rbasales

I had a Victor Innsbruck wheel come apart while on the track at Pocono raceway this past September. While the wheel failure was bad the complete lack of customer service by TSW, Victors parent company, was most disturbing.
From the beginning: I am PCA National Instructor and I drive a 05 997S track car. I purchased the Victor Innsbruck wheels as an additional set for the track. The wheels were one year old and had about 20 days of track time. As always the car was tech inspected previous to the event and no wheel issues were apparent. On the first session of a 3 day event, while driving the Pocono Tri Oval at approximately 100+ MPH the left rear wheel came apart. The entire hub and rim completely separated. (Photos and you tube link attached) The car spun and did two complete 180's and returned to its original direction. The remnants of the hub on the rim sawed thru the lower control arm and dog bone causing damage that resulted in a large bill; however as the video shows it could have been a lot worse.
After the event I went on line to contact Victor Equipment Company to discuss the occurrence. I quickly learned that neither Victor nor TSW has telephone contact information listed other than to find a dealer. I was able to find the TSW corporate HQ number; however, when I called and spoke to a customer service rep, he stated “WE DON’T SPEAK TO THE PUBLIC”. Now my “Irish” was up and contacted the dealer I purchased the wheels from; WHEEL THING in Philadelphia PA. I expressed what happened and sent photos of the wheel. They contacted the distributor DEALER DIRECT in Allentown PA. To my dismay the distributor responded to the retailer that TSW said “These wheels are NOT FOR TRACK USE” Disturbing since the TSW site refers to their race heritage and the Victor site refers to their superior rotary forged manufacturing process.
In the end I reached out to Car ToyZ in Pleasantville NJ, one of our local retailers that runs a highly reputable shop and was familiar with the distributor. Between Car Toyz and Wheel Thing they convinced Dealer Direct to send a replacement wheel at their expense. Since the wheel was shipping form Victor I suggested that Victor include a UPS call tag so they could see the wheel and analyze it for any manufacturing defects. Victor decided to ignore that as well.

Bottom line; I would stay away from TSW and/or Victor wheels, especially if you track the car. Most importantly, they are clearly not interested in standing behind their product and in fact do everything they can to remain insulated from their end users. I now remember what Caveat Emptor means!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1m0i...ature=youtu.be

Randy V

That's a shame.

Frank 993 C4S

Wow - Are you sure that you want to go back on track with the new wheels?

rbasales

Victor wheels are LONG GONE!!!, NEVER back on the track or road on any Victor/TSW product
I think i have run with you with Metro PCA

VGM911

I'm glad to hear that you weren't injured....thank God you're okay.

With regard to the ability of the wheels to withstand racing stresses, I have the following questions/comments (please understand that these are from a novice, to be sure!):

1. Do the wheels themselves bear a message (a sticker or stamping) that states that track use is not advised?

2. Were there any packing materials that came with the wheels that inform the buyer that the wheels are not for track use?

3. Was there anything on the website from which you ordered the wheels that mentioned that the wheels were not intended for race use?

4. Are wheel fractures a condition that often can't be seen with the naked eye? If so, a pre-race tech inspection would perhaps not pick up this problem?

5. I'd agree that you were treated in a somewhat shabby manner.

6. In an unrelated matter, can we assume that street tires (i.e., Z-rated tires) can stand up to track use because of the Z rating, or are special racing tires needed?

Again, I'm glad that you came out of this mess without any injuries!

ROCS Auto Inc

I have seen this happen with substandard wheels over the years...I never understood why anyone would want to save a few bucks over a wheel that is proven time and time a gain like a BBS.
We are constantly bombarded with emails from wheel manufacturers which we refuse to sale for the sake of selling. If I were you I would go buy something proven.

Best
Rich

Turbodan

thanks for posting. looks like you very lucky to not hit anything. they should give you a new set of underwear! I hate it when companies don't stand behind their products and even take calls.

Straniero

I just put those wheels on my car, for street use through winter...! Scary...

RugRunner

Discussing racing pedigree, selling to Porsche owners and then hiding behind "not for track use" is as BS as I've ever seen. Karma's a b*tch.