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WedsSport TC-105X 5x112 Pre-orders start now! 18x8.5 under 17 lbs

Aristocrat Autosport

GOLFMK7 Official Sponsor
Location
Buena Park, CA
Is the side cut graphic an accurate depiction of the face concavity of these wheels, or is it just a side photo of a different spec for another car? Are they going to be flat faced? Interested in the 18x8.5 +32 wheel. So hard to find a decently concave wheel for this car to fit under stock fenders without resorting to crazy camber.

Are you referring to the large image of the wheel behind the red golf in the launch poster? The most accurate photo of the 18x8.5 +32 is the one on the civic. Weds engineers tend to stray away from adding too much concave for the TC-105X as doing so requires the spoke to be longer which increases weight. They will adjust the drop center in the PCD area to be deeper or shallower instead, as this allows for offset adjustment without adding unnecessary concave.
 
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torga

Autocross Champion
Location
Seattle
Car(s)
'11 GTI
That makes a lot of sense, considering these are pure motorsport wheels. I was actually referring to the image of the wheel used in the section describing/justifying the "side cut". This one and the large image you're referencing seem to be two different specs since they appear to be at very similar angles from the camera, if not the same angle.
 

Aristocrat Autosport

GOLFMK7 Official Sponsor
Location
Buena Park, CA
That makes a lot of sense, considering these are pure motorsport wheels. I was actually referring to the image of the wheel used in the section describing/justifying the "side cut". This one and the large image you're referencing seem to be two different specs since they appear to be at very similar angles from the camera, if not the same angle.

Those images are both larger sizes than 18x8.5, I believe the side cut image is 9.5" or 10" +35 and the large image behind the golf should be the 10.5" or 11". Weds has face types they offer which will determine the amount of concave available. In order from least concave to most concave, the face order is None (15" and 16"), F & FR (for 17" only), MR, R and RR (for 18"). RR is reserved for the widest sizes such as the 18x11.0 +15 and all sizes of 18x10.5. Every 18x8.5 TC-105X is designed to be made with an FR face regardless of the offset due to the adjustments done in the drop center. I've attached a photo below which shows the comparison of the convacity of the different face types.

 

MonkeyMD

Autocross Champion
Pedantic post of the day, but the center caps aren't $60 each as posted, but $60 for the set of A or B?
 

Navi

Autocross Champion
Location
BK/NYC/Hamptons
yeah, i was looking for a little more concavity. The pics have been mostly the other faces. Here you can see the wheel in the background with the more concave face but then on the actual car the wheel looks completely different bc of the FR face. Kind of sucks. I've noticed this for almost all the jdm wheels on the MQB. You have to move up to a 9 inch width at the minimum to get any kind of concave face. But then rubbing issues start to pop up :(

1575650090436.png
 

torga

Autocross Champion
Location
Seattle
Car(s)
'11 GTI
I think if they had gotten an R face 18x8.5, even if it added 1 lb, these would be a slam dunk. As it is they look like every other multispoke wheel.
Yep, that's exactly how I feel about them. Unfortunately our width/offset combo makes even a subtly concave wheel rare and a bit of a hunt to find. I might be going with a 18x9 +35 RPF1 just to get a slight lip with some concavity to the spokes. Flat face wheels just don't do it for me at all.
 

Aristocrat Autosport

GOLFMK7 Official Sponsor
Location
Buena Park, CA
Yep, that's exactly how I feel about them. Unfortunately our width/offset combo makes even a subtly concave wheel rare and a bit of a hunt to find. I might be going with a 18x9 +35 RPF1 just to get a slight lip with some concavity to the spokes. Flat face wheels just don't do it for me at all.

It may be worth it to take a look at the WedsSport SA-10R if you want some concave. These wheels are still 18x8.5 +45 however they do not use a drop center for the PCD area. Some pics showing more of the concave are below:

TS-Bronze



Gunmetal color (now discontinued, replaced with matte circuit silver)





They'll be arriving next week along with the TC-105X.
 

torga

Autocross Champion
Location
Seattle
Car(s)
'11 GTI
The SA-10R is so close! But below is what we all want. The 10R spokes bow out a bit before coming back into the hub, below they just immediately sweep down.

