Kosumi Wakana from Rays Japan answers this question and more on rim stiffness/compliance, how to identify a replica wheel and where to find help if you can't, along with some of the manufacturing options available to wheel manufacturers like Rays.
Kosumi Wakana from Rays Japan answers this question and more on rim stiffness/compliance, how to identify a replica wheel and where to find help if you can't, along with some of the manufacturing options available to wheel manufacturers like Rays.
Speaker 1:
Why pay the extra money for genuine wheels when there are cheaper alternatives out there that look almost the same? To shed some light on this, we're going to talk to Kasumi from Raise Japan.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to High Performance Academy's tuned in Field Report podcast series. In these special midweek episodes, we look back through our archives to find the best conversations we've had through years worth of attending the best automotive events across the globe. We've pulled the audio from these tech-filled interviews with some of the industry's most well-known figures and presented it in podcast format for you to enjoy as a quick hit of insider knowledge.
Speaker 1:
OK. So looking around at all these wheels, there's no denying they all look amazing and that's one of the key things for people putting these wheels on their cars, like the aesthetic cues. But on a lot of the wheels around we see casting or flow forming and forging as well. Would you be able to talk us through the differences in those manufacturing methods and what that means for the wheel design as well?
Speaker 3:
Well, one of the things that helps us stand out is that we do everything in-house. So whether it's casting or forging, flow form, we design everything, manufacture everything, produce everything and distribute in-house. So that kind of helps us separate from our competitors when we launch anything from our lineup.
Speaker 1:
Can you just explain basically that process of casting a wheel?
Speaker 3:
There's several ways of casting a wheel, and it starts with the mold. There's gravity casting, there's low pressure casting, there's a rotary there's many different words that are used, but there's it's generally two or three methods and we use all three, and this depends on what type of design and what type of wheel will go onto the wheel and onto the car so it's a method of essentially pouring molten metal into a casting.
Speaker 1:
But, um yeah, so you're considering the site design for manufacture when you are designing the wheel. You've got that manufacturing method in mind and the resulting strength of the wheel as well.
Speaker 3:
Right. So, for example, if a new car comes out, a Civic Type R for example, and we want to create a design for that specific car and related cars, we'll go into the design first and then computer analysis with that design, go into 2d, 3d samples, molding and then we'll determine which type of manufacturing is the most viable for that model okay, and then moving on to forming.
Speaker 1:
This is forged wheels, rather definitely the more higher end thing, and the price point reflects this. Can you explain that manufacturing method to us and maybe any variations there are within this?
Speaker 3:
I can't give out too many details, but what I can say is we start from the billet and we manufacture all the way from the raw material through the end product. There is quite a few manufacturers that do the same, and there is also others that do not. Either good or not bad, it depends on what you're trying to achieve. But for us, we do everything from scratch. That kind of helps us reduce weight, flexible in design and then, of course, price-wise as far as mass production.
Speaker 1:
So the actual process of forging the wheel from the raw material. What does that look like?
Speaker 3:
So we have our own specific mix of the raw material itself, which we calculated to match our production process. And then when we started with the billet which means there's, depending on the designs and the faces available there's two, three, five molds, and it'll go through that process of punching in design and then spinning out the rim to make the final finish right, okay, so yeah, the again.
Speaker 1:
The design is you consider the manufacturing method during the design. That may allows you to remove material in certain areas to make the design more lightweight and still get the strength that you need. Unfortunately, there's a lot of replica wheels out there which are just copying the design but not copying the manufacturing method. What's the issue here?
Speaker 3:
For us it's kind of we're kind of happy to see that there are replicas, because that means there is a need for our products, but then also it's also a safety factor, because it is a safety product. It's on the road, it's with their tires, with you know, with your family in the car. So we stress that our stuff are par with standards in Japan and we also have our own standards that are addition to it to make sure all our items are safe. That's our first priority and, of course, making it look good. We take a lot of feedback from racing professional racing. We're involved with the FIA WEC championships. We've done Formula One in the past. I'm in the Super GT races in Japan. So we take all of that data and put that and feed that back into our street products.
Speaker 2:
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Speaker 1:
So in motorsport, something that you commonly hear about is the wheel stiffness. How does that translate? Is that something a non-professional driver would notice? Is it related to suspension stiffness around, like compliance, something that you'd actually feel For?
Speaker 3:
a standard street driving? Probably not. If you are cornering at high speeds on a track and you're on a chicane or there's hard braking or hard acceleration, there is definitely a change in feel. The feedback I get the most is that because you want the tire to grip on the road right and if the wheel is not up to par, the tire is not gripping to the road. So as far as our wheels, we make sure that that doesn't happen, or it's less liable to happen. And when you're going around a corner, the more the tire grips onto the road, the more the driver is comfortable making that excessive turn, and that's when they'll probably realize the difference.
Speaker 1:
Right. So yeah, it's related to, I guess, response responsiveness. I noticed on one of the wheels over there inside the bead there's like a textured surface. Is that related to anything to do with the tire and its beading?
Speaker 3:
Are you talking about the knurling? Yeah, yeah, right, so that helps the tire from slipping from the rim. So whenever there's braking or any bumps, the tire is always moving and the wheel is always moving. So when they have these little slippage points, it kind of helps to prevent that. So we call it anti-tire knurling, anti-tire slippage. That's kind of like the similar terminology that's used and that helps the wheel from not slipping against the tire right, okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:
I guess I all of these things add up and including that with suspension, bushing, deformation and stuff. That's all compliance and having the stiff wheel and that contact between the, the tire and the rim as well, as it's all going to having the stiff wheel and that contact between the, the tire and the rim as well, as it's all going to make the car feel more sure and planted, unfortunately, just going back to the replica wheel thing, is there anything that people can do, maybe to identify a replica wheel compared to one of yours, like any key things to look, make sure maybe they're not getting ripped off, or just being able to identify the real thing?
Speaker 3:
So a lot of our new wheels we started implementing machining on the wheels. So it has Made in Japan clearly. It has their brand names, it has Rays on there. And also look for the sign of Made in Japan. Especially A lot of the replicas are not made in Japan obviously, so it doesn't have the mark that says clearly made in Japan. So that's probably the good sign. And again, just look against our website. We have our website that has the full lineup, a lot of it visually, you'll be able to check which one's real or not and also buy through an authorized dealer. They're the ones that knows the stuff and they carry the product authorized. I know sometimes people are prone to buying it from auction or secondhand, which they can, but they also have the option of before purchasing, they can contact any of the dealers and ask them hey, can you verify this wheel? And we'll be able to do that for them.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's a very helpful service. I see a lot of the time people advertising things is maybe not what they are, and with the replica wheels you can sometimes see japan stamped on them, but it's specifically that made in japan, right? So thank you for your time. If anyone wants to learn more about raise wheels or look at any of your products, where's the best place to do that?
Speaker 3:
our official website's the best raisewheelscojp. There's an English site for overseas customers and they'll get all the information there.
Speaker 1:
Awesome. Thank you very much Thank you.
Speaker 2:
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