AU N EGL

How much stress or Load can a good set of race wheels take?

CCW Classics, CCW Cosairs, Forgline, Kodiac, BBS or ??

There was a thread over on the NASA forums and the ASedan.net.




thead http://www.asedan.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1344

and http://www.camaromustangchallenge.co...pic.php?t=2797


Magna Flux Inspetion system
http://www.magnaflux.com/penetrant/penetrant.stm

John Shiels

I don't know much about castings but I have heard investment casting is cheap and poor. So if you go and take a cheap wheel or junk from China it may break with big sticky tires.. Guess that's why knock off GS rims weigh a ton. I had a lesson from John Purner once on the testing he does at CCW which is great. I guess like planes with aluminum it gets cycled out after a while if worked to it's limit. Something I don't want to see on my car

ZR1 MK

Unfortunately that looks just like my front left wheel, after I almost bit the bullet at Lime Rocks West Bend.

fatbillybob

IC is fine if designed right. problem is then they get heavy. So forged is where it is at for durability. Those ccws will never break but just in case you are worried you can use this. It works awesome...I basically never magnaflux anymore.

http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pro...asp?RecId=1207

davidfarmer

I've seen CCW classics break on several cars, with limited use and no impacts. I've run Kinesis hard, running them into everything, and they are strong. I've never seen an OEM wheel break (not a repro, but a real OEM)

Beyond that, you just have to trust your equipment and hope for the best.

OKsweetrides

Hmm, this has me rather concerned.

David Farmer, are only the ccw classics failing? Which aftermarket wheels do you trust beyond Kinesis?

davidfarmer

I've only seen CCW classics fail, and that was several years ago. I saw it first hand in 2003, then I met another guy at the NCM event last summer that had a set crack. I think it was a limited issue, as I know dozens of racers that run them, and I'd definitely run the new wheels.

I think Fikse and Kinesis are definitely strong wheels. I feel pretty good about Kodiak, although by the time you get them made and then pay the import taxes (got that nice bill a year AFTER getting the wheels), I'd never use them again.

I use mostly OEM wheels these days. There are plenty of sizes available, and I really don't care much about how they look. I currently run Speedline 18x10.5's on both my NASA car and our C6Z06.

0Randy@DRM

My personal hate is HRE. 200 street miles all four were cracked. No warrenty, because they are race wheels. Then a month or two later, a couple weekends at the track, more crackes in a different set. No warrenty because they were raced

Now all new design, I hate this term. It's called testing in real life not just playing around on a computer. Then selling them to a dealer to lose his shirt on. Anybody want a couple centers for tables, because I have about 5 grand worth, that I wouldn't sell to my worst enemy.

Fikse have been rock solid over the years!!! Never a bad one without a wack against a wall or etc.

CCW seem to be damn good too. Forgeline is a first class outfit.

Randy

ZR1 MK

David, that was me you meet last year at the NCM VIR event. Theres about 10 that failed. Not me, but most where due to abuse, like excessive curb jumping, during races etc. There was an updated center section for the classic thats much stronger. Naturally, both my sets have the stronger centers after my ordeal. I will be replacing my front centers on an interval basis.

fatbillybob

Kinesis was sold. It used to be a good company that stood behind product. I got a buddy barely running hard on a cars's maiden voyage on T8/9 complex at WSIR. The wheel broke he saved it. We got pictures. Kinesis would not even talk to him about it due to running slicks on supposedly a comp wheel for streetcars. So they sell a wanna bee comp wheel that looks good. Amazed at CCW's they make an awesome wheel and they know we are racing on them. In general an OE wheel is tougher than a race wheel but not pound for pound. Race wheels are not designed to go over potholes and railroad tracks. OE's are hard to beat for durability. I have seen thinspoke oes break but not the Z06 type

dvandentop

good lord will not ever be buying HRE from the sound of it

ccdan

The classic's were replaced a while back with a newer updated design.

Aluminum in any state (cast, forged, etc) has a shelf life but this will all depend on several things obviously most geared off the amount of abuse. With advances in testing; wheels have seen the same. One of the easiest way to make something stronger is to keep/make it thicker however there are a few other things that can be done to make a wheel stronger. Rounded edges make cracks harder to accrue, shotpeening like rounding edge do the same however compress the surface of the aluminum making it even harder to do along with making everything more sound, lug nut wells at the thickest part of the pad (at the base of where spokes meet), and etc.

The classics have always been a great performer and will continue to be. There are several threads about multipiece vs single piece wheels and that’s were the single piece leads the way in testing and performance. With it we can have a thicker wall thickness on the lips making them a lot harder to bend, brake, etc. and since there is not hardware holding it together it doesn't deflect as much which can make for better car response. Basically if you bend/brake a Corsair chances are there are more expensive things connected to the car that are broke as well. Can be just more expensive to replace than just a inner/outter on the multipiece if you just bend one. All in all I've only seen about 3-5 wheels like that out of hundreds.

EvilBoffin

I now have the new shotpeened, single-piece CCW Corsair C10's (see sig pic), after reading all the recommendations here about John P, his products and his staff. They proved to me to be exactly what they're reputation suggests - A Class Act selling a Great Product...

I couldn't agree more with Randy about HRE - had a set on my Y2k Boxster S. In my experience, they are outright GARBAGE for $4-5000, and they're customer support was pitiful. A lot heavier then the OEM's, too. The guy that bought my Boxster (he's part owner in the Evolution Driving School) eventually just threw them away, because of the endless cracking at the thickest parts of the 'Y'-shaped wheel spokes. Like me, he ONLY used them on the streets in Connecticut, and only after the winter weather was over.

At the same time I was using the HRE's on the street, I had a set of Fikse FM-10's used for auto-x. You couldn't ask for a better-built, more durable wheel & finish. They weren't any lighter then OEM cast Porsche wheels, but certainly not any heavier. Man, they were pretty, too...