Radurra Clear Wheels: Very Expensive, Very Cool

By Feann Torr - 1/Mar/2007

California, America — Have you just upgraded the brake system on your Audi RS 4 and really wanted to show off your new carbon ceramic brakes? Perhaps you purchased a huge Brembo brake system and want the world to know your motorcycle decelerates with Italian perfection?

If so, you may be interested in these supremely unpractical but very trendy-looking wheel rims. As you can see, they're clear - no spokes to speak of.

Forgiato/Radurra is the company behind these transparent wheels, (Radurra means 'clear' in Italian), and instead of using metal spokes, this new wheel rim makes use of a large clearpolycarbonate disc that's chemically hard coated, says the Arleta-based company.

It's kind of like a large glass disc, only much stronger and probably a real bastard to clean. And one wonders if the solid polycarbonate discs reduce heat dissapation from the brakes, seeing as there's no airflow from outside the wheels?

Using the 'bezel setting' technique, which Radurra reckons is a skill that only master jewellers understand and involves the use of pressure, the clear polycarbonate centres of the wheels are set in 20- or 22-inch forged aluminium hoops, and Bob's your father's brother: clear wheels ahoy.

Forgiato/Radurra has put the new wheel design through SAE testing, and thanks to the 2-inch (50.8mm) thickness of the polycarbonate wheel centres, they are fully certified and passed impact, cornering and radial tests.

The jury is still out on whether they improve the look of a given car. Consensus from this Australian office is that they don't really do much, particularly if you have really small brake rotors, and what about dust build-up?

Whatever the case, we haven't seen the wheels in action. I really would like to see them in action, whether cruising down the highway and possibly giving the car a certain 'floating' illusion, screaming round a race-track with the disc brakes aglow.

Constructed at the Forgiato/Radurra workshop in Arleta, California, the wheels are not cheap. A set of four will cost about US$20,000, or US$5,000 per wheel. Using a basic calculation, this works out to roughly $6,500 per wheel in Aussie dollars, or something like $26,000 for a set. The company currently makes 20- and 22-inch wheels, and they're hefty wheels these ones, so if track times and performance are your thing, you may want to stick to a traditional lightweight forged alloy wheels.

The 20-inch wheels weigh 27 pounds each, while the 22-inch rims are 38 pounds. In the metric system, that works out to 12.25 and 17.24kg respectively, and apart from thepolycarbonate wheel centres, the rest of the wheels are constructed from 6061t aluminium.

Radurra first previewed the Clear Wheels at the 2006 SEMA Show held in Las Vegas, where the spooky wheels were quite popular and even went so far as to win a bevy of 'new product' awards, and ranked as the number one new trend by SEMA itself. So there you have it - clear wheels are no longer a thing of science fiction, and who knows, maybe they'll bede rigeur equipment on the 2032 year model Hyundai Elantra...

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