1. Overview of the current situation of wheel products

There are three main product types of automobile wheels: tubeless wheels for cars (passenger cars); tubeless wheels for commercial vehicles; tubeless wheels for commercial vehicles (section steel). Among them, the first two are divided into steel wheels and aluminum wheels, and the latter also uses aluminum alloy materials in very rare cases.

2. Analysis of the use of commercial vehicle wheels

Judging from the perspective of safety, energy conservation and environmental protection and the direction of technological development, tubeless wheels are the development direction. Compared with steel tube wheels, they are advanced products. In particular, the tubelessization of light trucks should attract the attention of the industry, and it will surely become a new economic growth point. In fact, developed countries such as Europe, the United States and Japan have basically phased out shaped steel wheels with inner tubes.

In recent years, with the development of tubeless wheels, the recognition of users and the improvement of road transportation management, the proportion of tubeless wheels used in commercial vehicles in my country has gradually increased. However, based on the current specific use situation in my country, the steel tube wheel will coexist with the tubeless wheel in a certain proportion for a long time, and the main influencing factors include overloading, road conditions, vehicle type, maintenance, etc.

3. The use of profiled steel with inner tube wheels

1. Model

At present, the models equipped with steel tube wheels are mainly at both ends: light vehicles and heavy vehicles. Due to the design and manufacturing process characteristics of tubeless wheels, the product has poor overload resistance. Once the design load is exceeded, it will fail immediately, causing deformation or even fracture. However, due to its processing technology (the shape of the rim is rolled), the section steel wheel with inner tube can be locally strengthened according to the force. Although this contradicts the trend of lightweight wheels, there is such a demand in the market after all.

Therefore, due to the requirements of its use characteristics, such as short-distance, heavy-load, low-speed, etc., most of the heavy-duty trucks are still equipped with steel tube wheels, and they are basically reinforced. Due to its own characteristics of use, light vehicles are mainly short-distance, light-load, and low-speed. Therefore, factors such as lightweight wheels and safety have not yet fully entered the main consideration of users. But in the future, it is bound to enter the tubeless stage before heavy vehicles. In addition, the wheels of construction machinery, mining vehicles, loading machinery, etc., basically use section steel wheels with inner tubes.

2. Road conditions

Except for highways and national roads, other country roads, mountain roads, mine roads, etc. are not suitable for the use of tubeless wheels, because it is very easy to cause different degrees of damage to wheels and tires. Therefore, the poor road conditions are also the reason why inner-tube wheels can still be widely used in China.

3. Working conditions

The working condition refers to the overload phenomenon that is common in China at present. Except for highways and light vehicles, there are very few trucks that are not overloaded, which is one of the reasons why tube wheels are widely used in the aftermarket replacement market. Another phenomenon is the use of overtime. On the road, it is often seen that some tires have no pattern or even exposed cords, but they are still in use. Tubeless wheels and tires cannot adapt to such conditions because the tire does not act as a seal.

4. Maintenance

The disassembly and assembly of tubeless wheels and tires requires special equipment (ie tire assembly and disassembly machine), and the maintenance requirements are also relatively high. In poor condition areas and roads, or the driver himself, it is not possible to disassemble and repair the tubeless wheel. The steel tube wheel is relatively simple, just two people, a sledgehammer, and a crowbar.

4. Demand forecast

Judging from the proportion of commercial vehicles in my country in 2013, heavy-duty vehicles and light-duty vehicles accounted for 18.87% and 46.99% of commercial vehicles respectively, and the total exceeded 65%. The proportion is still quite large.

According to this ratio and the forecast of vehicle sales in 2014 (4.2 million commercial vehicles), it can be calculated that the demand for shaped steel inner-tube wheels is about 22.48 million pieces. Considering the demand of the after-sale replacement market, the total can exceed 23 million pieces. .