Alstann

Another thing to think about is that some wheel companies actually do microscopic structural analysis of wheels after they are manufactured. It's one thing to flow-form, pressure forge, rotary forge, or cast a wheel, but from an engineering standpoint, Solidworks, Ansys or other FEA programs can only do so much. Real-world testing, and laboratory materials analysis will tell the true story of how a manufacturing process actually performs in real life. As do road tests, but take that with a grain of salt - each car is different, each failure has a story behind it (dumb kids hitting curbs, spinning out, overloading their cars, cambering their car beyond safe limits, on-track failure, etc.), and each wheel can be different.

Good engineering has safety factors so that the wheel will not fail far beyond what the driver will put the car through. Of course, this makes the wheel heavier and costlier.

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