paver

After my first session at Barber yesterday, I was looking at my car and found that one of the spokes in my right rear was cracked all way through. I had inspected the car thoroughly before the event and there was definitely no sign of a crack.

I bought them used. I have put 8 track days on them. 6 at Barber where I get on the curbs pretty often but they are smooth curbs. I put 2 days on them at Road Atlanta where the curbs are rough, but I only got on them twice.

When I got them they seemed fine and were true and round, but I don't really know the history behind them.

How unusual is this?

mdrums

Cast or Forged...Brand and model?

paver

Sorry, I thought it was clear from the thread title. It is a forged wheel.

As for the brand, I don't want to throw anybody under the bus, but it is a brand that others here use. I just want info as to how uncommon this is. I have been reading here for almost 2 yrs and cant recall anybody posting about this happening to them.

zweebach

I've seen it happen to somebody else's wheel at the track. It did not appear to be impact related, but perhaps due to fatigue. If I remember right this other instance was a stock Porsche wheel on a 944.

DavidNR

Good catch. Been there too, had 3 broken. Seen it on other cars also. Best of luck getting equitable resolution.

Nizer

It depends on the brand - more common with some, less with others.

007DT

Yep. I've had 3 on my race car. One was wheel to wheel contact that later (3 months) gave way.

mdrums

It is uncommon. I know guys and some of them are right here on these forums that are tracking with forged and/or cast wheels...well known brands....with no issues.

tcsracing1

I had the same thing happen.

I bought a set of used CCW track wheels from a fellow Rennlister. They were super clean mint wheels with little use.
After using them for a couple of track days i then drove from Vancouver to Toronto and when i arrived my indy noticed the hairline crack in the spoke. There was no rock or impact damage. Just a clean fracture in one spoke.

I contacted CCW and immediately they had me send not just the one rear wheel but both for testing.
They sent me two new rear wheels free of charge right away.

The CCW wheels are so strong i now use them exclusively for tarmac rallying. My BBS E88's are just too soft for rallying as i go through lips like toilet paper...

The fact that CCW wheels are so strong and they stand behind there product no questions asked it is the most refreshing thing i have seen in the wheel industry.

If you have CCW you should be ok. If you have OZ, HRE etc you will have to let us know.

DavidNR

I wonder if there is a correlation with rim diameter? Mine were 19's, rear.

tcsracing1

mine were 18"

Seth Thomas

Good catch on the wheel before more damage was done. When you do your visual inspection of the car you won't see a crack developing with the wheel installed. The reason, stress cracks in a wheel start on the inside of the spoke and work their way outside. The first visuals will always be on the inside.

paver

David, these are 19's too.

paver

Does ccw make centerlocks?

edit: called CCW-they don't make CL's

trophy

I have had is happen on wheels before, The stresses put on the wheels while on the track are quite high, even more so with Ho-Ho's etc.

It is one of the reason's I don't like painted or powdercoated wheels. I once had a set that you couldn't see any cracks in (painted wheels) I stripped off the paint with aircraft paint stripper and found 2 spokes cracked, one almost all the way through.

This is also not limited to the name brands, al the wheels can eventually crack, for race teams wheels are consumable items.