funny noise coming from drivers side front wheel. stopped to investigate and found a continuous crack - 125mm diameter to each spoke of the wheel.
Anyone have any ideas what could have caused this - and where can I buy one wheel?
1992 Corrado VR6 with BBS alloys
thanks
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Over torquing studs?
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If one wheel has done it, what about the others ???
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Should'nt the Corrado have 5 spoke Speedlines fitted? Are the wheels fitted aftermarket fakes?
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funny noise coming from drivers side front wheel. stopped to investigate and found a continuous crack - 125mm diameter to each spoke of the wheel. Anyone have any ideas what could have caused this .... >> ...... BBS alloys
Fatigue cracks resulting from normal use? Were they OEM or aftermarket? I can well imagine aftermarket wheel manufacturers not doing much (if anything) in the way of fatigue/durability testing.
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L\'escargot.
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>>Fatigue cracks...
I tend to agree that this is very likely. I would suggest that the remaining wheels are checked very carefully for any evidence of cracks - or, preferably, that you put them in the skip, and get some new ones.
Number_Cruncher
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Best place to buy a single wheel is the good old market value site ebay.
I would check all your other alloys first though just in case you need more.
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Careful if you are selling it! You have been warned to check the others and if you sell and a wheel comes off, you could find yourself liable!
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pmh (was peter)
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any evidence of cracks - or, preferably, that you put them in the skip, and get some new ones.
Please don't put them in a skip,take them to a scrapyard so that they will be recycled,you may even get a couple of quid if you are lucky.
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There are quite a few causes for cracks, and as mentioned above, fatigue is unlikely to be the root cause.
Damage to the alloy metal is likely. So, over-tight and under-tight bolts. Debris tightened into the metal by the nut. Corrosion. Manufacturing defect (the crack may have initiated in the middle and have propagated in two directions). etc.
Absolutely investigate the other alloys and bear in mind that cracks may exist beneath the powder metal and polyurethane coating. So clean them first.
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Having given this a little more thought, I'm now more on the side of "disposing responsibly" of the remaining wheels rather than inspection. As Red Baron says, the cracks may be hiding beneath the coating, or maybe initiated within the bulk of the material. The cost to inspect these wheels in any trustworthy manner (e.g., x-ray) is likely to be comparable, if not more than the cost of a set of new ones.
It would be interesting to see piccies of the fracture surfaces - it might be possible to see how/where the crack was initiated.
A typical car wheel undergoes something like 1.6 million stress cycles per 1000 miles travelled, and that's before you take into account the load fluctuations due to cornering, bumps, and varying loading of the car.
Number_Cruncher
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The going rate for x-ray analysis using real-time is about £150 per hour (+VAT) at somewhere like X-Tek or TRW Conekt.
Nice, shiney, new alloys is the only real option.
Second hand ones may have an unquantifiable history.
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