K-Spaz

My polished "Thin" spokes have a hell of a lot more material in them than these things have. Yea, I like the "thiner" look too, but not to the point where these things are. Look at the photo, they look to be a spoke that's oval shaped, maybe 1.125"x.625"???, probably 1/3rd the effective size of the ones on my car. Further, mine have a huge radius near the center so they sweep out and the stress is distributed out where there is less leverage. These are just an abrupt spoke coming out from a hub. No strength designed in, or even put there accidentally. They do have 7 spokes vs 5, that I admit. But compare the broken part in the pic to the hole for the 3/4" lugnut and tell me how big they are? You're not even close with your comparison.

wcsinx

Yeah, it's seriously not even close. There's a ton more "meat" in C5 thinspokes. And as you pointed out, the radiuses in the junctions are much more intelligently done as well.

lionelhutz

Some people are so touchy. Since neither of us have physically seen the wheel it's rather difficult to judge.

Is there a problem with the design? - Quite possibly. Not having much of a radius where the spokes meet the hub might be a big part of any possible defect.


Did someone with a cad program design the wheel with no thought given to the strength of the wheel as you seem to believe? - I very highly doubt it. Your claims that the wheel was designed to just look pretty are rather retarded since you have no clue what the stress withstand design criteria was.

Did we get the whole story behind this failure? - I also very highly doubt it. I actually did some internet searching and couldn't find any info on other COR wheels besides this one being cracked or broken. I'm not sure if that means there aren't enough out there to make the failures very visible, if others have caught a wheel with a crack and removed/replaced them without creating an internet crap-storm or if this owner of these wheels did something that overly stressed the wheel.

At the end of the day, it's good to see this kind of thing. It makes you think twice about the wheels you run and their suitability. It also makes you think twice about the wheel shape when you are purchasing. There are many thin spoke wheel designs out there so this type of failure isn't something that could only happen to a COR wheel.

K-Spaz

Nothing touchy about it...

That and the size of the spokes, which is insane.

I think that's exactly what they did. And I have a very good idea what the strength requirements are. As a matter of fact, I build stuff with metals of all sorts on a daily basis, and I'm well trusted to make decisions just like this, on things that are not allowed to break. Looking at this wheel, you could just ask yourself, would I hang a car on this thing if the hub was horizontal and the car was hanging on one edge? y/n? When a car is a full lateral G's, that's essentially what you've got. That wheel better be tough. Now, that Stang with those tires isn't gonna get near 1G lateral, but, the car outweighs mine by 4 or 500 pounds too.

Hey, maybe he did, but I I gotta be honest with you, I don't really give a thought to how I stress my wheels cause I'm pretty certain they won't end up like this. I also would not track my car with the wheels that are on it. I have another set I can use for that purpose.

Not a doubt in my mind, other brands have similar issues. I've seen plenty of them over the years that I looked at and thought this very thing could happen.

Bottom line is, this would be unacceptable, period. I could buy a set of CCW's AND a set of very nice tires for on them, with possibly $500 to spare, for the money these wheels cost. If you pay a premium for a product, you expect premium quality. Well, I do, maybe you do not. I guess I'm just not so quick to defend. Looks like a duck, walks like a duck, smells like a duck......Probably a duck...

RC45

Do COR wheels carry TuV certification in Germany?

If not, then they are junk.

FRITZM

Lionelhutz Did some searching as well. That particular wheel, "Precise" is a forged wheel rather than a cast wheel. I also could not find any other info on failure of COR wheels in general and that a significant force likely caused such a catastrophic failure. It does appear that there is probably more to this story than was told here. In their 10/24 letter COR said it offered a full refund before the lawyer was involved and it was apparently not accepted (thus thereby involving COR's lawyers following the owner's lawyering up). If the "owner" of the wheel was smart he would have told the lawyer of this offered refund. To my thinking this would have had a two-fold advantage. 1). The owner would have recouped something, and 2). the offered settlement would have indicated that the wheel was somehow defective. (Ammo for later suit for repairs).

On the other hand, if the owner told the lawyer of the settlement and the lawyer wanted the whole ball of wax, the settlement and repairs instead, then he needs another lawyer for two reasons 1). to sue the first lawyer for malpractice, and 2). to sue the first lawyer for the cost of the wheel lost after the lawyer refused to settle for the refund. The owner could still try to sue for repairs.

As it is the owner is out three ways 1). No wheel or refund, 2). no repairs, and 3). He is out the costs of the first lawyer. Hind sight is 20/20 but that is just MHO.

Bill Curlee

WOW! Glad I have CCW 505As



COR None for this kid!!

Vetteman Jack

Sucks for that Mustang owner. Lucky he wasn't seriously hurt in the wheel failure. Sure would make me think twice about buying wheels from that manufacturer.

lionelhutz

Do CCW wheels???

lionelhutz

I'll agree with that and this fact that you can buy other very nice wheels at a lower cost is a good enough reason for me to not be shopping for COR Wheels. It doesn't appear that you get anything extra in return for paying the extra for them.

