OEM Wheel Breaking?!? Not bending or cracking

[FNCrazy]

So I ran out of talent. I don't wanna talk about it...

But is it surprising that in an accident an OEM Wheel would break chunks off as opposed to bending or cracking?

Is this normal and I just didn't realize it?





Thoughts?

I make up 112% of what I say.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by FNCrazy

So I ran out of talent. I don't wanna talk about it...
...
Thoughts?

I think you should talk about it.

Impressive that it still holds air. Not to sound condescending, more just to make sure but don't keep driving on it.

[FNCrazy]

I thought it was strange it could possibly still hold air too! It had a slight leak though...

Oh, definitely not driving it. I drove it about 15ft and had a tow truck take it to my tuning shop. The rear wheel is no longer vertical. About 30 degrees out on top, in below.

Lower control arm I'm sure is bent all to hell.

I make up 112% of what I say.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by FNCrazy

I thought it was strange it could possibly still hold air too! It had a slight leak though...

Oh, definitely not driving it. I drove it about 15ft and had a tow truck take it to my tuning shop. The rear wheel is no longer vertical. About 30 degrees out on top, in below.

Lower control arm I'm sure is bent all to hell.

I make up 112% of what I say.

I spun mine on the fifth day. Fucked up in a safe place and did not curb.

[FNCrazy]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I spun mine on the fifth day. Fucked up in a safe place and did not curb.

I've had mine a month and have been driving with traction control all the way off, well, because I could I guess. I oversteered, countersteered, basically got behind on my steering.

Was 180 backwards about 50, fortunately it is a very wide street and was completely empty. Extremely, extremely lucky that I didn't hurt anyone or do any damage to anything else. I'm not even 21! I'm 38 for shits sake, and have driven plenty of much much more powerful cars, I don't know what came over me.

Anyway, Scrubbed off a lot of speed before I hit the curb. So even dumb guys get lucky sometimes.

I make up 112% of what I say.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by FNCrazy

I've had mine a month and have been driving with traction control all the way off, well, because I could I guess. I oversteered, countersteered, basically got behind on my steering.

I was 49. After 14 years of the only FWD car I've ever owned, I was thrilled to get back into a real car. Did the same as you. Out of practice and got behind it. After the second wag I knew it was all over. Third one spun me around 270 so I just calmly drove away.

The VSC does suck. Yeah, it's effective but the latency is noticeable. Even in normal traffic I pedal dance as soon as it warms up enough. Throttle behaves predictably in all driving conditions.

[Ro_Ja]

OEM wheels are cast. Cast wheels are subject to cracking, or in extreme cases, breaking, like what you experienced. Without getting technical, it's just due to how the manufacturing process is. Forged wheels, on the other hand, will bend in most situations.

[FNCrazy]

Originally Posted by Ro_Ja

OEM wheels are cast. Cast wheels are subject to cracking, or in extreme cases, breaking, like what you experienced. Without getting technical, it's just due to how the manufacturing process is. Forged wheels, on the other hand, will bend in most situations.

Thank you!

Mental note: I now only want forged wheels...They couldn't possibly be more expensive could they?

I make up 112% of what I say.

[guybo]

Yes, that's normal. Alloy won't bend much and it will break like that. I'm surprised it didn't crack through the whole rim.

[cjny]

In general with metal fabrication you trade off strength for ductility. The strong end of the spectrum tends to be brittle, but the material is stronger so the wheel can weigh less. There is some variation between various alloys and fabrication techniques that might be used but that's the basic trade off.

Yes, in general forging can give lower weight for a given strength than casting. Not sure it's likely to be less brittle, though. It depends on how close to the limits the designer pushes. Also not sure it matters much anyway. Bent or broken, the wheel is usually toast, no?

[FNCrazy]

Of course, it doesn't matter now, but for one it's behavior surprised me, and two, a wheel failure like mine but all the way through would have been more dangerous than a bent wheel, no?

(Oh, and still, I realize these wheels weren't faulty, my driving was)

I make up 112% of what I say.

[MarkR171]

The wheel didn't fail. It's plenty strong for any sort of driving - spirited or otherwise. No wheel is designed to be slammed face-first into a curb. No one is expected to slam into a curb and continue driving, so it doesn't matter if it just bends slightly or cracks. The impact was hard enough to break the suspension, of course the wheel is going to break too.

[Ultramaroon]

Yeah, this. ^^^ More so, we don't want the outer bits to be stronger than the more expensive inner bits. The energy of the collision has to go somewhere.

[Shinigami301]

My first three cars were all FR type. Those reflexes die hard, but I sure made my share of mistakes acquiring them. Glad no one was hurt.