18" Buckling

[wass]

Anyone on here having/had problems with 18" spiders buckling with thier tamora or tuscan? Despite 17 months of very careful city driving (dodging potholes etc) I'm now on a 7th wheel for my tuscan. Design fault or just unlucky? Also, is this maybe the reason why the cars are now being put on higher profile (toyo) tyres?

Thanks.

[PetrolTed]

If you look at newer versions of the 18" wheels you'll notice that they have extra bracing on the inside compared with the originals...

[nubbin]

It is well known - the lower profile tyres mean less cushioning and the larger diameter means they are prone to it anyway. Dropping it into potholes at high speed doesn't help!! At least they're only £150 a pop...but 7? Ouch!!

[Roadrunner]

Audi had a similar design fault on the RS4. The wheels shattered upon minor impact. Personally I'd get some decent (stronger) Aftermarket items.

[squirrelz]

One of the chaps here has an R$4 and has had a few replacement rims.
Its not so much a design flaw, as an intended feature. The wheel buckles before the suspension arms break - as it uses lightweight aluminium suspension arms.

If the wheels were stronger, then the first thing to go would be the suspension, and that would be a very bad thing.

Apparently.....

[PetrolTed]

quote:
It is well known - the lower profile tyres mean less cushioning and the larger diameter means they are prone to it anyway. Dropping it into potholes at high speed doesn't help!! At least they're only £150 a pop...but 7? Ouch!!

Subscribe to the Tuscan list on Yahoogroups and ask those guys - there's hot debate on the list with some very angry people who've had to fork out a lot for wheels.

[Roadrunner]

Squirrelz, I see. A pain either way then.

[bennno]

I had 18" wheels on my Cerby and in 5,000 miles did not have a problem.

I do think though that you need to avoid potholes like the plague. You should experience the thud if you hit one, its not just the wheels that end up buckled, its more than likely the bodywork will eventually start to crack / craze on most all GRP cars.

The design of the spiders is very elegant and light weight and therefore you are going to need to be careful. I seem to remeber with one rs audi that the bbs wheels were so strong it was the ali suspension arms that were breaking instead!

That said the Tamora i went out in seems to have much softer suspension than a cerb and therefore the consequences of hitting something are probably less dire. Especially if you can get away with higher profile tyres.

Bennno

[ajvmoore]

I was in the habit of cursing the soft spiders, but...When I had a sideways, and the two nearside wheels struck tree stumps hard.... a particularly well informed pistonheader in attendance (John or Mike Field I think) said "if TVR have done their engineering homework, the wheels will deform first, taking a lot of energy away, then the wishbones, and if there is any left - goodbye chassis." That is exactly what happened,and the chassis is A-Okay. TVR have done their homework, so a few grand for wheels and suspension components versus a written off chassis, not to mention g-force to the occupants is a good trade off. There has been a redesign though, and new 18" claimed to be a bit stronger.

[wass]

thanks guys, i'll look into the new 18" rims (and yahoogroups, for that matter). but how long have they been about? got a feeling my dealer may have previously fobbed me off with some old dodgy rims....