YouTube Focus ST loses a wheel at Autox

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Glen Ellyn
Damn. After seeing these videos I would have to look into some high quality motorsport specific wheels if I ever got into something like that.

After seeing a few of these videos lately I ordered a fully forged wheel. Seems these wheels failing are more and more common. Or just more and more videos surfacing thanks to cheap GoPros out there lol
 

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...seeing these videos makes me shy away from some of the cheap cast wheels.

Some of them are not cheap wheels either. I see a lot of F14 failures and I would hardly call them "cheap" as far as cost is concerned. Then again, they are much cheaper than the "cheap" fully forged wheels I bought. haha No HRE fully forged prices for me.
 

sickmint79

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i never inspect my wheels although it seems a smart idea to inspect the spokes for cracks.

personally i go for the cheapest/lightest thing i can find for the most part. currently that's some basic bitch rpf1's but they are pretty light and affordable and seem to hold up well.

some of those recent threads (like the s2k guy) are people who went off on a road course hard/fast and put their wheel through some serious paces.

i'm pretty surprised anything would fail at an autox alone.
 

LikeABauce302

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Some of them are not cheap wheels either. I see a lot of F14 failures and I would hardly call them "cheap" as far as cost is concerned. Then again, they are much cheaper than the "cheap" fully forged wheels I bought. haha No HRE fully forged prices for me.

I've been looking really closely at Apex EC-7 wheels for track duty. They are basically knock offs of the Ford Racing BBS 302R wheels. Both are flow formed and are comparable in weight. Apex wheels seem to be pretty popular with the BMW weekend racers.
 

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I have no doubt some of these failures are guys who race their cars often. I also think many of they are daily driven set ups that get abused on the roads every day and just happen to fail at the track. I am sure most people don't have their GoPro rolling on the way to work, the grocery store, or other places they drive daily. The roads here in Chicago suck and I figure the abuse they take on the road alone is a good reason to have a strong wheel. I see many people post on FB every winter about rims ruined by new potholes. Couple that abuse with track days and you have the potential to have issues.

But I think a visual inspection is important before and after races. When I track my car I double check bolt & nut torque specs and alignment specs. As well as checking torque specs on the lug nuts after every run, check over flow bottles, oil levels, brake fluid and so on. Inspecting the wheels before and after the event is just another thing to add to the check list.
 

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I've been looking really closely at Apex EC-7 wheels for track duty. They are basically knock offs of the Ford Racing BBS 302R wheels. Both are flow formed and are comparable in weight. Apex wheels seem to be pretty popular with the BMW weekend racers.

Flow formed wheels are lighter than an all cast wheel. I believe it is because of the way they roll the barrel out they can get a thinner barrel. But the center of the wheel is still a cast wheel. So it isn't as strong as a forged wheel. At least the flow forged wheels I saw and spoke to a wheel rep about.

I believe HRE has a nice video on their website showing the difference in the different wheel making options. *looked real quick and didn't see it. Will try to look later*
 

Intel

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love forged wheels

don't love paying for forged wheels, pass

900 bucks for my SSR's on the Z and 650 for the ones on my Mazda3.. I still check them before track days and whenever I switch seasons. No cracks so far.

Enkei would be my choice and if I go wider wheels on the 3 and I can't find something I would end up with rpf1's.
 

Intel

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My issue is that design of wheel was made by another company to be forged. Varstoen then takes that design and cast's it and you now have thin spokes from a wheel that is made in china of questionable metal/design.. no thanks. Same idea with the bbs replicas.

Meanwhile I have friends with rotas that are copies with a much thicker 5 spoke design and have had 0 problems in lemons races which have a lot of miles a lot of contact and a lot of rumble strips.
 

Thirdgen89GTA

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i never inspect my wheels although it seems a smart idea to inspect the spokes for cracks.

personally i go for the cheapest/lightest thing i can find for the most part. currently that's some basic bitch rpf1's but they are pretty light and affordable and seem to hold up well.

some of those recent threads (like the s2k guy) are people who went off on a road course hard/fast and put their wheel through some serious paces.

i'm pretty surprised anything would fail at an autox alone.

I would assume its accumulated damage from previous events.

Heck. I made the Discount Tire guy let me inspect the rim on my ST for cracks. He thought I was crazy. I was there getting a blowout replaced due to a massive pothole. Rim was straight, and thankfully no damage.
 

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Glen Ellyn
One of the guys with the F14 wheel fail said he inspected that wheel and the three others. He said you could see the stress cracks growing over time. Due to the cracks displaying different color and corrosion. He said he didn't remove the wheels to inspect them. He just looked at the face and side of the spokes. All the stress cracks were on the back side of the wheel. I believe it was the guy with the S2000.
 
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