Dymag, Hankuk Carbon work with Hyundai on hybrid composite wheels

Dymag (Wiltshire, U.K.), a manufacturer of lightweight wheels for the automotive industry, and its strategic partner, composites material specialists Hankuk Carbon (Seoul, Republic Of Korea), are working with Hyundai (Seoul) on the development of a new carbon fiber hybrid wheel technology for the carmaker’s N Performance vehicles.

A prototype of the wheel was first unveiled at Hyundai’s stand at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, an annual motorsports festival, where the company also debuted its Ioniq 5 N hot crossover. Designed and developed with Hyundai, full specifications of the new, bespoke wheel will be revealed in the coming months. Dymag reports that it is also in advanced stages with multiple carmakers, with further original equipment supply agreements set to be announced soon.

Dymag’s proprietary carbon fiber hybrid wheel technology blends together a composite outer rim made from carbon fiber with a precision-machined forged metallic centerpiece. Designed for high-performance vehicles, from sports cars to SUVs and pickups, weight savings over a traditional cast aluminum wheel of 40-50% are realized. In addition to significantly reduced unsprung mass, this technology also is said to reduce rolling inertia and gyroscopic force, decrease noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), and offers improved stiffness and strength, as well as optimized steering feel and handling. Greater design flexibility means less retooling costs.

Enhanced safety is another key factory to the technology. As a hybrid wheel, it is capable of bend and springback in the event of an unusually high load or sharp impact — in contrast to one-piece aluminum wheels which can permanently deform or shatter. Dymag’s designs are also proven and tested to all worldwide OEM standards. Read more about Dymag’s composites wheels, “Carbon fiber has designs on production wheels.”

According to Tom de Lange, CEO of Dymag, “This is the start of what we hope is a long and fruitful relationship with Hyundai, which will bring our game-changing technology to a wider audience of global automotive customers.”

Dymag offers a full range of 18-23-inch hybrid composite wheels, to which it will add new 24-inch and 25-inch examples later this year. Key investment comes from its strategic partner, Hankuk Carbon.