I hit a pothole going 35 mph. My wife's Honda Pilot hardly registered a bump when I've hit the same pothole. These wheels were bought new less than two years ago.
I hit a pothole going 35 mph. My wife's Honda Pilot hardly registered a bump when I've hit the same pothole. These wheels were bought new less than two years ago.
Was it a Rota?
/trolling, I actually have Rotas on my ms3. They're awesome for what they are.
holy crap that's not good.
so did the force exerted outward on the rim by the sidewall of the tire cause the barrel of the rim to tear? seems kind of like a fatigue type failure
agreed with imirk...Aluminum alloys fracture catastrophically when fatigued. Typically, mfrs add silicon to aluminum to alloy it for fatigue resistance. Silicon is expensive. Maybe if thats a cheap wheel, the mfr saved some bucks using a cheap alloy? Im not an engineer, but I break things a lot, so I learn as I go lol
In reply to 4cylndrfury:
They are MSW wheels. Not exactly BBS, but I don't think of them as cheap. In any case, I expected a little more from them. I've seen OEM wheels practically bend into an oval without breaking.
What size tire is on there?
Since The Tire Rack is the importer of those, I'd at least send them a picture of the wheel asking if they'd seen a failure like that before.
Per
245/35/19 Yokohama tires. The tire appears undamaged but I have no way of knowing.
In reply to Per Schroeder:
I've got my tire rack receipt right in front of me. I got a good deal on them because they were being discontinued. But of course, that means no replacements are readily available.
per my freshman engingeering properties of marterials class: looks like you had a small defect that fatigued into a very small tear, and the force at the corners of a tear are multiplied (alot) so the fatiguing worsens, and when you have a larger than normal yet within normal spec impact you set off a catastrophic failure
If you live in southeast Michigan it is not unusual to bend and break wheels with low profile tires. I bent a steel 14" with a 195/60 on my Miata in Flint. That said I have not seen one break as spectacularly as yours.
That could have been a real special moment - you are lucky nothing got torn up. If you had been racing you could have had a total loss on your hands. Since you are the original purchaser and the wheels really can't be that old - I would make sure those pics got to someone with authority to grant a little goodwill at TR. They probably aren't obligated but... I'd be the squeaky wheel.
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
I just called them. They are going to have a technician look at the picture and then call me back. I asked the customer service person if they've ever heard of such a thing. She said no.
Otto Maddox wrote: I asked the customer service person if they've ever heard of such a thing. She said no.
That's SOP for most customer service departments.
Foraged vs. cast.
Foraged is less stiff, but will bend.
Cast is more stiff, but "shatters."
There are, however, multiple nuances.
Were these cast?
Customer service rep "I know nothink" That sucks.
Im currently looking at a set of Tire Rack Sport Edition wheels for the CRX. Now I wonder the quality of them. Made in China, inexpensive, etc. Anyone have experience with their house brand?
Wow. Congrats. Not many people could do that... 
porksboy wrote: Customer service rep "I know nothink" That sucks. Im currently looking at a set of Tire Rack Sport Edition wheels for the CRX. Now I wonder the quality of them. Made in China, inexpensive, etc. Anyone have experience with their house brand?
I had a set of Sport Editions on my daily driver for a while. Never had problems...they weighed a lot though, so they were probably beefy and therefore didn't break haha.
As to the OP, what were you doing when this happened? How annoying was it? 
In reply to Twin_Cam:
I was driving down a basic two lane road going in a straight line at 35 mph. I had the wife and kids with me. I couldn't have been any better behaved at the time. I knew immediately the tire was flat so I pulled right over and put on the spare. The tire looks undamaged.
4cylndrfury wrote: Im not an engineer, but I break things a lot, so I learn as I go lol
This needs to be in Say What? If there was ever a GRM statement uttered, this is it. In fact, put this in the place of the next uber-expensive BMW build.
I was expecting keizer content.
That's crazy! I'm going to check my OZs now...
And +1 for going to TR with this failure. They stopped carrying SSRs because even though they were forged and very light, they were still so soft they would deform even under street-driving conditions.
I bent an Enkei once, ran it up over a kerb at about 35 in the rain.. I kinda expected that happened to your rim to have happened to mine when I did that.
I have been a fan of enkei ever since
My buddy broke his wheel like that on his WS6.....................by sliding it into a concrete culvert sideways at 45 mph and having that wheel take the entire impact. 
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