ASM_GT4

surprisingly it is the only wheel that had such damage. the rest were perfect. and I am also surprised that PORSCHE didn't took that matter seriously. they have replied without any physical inspection. btw, if this is their official reply, one day we may see "AVOID CURBS" in the user manual

ASM_GT4

I will do that asap. after tomorrow max.

ASM_GT4

good thought.. but the event held in FEB 2nd, temp was 12C/53F .. and I never run more than 3 laps continuous .. so IMO heat was not a major reason at all.

ASM_GT4

Good perspective buddy .. and I am certainly running the perfect tire pressure ,, I hold the lap time record of the 3 configurations of the circuit, my tires pressure is in between 28psi to 32 ... no less, no more ... and here is a video of my record lap (did it the same day which the wheel got defected wheel ) where you can see the way I drive and nothing weird I have done to be blamed.



thanks buddy

ASM_GT4

EXACTLY !!! .. imagine that I have offered them taking the cost of sending the wheel to GERMANY to be inspected .. but they were fine with the photo and the video ... I wish if they really know that I am not chasing the warranty, but I feel like I'm part of PORSCHE family and I really wanted an answer of that weird incident !

ASM_GT4

totally agree .. look at the brake discs, they are still fine if heat was the problem .. take it from me, I have not did anything hard on the wheels.. it is definitely a weak and defected material.

ASM_GT4

buddy it is ONLY bent from inside , middle of the barrel .. the rest of the wheel and tire are perfect .. and the other 3 wheels are perfect too.

jmartpr

The bends appear to be almost evenly spaced between each spoke. Such a pattern can only be possible if you have a manufacturing/material defect. Also...if they say you hit something, where's the damage to the front wheel and in the same pattern?

bretster

I have never seen anything like that video. One for the X-files!

Phil T

Damn.....I've heard of wave rotors but not wheels. This is definitely a manufacturing defect and hopefully someone comes to their senses and replaces this wheel for you.........Phil

BryanCO

Very strange. I assume the damage wasn't there when the Pirrelli tires were mounted?

aryork

As a mechanical engineer I am thinking it is some type of deformation "mode" sort of like buckling of a column. I didn't watch the video more than once, but the deformed areas appeared to be regularly spaced. One problem with that theory is I don't understand how the tire could be loaded in such a way to cause that deformation pattern. It would seem to need a uniform loading/pressure to result in that. I would also expect that you would notice something happening when driving the car. It could be the result of an internal casting defect that somehow made its way through the system. Indeed this is a mystery!

ShakeNBake

Looks like gator curbing with too low of tire pressure - are you sure you didn't accidentally run a pressure under 30 on track? I can see that happening if you were aggressive on sharp gators. It would explain the regularity/uniform spacing.

trebien

+1. At speed, it would not take much for the sharp points to go into the center of the tire and hit the rim. The rear tire is wider than front, so easier to deform at a lower pressure than the front tire. Some days, I start my street tires at ~25 and need a couple of laps before the pressures rise.

The proof, would be on the underside of the tire opposite the dent... it would likely show some damage or other telltale sign on the inner tire wall where it contacted the wheel barrel.

And, to my eye... the dents are not spaced with respect to the wheel spokes... so unrelated to the spoke physics.

ASM_GT4

Good point buddy,
As I have mentioned, I run 28 ~ 32 psi hot .. I follow a warm up procedure to avoid spoiling tires, rotors, pads..etc ... on the other hand, the rear left wheel is the one which takes the Gator curbs (counter clockwise - inner circuit) and the most aggressive curbs .. I spend most of the time there in the inner circuit .. but it is perfect with no single bend.

everybody is running 26~30 psi in time attack events , we have never had such wheel damage .. 5 GT4 Owners there "abusing" the cars properly as a PORSCHE GT car .. and I may be the only one who never "shortcut" being the least aggressive amongst them. eventhough .. none of them had the same problem.

if something could be damaged, I expect that the priority should go to the wheels lips. but all is well.