RC45

No.

CCW however does not exclude track use from their lifetime warranty.

John will replace any failed wheel. The few times a 3 piece CCW classic has shown issues CCW has stood behidn the wheel.

lionelhutz

So, CCW wheels are junk too then??? You've confused me going on about how the wheels not having TUV certification in Germany being junk.

Could you give a link to the CCW warranty? I couldn't find it.

RC45

No.

CCW however does not exclude track use from their lifetime warranty.

John will replace any failed wheel. The few times a 3 piece CCW classic has shown issues CCW has stood behidn the wheel.

Instead of getting all obnoxious and stupid, pick up the bloody phone tomorrow and phone CCW in Florida and ask John whether he endorses his wheels for track use or not.

lionelhutz

I'm sure there are a bunch of people who would have told anyone who asks that "MR X" at COR will stand behind any wheel failure. That is, until the lawyers got involved in this big mess.

Why exactly is it being obnoxious and stupid to ask for some form of written warrantee you are speaking of? You claimed it exists, yet you can't prove it exists. According to you, I should now call CCW to get proof of a claim you made. Are you serious? If you make a claim then you need to be a man about it rather than resorting to childish name calling bs.

What kind of CCW wheel issues did you see anyways, structural or cosmetic?

RC45

Are you serious? If you have a question regarding the warranty of a product WTF would you not call the manufacturer?

I stand behind my statement that CCW will warrant their wheels strong enough for track use, as will HRE and BBS.

Call them. See what they say and report back.

leadfoot4

The difference HERE, is when you call "John at CCW", you're talking directly to the owner of the business...........

olbear1962

So then COR wheels "suck" as a general rule of thumb, when it comes to aftersales service and support? Sounds like like they just want to take your money ........ not for this little duck!

FRITZM

I find it interesting that the majority of those that have posted in this thread have decided to trash this company (COR) based on anecdotal evidence involving a single incident, involving a single wheel. I doubt that that that majority has even had an iota of experience with COR's products.

When initially contacted the company offered a refund to the Victim, and I use that term very loosely. He would not have been a Victim if he had either accepted the refund and THEN sued for damages incurred from the incident instead of immediately opting to involve lawyers. Yes, I said LAWYERS. In this litigious society no company worth its salt and which expects to remain viable would not have liability insurance. That's why none here would be able to drive our vettes if we, as well, were not required by law to have liability insurance. COR had no option after the offered refund except to respond, as any here would likely have done, to turrn the matter over to their laibilty carrier (spelled lawyers) following the threat of being sued. Just recall the old saw that "every man who is his own lawyer, has a fool for a client."

Again, we don't know how the wheel was damaged, but if someone here does, please enlighten the rest of us. I for one will not be led by the nose to denounce a company or its products without first hand knowledge of dissatisfaction rather than rushing to judgment based on the the limited knowledge of the full facts allowed here. Just my .02.

C5Natie

^^
Regardless how you word it buddy, I think its shaddy of any company to start changing policies and lie about the intended use of thier products. If youve done nothing wrong then theres nothing to hide right? Now if they wouldve said, our products can be used on the track but this failure was not our fault or a fluke, then thats different. But instead they stated that their wheels are for street use only even tho they advertise, or advertised, track use. Their actions have been to mislead, not to defend themselves in this case.

The driver said that he was doing laps with an instructor and was not going full speed when on a turn he felt the wheel fail. So it sounds like either a design or material failure. Im sure the wheel would have to be tested to find out the exact problem but when Ive seen cheap wheels and stock wheels handle track abuse, it makes me wonder how weak COR's design may be with this wheel or what materials theyre using. They may have great wheels that have not failed and this may be the one wheel with a design flaw but I think most will agree that the biggest failure is how the company has addressed this issue.

lionelhutz

[sarcasm]Sorry, didn't realize COR doesn't have an owner or a management team that can make decisions like this....[/sarcasm]



Stating that your wheels are not warrantied for track use in the official warranty policy IS NOT the same as coming out and saying your wheels are only suitable for street use.

In this case, the wheel doesn't seem suitable for any use. However, that can not be determined 100% unless we know the whole story and the results of the failed wheel analysis.

Despite all the posturing and ranting about how other companies such as CCW will warranty a wheel no matter what it's use, I bet if you offroad or curb a CCW wheel at the track and bend it you won't get a no-questions asked replacement. Those types of track abuses are the exact thing the COR warranty policy statements are meant to cover.

And as already pointed out - the liability carrier lawyers told COR to change their warranty policy. Guess what, if they don't do as the carrier asked then they lose their liability insurance. If they go get their policy cancelled the next company won't want to insure them either. It's as simple as that. Same as getting sued - you have to lawyer up and let the courts settle it. That's the way the USA works.

On another note, CCW didn't warranty the finish on these wheels.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/cana...-law-suit.html

The cleaner listed that it was suitable for use on all finishes including anodized wheels. So, was it the owner or did CCW have a bad finish??