[s-cars] UrS4/6 5 spoke forged Ronal wheels

[Dave Forgie]

Ken:  I don't know if anyone answered you or not but there was nothing
on the list.  While there have been aftermarket replicas of some Audi
wheels, I have not seen any of the UrS4/S6 five spoke wheels (at least
when I was looking for a set to replace my OEM 15" six spoke
Speedlines).  I thought Fuchs built the OEM wheels but it could have
been Ronal. (The set that I finally found aren't marked in any way as to
the manufacturer).

 The Deutsch for "forged" is apparently "Geschmiedet" as in "this thing
was beat into shape by a black smith" kind of thing.  For what I know
cast is not as strong or light as forged since in a cast wheel the
orientation of the crystals is very uniform because of the fact that
molten metal is poured into a mould.  To forge a wheel, they take a very
hot (picture glowing red) billet of metal and place it into a huge high
pressure press that squeezes this glowing lump into the "negative" mould
(think kids pushing plasticine into moulds).  This creates a strong
wheel (or crankshaft) because the crystals are forced to follow the
lines of the mould.  Or something like that.

Sounds like you may have a find.

Dave (who isn't a metallurgist) F.

Ken Ng wrote:

Does any one know the weight of the 16x8 ET40 5 spoke
forged Ronal wheel that were OEM on the UrS4/6? Also,
does anyone know if cast replicas of this wheel are
available? Lastly, how would one tell the difference
between a forged vs. a cast wheel (other than weight)?
I was able to find a couple of new ones and the
markings on the wheel seem to be authentic (have the
word "Geschmiedet" - (German for forged?) stamped on
the inside, but the asking price seems low and perhaps
I'm paranoid, but i subscribe to the 'if its sounds
too good to be true, then its too good to be true'
school...

any suggestions on how i could verify if the wheels
are forged or cast would be much appreciated...

cheers,
Ken