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I was out washing my car yesterday and found this in one of my Gen 2 15x8 6UL rims
Only ever had street tires on these wheels, no off-road excursions. No cracks in any of the others, and I thought about replacing just the one, but I suppose the others aren't far behind . So for now I'm back on my stock wheels with 5 year old Falken RT-615k's. Moral of the story: better to find a cracked wheel in your driveway than to watch your wheel pass you on the track:
Some inspector made it a point to check my wheels for cracks at a track day a few years ago. Opened my eyes. "What? They're not like, a lifetime thing?" I had no idea. Apparently our beloved rpf1s love to crack.
To be honest, I thought of making the same kind of post as the Forgestar kid but I've seen people crucified for that before. 4 years old or not, this is only the second set of street tires these rims have seen. I know wheels are a wear item, but surely they should last longer than 1.5 sets of 200TW street tires. Emilio admitted to me in an email it was a known problem with 2nd gen wheels of this dimension, but told me to pound sand when I asked if there was some sort of discount to replace them. Whatever. Looking at advanti's for my next set.
Discovered this when doing pre-trackday prep this afternoon: LR
and soon after found this: RF
These wheels were purchased in early 2011, so I believe that makes them Gen 2. They've lived a full life though - autocross, HPDE days galore, trip to M@MRLS (when it was still called that). Rest in pieces.
Last edited by DeerHunter; 09-03-2018 at 02:41 AM.
Yep, an admitted design fault fixed in later generations. Though 6ul's are apparently a wear item as well, so I went with another supplier when I got my replacement. I am firmly in the camp that wheels should last indefinitely as long as impact damage is avoided, which was not the case for my 6uls.
For what it's worth, I work with the global mx5 cup. They use lightweight wheels (Rays) and they stand up to an amazing amount of abuse. The only broken wheels I've seen have been from hard car to car or car to wall contact.
Well, I got through two sessions today, checking my two remaining Gen 2 wheels with a jaundiced eye after each. This is what I found: LR
The other side wasn't quite as obvious, but I did see something that made me clean the brake dust off for further inspection: RR
So, short track day for me today. I'm impressed with the consistency of the Gen 2 metallurgy - all four failing in exactly the same way at almost exactly the same time.
Dang it. It's going to be hard for me to inspect closely on black wheels, especially with brake dust. Definitely looks necessary to go over them with a fine tooth comb.
Scary stuff. I'm also in the camp that just can't accept having wheels that are a wear item.. Same for noisy brakes, constant shock rebuilds, and the like. Guess I'm glad I'm not a track guy.
Scary stuff. I'm also in the camp that just can't accept having wheels that are a wear item.. Same for noisy brakes, constant shock rebuilds, and the like. Guess I'm glad I'm not a track guy.
You forgot hub failures. They are one of the scariest things I've seen. They rank right up there with wheel failures for surprises you don't want to have at a hundred miles an hour.
You forgot hub failures. They are one of the scariest things I've seen. They rank right up there with wheel failures for surprises you don't want to have at a hundred miles an hour.
True. I'll never run race rubber outside of a drag strip (maybe) so hopefully I've got nothing to worry about.
I imagine for a track focused car it may be an idea to look for a more robust platform...
There is no such thing as an aluminum wheel that will last indefinitely. Aluminum fatigues. No matter what. Nothing you can do about it. Personally, I track how many sets of tires have been on a wheel to time it out.
If you do want a wheel that will last indefinitely, you can always do steel like the cops and taxi drivers:
04-17-2016, 07:23 PM
PSA: Check your wheels regularly
. So for now I'm back on my stock wheels with 5 year old Falken RT-615k's. Moral of the story: better to find a cracked wheel in your driveway than to watch your wheel pass you on the track:
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