Maxion Wheel’s new ultralight steel wheel replaces the D-shaped hand holes with new circular hand holes for improved strength and weight savings.Maxion Wheels introduced a 64-lb. 22.5×8.25 commercial vehicle steel wheel with a 7,400-lb. wheel load rating. The new wheel design is 4 lbs. lighter than the company’s previous steel wheel and is optimized for strength using a new circular hand hole shape rather than the company’s traditional D shape. Maxion says the new design reduces wheel structural stresses by 10 percent over the previous generation and will be available beginning in 2020.
In addition, Maxion Wheels unveiled Aerowheel, an aerodynamic wheel cover concept that brings wheel covers to steer axles. The company says the design allows for efficient brake cooling and significant reduction in drag for improved fuel savings and lower CO2 emissions.
Maxion Wheels also announced it is partnering with ZF Openmatics to provide a new smart wheel connectivity solution. Maxion will pair its MaxSmart wheel sensor technology that measures vehicle load, tire pressure, temperature and humidity and vibration with ZF Openmatics’ intelligent sensing and telematics solution that will transmit sensor data in real time via Bluetooth to the vehicle’s telematics unit as well as the ZF Cloud in real time.
“While we are proud of how far we took MaxSmart, the partnership with ZF is exactly what we needed to finalize development and accelerate the process of getting to market,” said Don Polk, Maxion Wheels’ president, Americas. The unit will undergo feasibility studies in the first half of 2020 followed by real-world validation testing.
