Article Summary
- Entec-Stracon's process skips heat treatment, which halves both production time and the energy used per wheel (57 kWh instead of 114).
- The wheels are sold only as a complete set with sport tires; pricing and US availability haven't been announced.
- Mercedes-Benz uses the same process on the new S-Class, so BMW's lead on the technology isn't an exclusive.
BMW has a new set of M Performance wheels for the BMW M5, and it’s the first of their kind. The 1075 M style wheels are produced with a high-pressure casting process that BMW says removes up to 20 percent of the weight from each wheel without changing its performance. BMW calls the M5 the first car in the industry to use the method.
The wheels come in 20- or 21-inch sizes, in Gold Bronze or Jet Black, and are sold only as a complete set with sport tires. They fit the G90 M5 Sedan and G99 M5 Touring and nothing else, and they go on sale this fall.
Most cast aluminum wheels are made with low-pressure casting, which is cheap and slow, and it’s the reason buyers who want a genuinely light wheel usually end up paying for forged ones. BMW’s pitch is a cast wheel that closes some of that gap.
How Entec-Stracon Casts A Wheel In 0.05 Seconds
The process comes from Entec-Stracon GmbH, a company based in Aalen, Germany, which calls it Turbu Pressure Casting. Molten aluminum goes into the mold under vacuum and high pressure, and the wheel is cast from the outside in within 0.05 seconds. Eighty sensors and an AI system monitor the process, and demolding takes a few seconds.
A conventional cast wheel usually goes through a separate heat treatment afterward. These wheels don’t need one, and that’s a big part of why BMW says total production time is cut in half, along with the energy needed to make each wheel. Entec-Stracon CEO Ralf Bux put figures on that last year: 57 kWh per wheel, compared with the usual 114.
BMW describes the material as an optimized, recyclable alloy. Entec-Stracon has said its process runs on 100 percent recycled aluminum, but BMW’s release doesn’t say whether the M5 wheels use fully recycled metal.
Why Faster Casting Makes A Stronger, Lighter Wheel
Because the metal fills the mold so quickly, it solidifies with a smaller grain size, and BMW says that makes it significantly stronger. Stronger metal lets the designers use thinner sections without giving up strength, and that is where the weight saving comes from.
It also opens up shapes that low-pressure casting can’t produce. BMW says the process allows up to 70 bladed spokes, very thin sections that help aerodynamics, and finer contours and surfaces than a cast wheel could have before. Those figures describe what the process can do, not the 1075 design specifically.
Why Unsprung Weight Is The Right Place To Save On An M5
A pound saved at the wheel does more than a pound saved in the body. Wheels are unsprung mass, so the suspension has to control them over every bump, and they rotate, so the drivetrain and brakes have to spin them up and slow them down. BMW claims sharper handling, quicker acceleration, and better braking as a result.
On a car as heavy as the M5 (around 5,400 lbs / 2445 kg), any reduction in unsprung mass is welcome. BMW hasn’t said how much a 1075 wheel actually weighs or what it’s being compared against, so it’s impossible to say yet how noticeable the difference will be on the road.
When Can You Buy The New M5 Wheels, And How Much Are They?
The 1075 M style wheels arrive through BMW M Performance Parts this fall. Here’s what BMW has confirmed:
- Sizes: 20-inch or 21-inch
- Finishes: Gold Bronze or Jet Black
- Sold as: a complete wheel set with sport tires
- Fitment: BMW M5 Sedan and BMW M5 Touring only
BMW hasn’t released pricing yet, and US pricing and availability will be announced later. The release also doesn’t name the tire. We’d expect the set to cost more than BMW’s standard cast wheels, since it’s a new process on a limited run for a single model line, but that’s our guess, not BMW’s.
BMW Got There First, But Mercedes Is Already Using The Same Process
BMW can claim the first series-production car with these wheels, but not an exclusive. Entec-Stracon’s second automotive customer is Mercedes-Benz: the new-generation S-Class, launched in January, rides on 20-inch multi-spoke wheels made with the same process, and the supplier says it can make wheels up to 24 inches.
That’s good news for anyone who wants this process to become widespread. If a wheel can be made with half the energy, in half the time, and still come out lighter, there’s no reason for it to stay a parts-catalog option on a six-figure sedan. The M5 is a good way to show it off, but the bigger opportunity is the standard wheel on a 3 Series.
