Alloy Wheel fracture

Bleep, what a mess. Glad they got out of it OK Robyn. I must agree with you that they look very cheap and there is hardly any thickness in the rim. I had been toying with going back to a decent set of alloys for the ute following some positive things I'd seen and read (and a bad trot with Steelies!). I wonder if a regular profiled tyre might have reduced the impact and thus the damage?

Cheers.

Mick

Hi Robin,

We had a brand new Nissan Patrol come in last year with a similar fracture to one of his wheels.

He had come up from Dalhousie Springs on the Christmas bore track & hadn't aired up after crossing the Simpson Desert (20 psi in the tyres) 265/70/17" rims.

He hit a large rock at silly speed & split the rim in two, we have a couple of pics somewhere but a casual staff member threw the wheel in the burn pit, I had wanted to keep it for display.

Just goes to show that even expensive alloys will be damaged beyond repair, I still prefer steel rims if given a choice!

Nissan Navara D40's have an alloy wheel recall at the moment to check for cracks. Involves spraying the inside with a paint dye which shows up any cracks. Most D40 owners with alloy wheels in the suspect range should have been notified about this.

I have seen similar on a Jackaroo SE alloy rim. The fault was the front caliper had come adrift and gouged a line in the rim until it split, instant deflation very quickly.
I picked the rim (well both halves) up from Cookies at Copley about 9-10 years ago. Thought it would make good trophy material.
Agree with Jeff, steel rims all the way. Although to my financial disadvantage, I swapped the alloys off my LT Rodeo for the standard steelies of a LX Rodeo, but I'm happy with my descission.

Cheers,
Dion.

Robyn

I've always wondered how these caste alloy wheels 'stay in one piece' with the stresses they cop, even with normal driving conditions - now I know.

Also good to see that no one got hurt in the incident.

3-4 years ago I was working on the outback challenge and had the good fortune to be with a group of competitors, of which one of them was trying out some new alloy wheels.

There was no doubt in my mind at the beginning of the competition that they wouldn't last too long in/on the rock stages north of Broken Hill.Well, not only did they last, they also sustained some spirited re-shaping with a 2kg hammer on occasions.

On enquiring as to how they weren't breaking/cracking with the treatment they were receiving in the competition stages and the subsequent 'panel beating' repairs, the driver/owner told me they were machined billet aluminum and cost a mother load of dollars each.

I guess it all comes down to - you get what you pay for - however that doesn't excuse the Federal Government for allowing in inferior sub standard products.

DD

Perhaps that is why most vehicle manufacturers fit steel wheels to their vehicles.
My local tyre bloke reckons that those low profile wheels are an extra bonus to his business.

Starting to see quite a few alloy wheel failures on road from hitting debris or potholes. usually find they are wide, large diameter with low profile tyres. have seen several where the tyres were ok but the rim broke.

Seems to come down to the lightweight construction on cheap imports and low profile tyres that let the rim hit the object that either causes a brittle failure or a stress raiser that then develops fatigue cracks.

Haven't seen it on any of the well known quality brands but it makes you think the cheap ones are better at copying the standards markings than building a decent product.

We also saw some centres pulling out after all the spokes snapped on no name brands a few years back, crappy material and badly designed for resisting side loadings.

Haven't seen ROH steelies crack but have seen others, fortunately they tend to go slowly so you can often find it before any real problems.

regards

A

Smashed a couple of mags off my Torana back in the early 80s. I would be incorrect to blame the mags as I managed to bend the axle housing in the process.

But on another point.
Some tears back I was in a Bob Jane dealership buying tyres & a bloke was complaining about the quality of his 3 spoke mags he had on some little Euro thingo.
He had driven from Cairns to Brisbane & had to have the wheels rolled to straighten them.
On return to Cairns they were out of round again.
He was not happy.
It made me wonder just how flimsy they could be.
It was probably back in the mid 90s

Seen the same type of damage in a mitusbishi triton OEM Rim up the kullumbarru rd. Hit a wash out; took a masive section out of the rim. I was suprisd to see how thin and porous the alloy was. Earlier patrol steel rims crack between the spokes. I have three rims with these cracks. Nissan are replacing them for the new type steel rim which basicly has a larger spoke , smaller hole between the spokes. Patrol alloys are as tuff as; My alloys have coped a loaod of abuse and stood up exceptional well. ( I am not getting into the steel versus alloy versus split rim debate, each to thier own).
cheers.

Recently had two Toyota Royal pattern alloys repaired.
One I dented the outboard flange about 4 years ago and and the dent finally became large enough to allow air to escape. The other one had a hairline crack part way across the rim. The rims had done some pretty hard work over their life.

How come these posts suddenly went from left justified text to centre justified?????

My sonhad cracked alloy rim and was told by tyre service that 35 series tyres an a lowered car with hard suspension is going to do it every time and is fairly common in these parameters however this also looks like the quality of the rim didnt help.

Thats why I like zero offset rims.
Those rims in the photos have a huge offset.

Robin
Good to hear they are all OK... (Main thing)
Lesson learn't I hope.

Obviously cheap crap... from who knows where.
People who deal with this rubbish need to be held accountable

Young ones do not know the value of a little research.
Chers
Bucky