Hybrid and electric vehicles demand new ideas from wheel designers. As an original equipment manufacturer for leading automotive brands, CMS is intensively researching solutions that achieve a perfect balance between effective weight and aerodynamics.

For this purpose, the resulting wheels C29-Aero and C32-Aero were tested in comparison with a conventional double-spoke design by an independent commission of the Technical University of Dresden. The test was intended to illustrate driving at interurban and motorway speeds, so a speed range of 80 to 130 km/h was set in 10 km/h increments. In order to simulate the wind not only from the front but also from the side, the angle of the flow was varied between 0° and 25°.

The result confirms: The more closed a wheel is, the more clearly the drag coefficient decreases with increasing speed. Thus, the extra high rim shoulder of the C29-Aero achieves an improved CW-value of up to 5% compared to a conventional double-spoke design. On the almost fully closed C32, the CW-value is reduced by up to 16% and by 14% on average.

A result that can be built upon further...

⇨ Find all CMS Aero designs here: CMS-AERO