Well this sucks.
 

http://www.itrexpo.com/users/dave/br...e/IMG_8331.JPG

Getting quotes on getting it repaired. It's a Kosei K4R 17x8 which was used for MAYBE 10,000 miles and a few track days. No potholes, no curbs.

Ugh.

Not the first cracked Kosei rim I've seen, definitely won't be the last. They're great for weight/price, but lots of cracked ones around :(

I've had great luck with the K1's, but maybe the K4R's aren't as great. I run both on the track car so I'll have to inspect them more.

K1s crack too. But, pretty much any wheel can crack and I've seen lots do so.


I just replaced a K1 that cracked after several years of nothing but track-duty, with lots of curbs/gators in the bargain. I didn't even think twice about replacing with another K1.


For $175/wheel they are up there in ultimate value status, and I don't personally believe there is much compromise in strength vs. a fully forged wheel. I'd like to say that the failures are more gradual than catastrophic, and can be caught with regular inspection. But, that's just anecdotal hoo hah.


I'm running the K4 as a street wheel with one track event on them so far. Again, no hesitation to run them on track.


One guy's $0.02

*plays depressing violin* I feel the pain @Dave-ROR :cry:

I've run K1s for probably 10 years, over 100,000 miles and thousands of track miles.. yet to crack one of those. Good work :)

Thanks for posting this Dave. I use three sets of Kosei K1s for my SpecE30. Might be time to give them a good wash and inspection to see if I have any cracks. I have never heard of one failing on a SpecE30. D-Force are another story.

mega cheap light weight wheels will fatigue and crack... that's why they are cheap... you go... well it was less than 200 bucks... I'll buy another one... If 200 bucks is going to bust your budget you need to buy a denser wheel that will take the abuse...

I've damaged forged wheels too and know multiple failures of Volks, Desmond, SSR, etc. All wheels can fail, I've just never had one (even rota's) fail (and I consider a crack a failure) under such light usage before.

Different engineered failure modes. ;)

Fucking this - the weight has to come off from somewhere.

While I can't claim to have the same penchant for ... ahh ... destructive testing ... my wheels and tires (and brakes) don't get babied.


Now, it's probably not worth my time and effort to respond to the "cheap" comments creeping into this thread, but the Kosei K1 is a damn fine wheel. Period. End. Of. Story. Its not a good wheel for $200 or less; its a good wheel.


Regular inspection of anything used on track is wise. I only discovered my cracked wheel through a tire change (in the barrel; not a spoke). That particular wheel had seen lord knows how many years and track events, heat cycles, etc. And, it may have given up the ghost only due to damage from a broken LRCA on track (oh, that was a fun high speed / high G turn!).


Anyway, soapbox time is over. Sorry for your loss.

Agreed, I normally inspect before track days but the BRZ has seen such little usage lately that I haven't even looked at those wheels in many months (they've been sitting on a shelf with no tires since march I think, and even before then they were sitting on a shelf with tires for months prior, I just pulled the tires off to mount them on the M3).

Now, the shop that removed the tires SHOULD have noticed it, but they made no mention of it to me.

You won't find me dissing K1s especially, or Kosei's in general. It's not really a loss, it sucks because I wanted shelf space back and was going to sell them, now I'll either repair it or just replace it which just means I'll get less money out of the set.

Most of the wheels I've damaged in the past has been due to potholes that I didn't see (filled with water in a rainstorm, etc) so I can't claim much of a penchant for destructive testing either :) Every other wheel I've had fail I've always been able to link to a specific incident, and always noticed it immediately as I check after any hard impacts (on or off the track). This wheel simply did NOT see any hard usage. Riding on track curbing, sure, but a wheel shouldn't fail from that. Jumping curbing, sliding over curbing, potholes, street curbs, bad joints on the interstate, etc.. none of that.

I agree that lightly used wheels should not crack, but you just never can tell. And, I wasn't referencing your comments in my mini rant about Kosei quality.


Interestingly enough, I'm transitioning from a 1995 M3 dedicated track car to the BRZ as a DD/track car. Once more onto the slippery slop.