Accuride Wheels has revised parts of its product portfolio and is presenting these changes at the IAA commercial vehicle show in Hanover next week.
Accuride Wheels Attending IAA
The company has successfully completed its restructuring program and continues to drive its technology developments in the areas of wheel design, weight optimisation and sustainability. At the IAA 2022 in Hanover, the Accuride team will provide comprehensive information on the new products at Stand E47 in Hall 26.
Accuride has recently introduced a new range of weight-optimised 22.5×11.75 steel wheels for trailers and trucks. These wheels according to the company have “the lowest weight in Europe“. This technical innovation saves up to four kilograms of weight per wheel compared to previous wheel types; on a typical tractor-trailer combination, the weight is reduced by up to 32 kg. The lightweight wheels make it possible to save fuel without compromising on performance and service life. The weight savings are made possible by a combination of a stress-optimised rim contour, the full use of high-strength low-alloy steels and a revised wheel design. Accuride is manufacturing these commercial vehicle wheels at its Solingen plant.
During the show, Accuride will also present a 32 kg truck wheel size 22.5×9.00 based on HSLA steel. By using precise simulation tools as well as the use of higher-strength steel, the wheel geometry has been further enhanced and the wheel weight reduced by 2.5 kg. This results in a weight reduction of 15 kg on a standard semitrailer tractor. The wheel is available immediately in series production. This wheel is being offered for the first time in conventional steel or alternatively in steel with a reduced carbon footprint. The version with reduced carbon footprint uses “bluemint® pure”, a high-quality flat steel from thyssenkrupp Steel. By using bluemint® pure, two thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions can be saved in the production of the wheels compared with conventional steel; compared with aluminum wheels this figure is as high as 90 percent.
The climate-friendly effect is achieved by using HBI, already reduced sponge iron. Less coal is thus needed for the reduction process in the blast furnace. Looking at the total CO2 footprint over the complete life cycle of the product (1.2 million km), CO2 emissions can be reduced by over 10%. This puts a bluemint® pure 32 kg wheel in a better position than significantly lighter aluminum forged wheels of comparable size.
Further to this, another new arrival in Accuride‘s range is the 24.5×9.00 wheel in combination with the 325/90R24.5 (TL) tyre dimension, which will replace the 24×8.5 (one-piece) and 24×8.5 (multi-piece) products in the future. The current one-piece 24×8.5 wheels are complex in terms of tyre fitting and are only partially compatible with the tyre pressure sensors (TPMS) that will be required in the future. The 24×8.5 multi-piece wheels are significantly heavier and, in the case of tubetype tyres, require considerably more components (ring system, tube and bead band).
The new 24.5×9.00 ALV wheel size for Europe and the Middle East achieves a significant weight reduction of up to 43.5 kg per wheel. Other advantages over the previous 24-inch wheels include full compatibility with standard tyre pressure sensors and simple and safe tyre mounting. In addition, the new wheel-tyre system features a higher load capacity of nominally 5000 kg.
