Patent ID: 7469973

Claim:
A fabricated wheel disc for use in producing a fabricated vehicle wheel comprising: a fabricated single piece wheel disc defining an axis and including a wheel mounting surface, a plurality of spokes, a window formed between each pair of adjacent spokes, a continuous outer rim connecting flange, a plurality of lug bolt receiving holes and an outboard face, said outboard face including a spoke outboard face and a window outboard face, said spoke outboard face being spaced inwardly relative to said window outboard face and said wheel mounting surface being spaced inwardly relative to said spoke outboard face; wherein said wheel mounting surface includes at least one rib formed therein between at least one pair of said lug bolt receiving holes, said at least one rib having a top wall having a straight outer surface which extends at a generally constant angle with respect to said fabricated single piece wheel disc axis throughout an entire length of said at least one rib, wherein said straight outer surface of said top wall of said at least one rib extends at an angle in the range of from about to 15 degrees to about 75 degrees with respect to said wheel disc axis; wherein said at least one rib extends axially outwardly a predetermined height from said wheel mounting surface toward said window outboard face, said predetermined height being selected so that said outmost end of said at least one rib is located below said adjacent surface of said window outboard face such that said outermost end transitions into a generally axially extending surface of said wheel disc defined between said wheel mounting surface and said window outboard face of said wheel disc, and wherein said at least one rib further includes a pair of spaced apart side walls which extend generally parallel to one another and said top wall extends generally perpendicular to said side walls.