We want this. Immediate concave. Maybe that isn't technically feasible?

 

Aristocrat Autosport

GOLFMK7 Official Sponsor
Location
Buena Park, CA
We want this. Immediate concave. Maybe that isn't technically feasible?

It's not so much a question of being technically feasible, it's rather the fact is that it wouldn't really make much sense to add concave for this specific wheel. I agree that concave wheels do look cool, and the example in the poster shown is a very good looking wheel (For that specific wheels, it is 10.5" or 11" wide with an RR face, having the most concave). This wheel has a bit of a backstory to it:

The TC (Technical Circuit) line of wheels began in 1993 with the TC-05 and was designed as a lightweight solution for Honda cars, then the TC-005N was released in 2000. The TC-105N followed in 2006, which featured a 10-spoke design and a spoke reinforcement called the N-Frame which was designed to help impact dispersion. I've attached a photo of the wheel below:



The 10-spoke design was used as it allowed the usage of thin spokes than designs that used less but thicker spokes, while reducing the cavitation area (Side note, if you're comparing wheel weights, do it between wheels that have similar spoke designs). This wheel offered weights almost identical to and in some cases lighter than the 105X. Take note of the PCD (bolt hole) area, where there is a drop center, as seen below:



Some wheels have this feature, some do not, but one other notable wheel that also uses this is the Enkei RPF1. This allows for control of the offset by making this PCD area shallower or deeper between face types without having to extend the spoke to that part of the rim (adding concave). Adding concave makes the spoke of the wheel much longer which does add weight.

When the TC-105N was replaced after a decade of service with the current TC-105X, it had to work not only with the cars of today, but with the cars of tomorrow. Cars that are getting heavier and heavier and gaining more power as standard, all while keeping weight similar to the 105N. The TC-105N has already been used in a wide range of conditions - Team Tilton's time attack racecar, where the TC-105N was used to take the World Time attack record, to SCCA champion's Michele Abbate's FR-S racecar. Even though putting the 105N in stresses such as high downforce with slicks wasn't enough to deter it, WedsSport engineers sought to make the wheel even stronger than before.

As noted in the brochure, material was added in places where it was necessary for structural reinforcement, and removed in areas where it wasn't. Weight was removed in areas where it wouldn't compromise the structure, including on the side of the PCD area. Even a new painting process was used which is estimated to have shed around 1lb. Reducing spoke length and using a drop center is a very easy way to reduce weight, it would be crazy for them not to do it especially when they're going to lengths such as using vapor deposition to apply paint.

tl;dr: adding concave looks cool but in the case of this wheel it wouldn't make sense as it would increase weight, going against the wheel's design concept.
 

Aristocrat Autosport

GOLFMK7 Official Sponsor
Location
Buena Park, CA
The SA-10R is so close! But below is what we all want. The 10R spokes bow out a bit before coming back into the hub, below they just immediately sweep down.

The 10R's for 18x8.5 is technically an F face even with the amount of concave, it bows out so that it can have room for clearance to work with the large calipers seen on big brake setups; the F face on the TC-105X is the same way. It has the most aggressive concave at its size of any of the SA series wheels, but at a price - it is the heaviest of the SA series. at 18x8.5 it weighs in at 20.4 lbs whereas the SA-72R, which is the lighest SA series weighs in at 19.6 lbs, 0.8 lbs lighter. With the much wider sizes such as 10.5" and 11" the spokes don't need to be as flat to clear most brake kits due to the lower offsets used, nor can it be physically (you can only make a drop center so deep).

Also a random fun fact: The 18x11 +15 TC-105X weighs in at 8.62 kg, or 19.003 lbs which is still over a full pound lighter than the SA-10R
 

jmblur

Autocross Champion
Location
Massachusetts
Car(s)
2017 Golf R
What weight was the JWL / VIA testing done at for this size? Can't help but feel these are pushing it on price when there are (admittedly made in Taiwan or China) forged + flowed wheels of similar weight and design for the same price. WedsSport is a great name, but there are a lot of options out there now.
 
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