ShakeNBake

How many people have had wheel failures with their OEM wheels?

I saw another instance of the inside barrel swelling in evenly spaced intervals. Rear wheel at COTA. I spoke to Forgeline about it and they said it's common. But I don't see it discussed here much. It would help get these things warrantied if there were more documented cases of it.

I just bought another set of Forgelines and tucked my OEM wheels away.

jmartpr

Is this the second case we see in RL? Not sure we ever saw the final outcome of the other RL member that had this problem a long time ago.
Since switching to Forgeline for track there's no going back to OEM...will do the same on the 718 GT4.

911therapy

i had one of my rear forgelines do the same thing - the inner barrel appears wavy and bent. I didn’t notice it on track. I only noticed it when I changed tires after an event. I’m debating on trying to have it repaired, buying another single wheel or just driving on it. I’m hesitant about the latter option - just don’t know if the structural integrity is still there.

ShakeNBake

Was it a competition ("R") model? Did you talk to Steve at Forgeline about it?

911therapy

Yes, it is a GS1R. No, I havent talked to anyone ay Forgeline - you think they might warranty it or something?

Five12Free

pretty sure GS1Rs has warranty that includes track use, I would contact them.

ShakeNBake

I think they would try to make things right, and would absolutely want to see it. The put these on cup cars and club sports.

911therapy

Thanks guys - I'll give it a shot

blacksheepSpyder

Not mine, GT4.

Bill Lehman

I never ran the OEM wheels but switched to O-Z 19" originally. No issues except for brake caliper clearance. Switched to CCW 19" and lots of track days with no issue.

jmartpr

Probably close to 50% of my track time was on the OEM wheels before switching to Forgeline.....didn't have any issues
That photo above of the black wheel is a catastrophic failure......DId it hit something?

stout

^ Sure looks like that factory GT4 wheel hit something. Look at the lip.

The only time I've seen a factory wheel fail in 20+ years of testing on road and track was a 997.1 GT3 RS wheel that had a spoke broken clean through. Almost didn't notice it...was checking tire pressures and spotted it. Turned out a magazine had taken the car for an excursion off of a track in SoCal—which explained the strange rock chips on the back of the front fender flares....

Norge911

Did you consider Finspeed located right there in Austin?

FrenchToast

Glad you saw it!

Fuchs fail pretty frequently if they've been tracked for a while. Age and fatigue. Many wheels fail, cast, forged, aluminum alloy, magnesium, etc. Generally a forged wheel is going to be a better choice.

stout

^ Me too! Was tricky to spot on a dirty black wheel, but what looked like dried brake dust was a crack in the paint that was a through and through break in one spoke only. Hadn't seen anything like it, and called PCNA immediately, as it was their car. "Do you want us to send a flatbed?" they asked. I told them I could get it through the short drive back to the warehouse, and that's where it went. Returned with four new wheels and tires a few days later.

Good point about Fuchs. Was thinking about the later factory wheels, but you are no doubt right about old Fuchs—particularly around the lugs. I assigned a story on that while at Panorama. Club racing is asking a lot of a 30+year-old road wheel with a shrouded history. I suspect some of the cause for those failures is age/use/impacts, but I also have to think the loads from modern tires exceed anything Fuchs were developed for...