4th gen wheel question

[Fair]

Terry-how would one tell that a wheel has used up it's life? I run only factory GM wheels which like has been said are close to the minimum weight, plentiful at a good price, but I also haven't seen any issue with people using them. Sure in an off or a wreck a wheel can be damaged but other than that I haven't seen any failures? I feel better about using the factory wheels for durability than an aftermarket set? I agree on not using the knockoffs or any chromed wheel.

Last set of tires Discount put on they said my wheels needed to be replaced because the chrome had some flakes on the inside of the rim and they might be 10 years old.

Rob have you seen anything on this?

edit: OK so the default settings for this forum are to NOT show inline images, signatures, etc. fixed! Is it just me or is the IMAGE button / UBB code broken on this forum???? I have trouble posting...



Like RichardP said, there isn't a good way to know when a wheel is "used up" until you start to see cracks. Every set of race wheels should be removed, washed (see above), and inspected between every event. Also repeat this after any session with a significant off or curb contact. LOOK FOR CRACKS ON THE INSIDE OF SPOKES.


Either of these brands of wheel cleaners are F'n magic. The Code Red costs about half as much

The "total wheel failure" stories you see on the interwebs, which happen with any and all wheel brands, are very nearly 100% the fault of the driver, who neglected to inspect their wheels after either many years of use or a big off or crash. In every case of a "failed" wheel I have ever inspected there were clear signs of old fatigue cracks and long term propagation, with the discoloration of corrosion in the base aluminum at the original fracture.

Also, when you have your tires swapped on the wheels ask the tire store guy to check the wheel for run out on the balancer, with the tire removed. More than .050" is visible, and that is a pretty noticeable amount. But even stock wheels often have .030" or more.



The fact that some racers will run a 275mm wide tire on a little 9" wide wheel pains me to the core! I cannot over-emphasize how important wheel width is, and I always caution racers to run at the wider end of the "recommended wheel width range" for their tire (check the TireRack spec lists), or at the least the class width max if that is smaller.



I run a 245/40/17 Hoosier R7 on a 17x10" wheel on my TT BMW E46 (see above) only because Forgestar doesn't make a 17x10.5" wheel. Tire wear is exceptional and after 7 race weekends the tire started eeking through the tread rubber, evenly across the tread. For that class the wheel width is unrestricted, and streatching a narrower tire onto a big rim is an old trick we use. We're building a set of 17x9.5" F14s for a Scion FR-S my wife is running in TT/Optima next year, so I'll weigh those and post that up here soon.

As for the AICMCTexas forum, I will try to check in here more often, now that I have my (default) forum settings working better. We might have an AI car under construction here soon and I always have build threads for all of our shop cars. And of course I'll clutter up my posts with too many pictures.

Cheers,

[Supercharged111]

When you say curb contact, does that refer to intentional curb hopping or the kind of contact that would leave a rash?

[mach1]

When you say curb contact, does that refer to intentional curb hopping or the kind of contact that would leave a rash?

I'd say curb hopping

[mach1]

Great video here of failed forgestar F14's, watch the whole thing, all the wheels were cracking so I'm sure he could have caught it if he inspected them as Terry suggested.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtYjujhW27Q