strong and beautiful, but cost 1.5-4 times less.
Choose wheels for your car wisely and don’t fall for marketing tricks. Wheel selection by car can be done at AutoDiskiUA.