TRANSPORT

Maxion Aluminium Wheels

They may not reinventing the wheel, but Maxion is the leading wheel manufacturer in the world.
21 July, 2016
With the automotive industry increasingly in need of aluminium wheels designed for passenger cars, Maxion Wheels has positioned itself as a key supplier.
The company is banking on even greater demand with the announcement of a new plant in Santo Andre, Brazil. The new facility joins six other Maxion plants located strategically across the globe, with locations in Italy, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Mexico and the Czech Republic. Maxion officials say they expect the new facility to add two million aluminium wheels per year to overall capacity by 2020.

What has made the demand for aluminium wheels soar is, in part, the Brazilian market. Despite the recent economic downturn, Brazilian drivers say the wheels have appeal in overall automotive design and want vehicles that reflect the stylish trends they see across the globe. They also want value, and see the lighter weight of aluminium wheels as a smart investment in fuel efficiency. That lighter weight is achieved by reduced rim thickness and burnishing rims, along with hollow spoke and hump designs.
Maxion offers its aluminium wheels in a full range of sizes and finishes, but as with other manufacturers, what the consumer can't see is what matters most. The wheels that began as a design detail in high-end models years ago – in Europe, they arrived on the Porsche 911 in 1962 – have evolved beyond their status as part of a trim package into a well-received alternative to steel wheels. In 2011, about 50 percent of vehicles in the world sported aluminium wheels, with a higher rate across North America.

Image: Maxion Wheels
Because they are a critical part of the automobile, these wheels have to perform with the same safe levels of reliability and durability as their steel counterparts, and that is equally true whether they are manufactured as cast or forged aluminium. How that performance is measured depends on factors like stiffness – determined primarily by the shape of the wheel – along with strength, fatigue performance and crash worthiness. Technological advances have made more precise measurements easier to achieve through simulation, but companies still use the tried-and-true physical crash test to see how wheels perform when they hit curbs or road hazards.
Other considerations that apply to the advantages of aluminium wheels include thermal properties. Because heat dissipates more quickly with aluminium than it does with steel wheels, there are gains in vehicle braking efficiency and a reduced possibility that tires will overheat and create the potential for dangerous accidents (as well as tire damage). Corrosion resistance is another key metric when evaluating aluminium wheels, which are easily finished or coated so that prevention is well achieved.
The real driver behind the shift to aluminium is the improved energy efficiency that results from the vehicle's lighter weight. Five years ago, the wheels accounted for 15 percent of the aluminium that was found across the vehicle when it was delivered to market. That percentage likely to be higher now as light truck and car manufacturers – the Ford F150 is a high-profile example – turn to aluminium as a solution to help them meet MPG and fuel efficiency standards and cut carbon emissions and greenhouse gases. That includes the 70 percent of vehicles on the road today that now have aluminium engine blocks.

To that end, Maxion is tapping into standards that make aluminium wheels an eco-friendly design choice – even as the company locates their new plant right alongside an existing steel wheel plant, and as both roll into the future of transportation.

Image: Maxion Wheels
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