Concave VS deep lip?

[CDN SS]

I'm searching through all the wheel threads looking for a setup to put on my SS in the spring. A very large majority of deals and purchases seem to be with concave rims and very few have more of a deep dish look to them. Is the deep dish look more of an old school style and concave considered to be more of a modern look?

[jagan323]

I don't think either deep dish and concave are more modern than each other... I think it's more about application. I see deepdish on more show cars, and concaves on more Racing car applications. But then again, that's just my interpretation. IMHO, they both can look fantastic, I'm even having a tough time deciding which style.

[Nine Ball]

In the multi-piece forged wheel industry, these two mean separate things.

Deep Lip, Extreme Lip, etc.. means that the outer lip itself is wider than a standard lip. This is done by making the spoke tips curve inward at extreme angles, connecting to the hoop further in. A lower priced forging (standard lip) has more straight looking spokes, less curve in them. The deep lip forgings cost more because they start out as a thicker billet aluminum disk, which is machined away to create the spoke pattern.

Concave is just the shape of the outer face of the wheel. You either have convex (spokes curve inward, towards back of wheel), flat (spokes are nearly straight, hardly any curve), or concave (spokes protrude towards the outer face of the wheel lip). Concave forgings cost more, since they are a newer forging and also are proprietary to the forging supplier.

You can have both concave and deep lip, doesn't have to be one or the other. You can also have convex and deep lip, which is more common and a little less expensive. Here are some examples:

Concave outer face, with deep lip:


Convex outer face, with deep lip:


Flat forging:


Also, for you performance-minded people out there, keep in mind that the flatter forging wheels with less deep lips tend to be the lightest wheels. Flat forging with a stepped lip is still the lightest construction method for a 3-piece wheel.

Flat forging, stepped lip, 3-piece: