# Big Time Alloy Wheel Failure!!!!!......



## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Hi,

We were out and about in the 'van at the weekend and were driving home when there was an almighty 'bang' from the rear of the 'van and it started to handle strangely, thought it was a puncture so immediately slowed down to walking pace and as luck would have it we were next to a layby so pulled in to investigate. Turns out that the o/side rear alloy had collapsed........




























It's a good job it was the rear one, if it had been on the front and I was rattling down the motorway I dread to think what would have happened.

These alloys are old, had them for about 8 years and transferred them across to each motorhome we've owned but I wouldn't expect this to happen in a million years, perhaps i'm just extremely unlucky. Not trying to put the frighteners on anyone and the local tyre guys said its the first time they have seen anything like this happen but it might be worth anyone who maybe has a set of oldish alloys on their van to maybe get them checked out. I've ditched the other 3 and reverted back to the original steel wheels.

These alloys were Vantec heavy duty van alloys as per the first photo on this link although not supplied by this company....

http://www.tyresave.co.uk/alloyvan.html

As a footnote, the tyre (michelin xc camping) was also damaged due to the failure, a replacement is arriving tommorrow so the previous supply problems seem to have been sorted.

pete.


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## autostratus (May 9, 2005)

My goodness Pete but you've been lucky.
As you said, it could have been a disaster if it had been a front wheel.

You obviously say your prayers.


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## Scotjimland (May 23, 2005)

Wow .. lucky escape Pete 8O 

Looks like the failure started around the valve hole.. are you intending to report to the manufacturer?


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Scary! 

Yes, worthwhile reporting in case of bad batch, on the off chance they can do any alerting or simply confirm a problem.

Dave


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Yes, I was intending to do that, trouble is I can't seem to find any direct links to vantec, only their suppliers and I can't remember where I got them from all those years ago (its me age), i'll ask my local tyre company who were very helpful to see if they know.
A quick plug for them, went there today to see if there was any chance they could swop the wheels around - within moments 3 guys were soldiering away feverishly, removed all tyres from alloys and put them all back on the steel ones, balanced and refitted for the pricely sum of £29, well impressed with them. There is still good service out there  .
Mill Tyres
Field St
Boston
If you need any tyre work doing and are in the area, they come very highly recommended by moi.

pete.


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## 97199 (Jan 7, 2006)

*Ouch!!.*

Thats a really nasty set of pics.Never ever seen alloys do that before.
However i was thinking about fitting some on my LT last year.
After a great deal of debate i decided against it, as when its loaded up there is a
great deal of weight and lateral forces put on the wheels when cornering etc.
This i thought could lead to metal fatigue in them over time!!.
I wonder???
Car alloys dont have 8 and 10ply tyres on them do they!.

Just an idea after a few years, all that stress can make the alloy brittle thus
ending in the total failure..

Once broke an alloy just inflating a tyre, cheap italian ones, turned out
they were poorly cast.The air bubbles and imperfections had just been
masked with a skim of filler..(friend of mine shotblasts wheels for a living and
says its common to see huge holes and casting cracks on cheap alloys).
I only bought quality ones from that day on....


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## Scotjimland (May 23, 2005)

*Re: Ouch!!.*



FlyingFridge said:


> Car alloys dont have 8 and 10ply tyres on them do they!..


These were heavy duty commercial van, not car wheels , lots of vans have them ..


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## pauwilson (May 24, 2005)

Scary picture and a lucky escape right enough, 

Is that screw down speed valves on your wheels?, if so they may have been overtightened or the screw down part may have been fitted without a washer and it has cut into the alloy and removed the coating allowing corrosion. Once the powder coat is off it does not take long for salt etc to eat away at the wheel. When were the valves last changed?
I was 6 years in the tyre industry and have never seen an alloy failure like that - I have seen them bashed beyond belief and only hairline cracks would appear.
I am no metal expert but some parts of the cast seems to be darkened in the picture, suggesting the alloy may have been cracked and gradually weakening prior to the total failure, unusal being an O/S wheel as well, most wheel failures / problems that I have seen on commercial vehicles are N/S due to drains, kerbs etc.

Paul


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thanks for the replies,

These alloys were proper heavy duty ones as Jim said but they were a 'budget' range and I did get 'em cheap (about £320 for 4) - Its that old adage "cheapest isn't always best" and if I ever buy alloys again i'll make sure they are manufacturer recommended ones.

pete.


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## Motorhomersimpson (May 9, 2005)

Crikey Pete when you told me you a Alloy wheel failure I didn’t realise to what extent until I saw your pictures, real scary stuff and I said last night, lucky you wasn't travelling motorway speeds.

I have never known an alloy give up like this….just off to check my alloy’s after my lucky escape last night in my car…..looks like lady luck was on both our sides yesterday.

Glad you both survived what could have been very nasty indeed.

MHS….Rob


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## RobinHood (May 19, 2005)

peejay said:


> Yes, I was intending to do that, trouble is I can't seem to find any direct links to vantec, only their suppliers and I can't remember where I got them from all those years ago (its me age), i'll ask my local tyre company who were very helpful to see if they know.


Think you'll find they are KN Vantec see:

http://www.wmccm.co.uk/WMCCM/WMCCM/Companies/ViewCompany.aspx?itemid=67

for address/phone.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Hi Paul (wilson),

Your observations about the darkened cast on the inner wheel are correct and i have a theory about this.

On holiday last year we had a puncture on this very wheel, we didn't travel on it when it was flat so I don't think we damaged it at the time but I do think There was already a crack at the rear of the wheel whch led to the supposed slow puncture.
We had the tyre plugged in France and carried on with our travels however, the next day the tyre had gone soft again so another (German this time) garage repaired it again and it seemed to be ok then up until yesterday.
When the wheel failed and they took the tyre off there was a tube inside which was possibly put in on the second repair in Germany (according to the tyre guys this is a no no on alloys) and this has held the pressure until the eventual failure yesterday. I reckon it started off as just a small crack (hence the slow puncture and the unsuccesful first repair) and eventually completely failed yesterday.

late edit - i mean't paul wilson not pauway! - top line edited accordingly, sorry paul!

pete.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thanks Rob and robinhood.

Robinhood, the link is great but the text is so small i'm buggered if I can read it even with my glasses on :roll: is there any way I can make the text bigger or can you relay the email address and phone numpber to me in BIG writing!
Thanks,

pete.


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## RobinHood (May 19, 2005)

s'big enough on my monitor, even for my varifocals!

KN Wheels
Beverley Road,Ketley,Telford
TF1 4DS
01952 616066

(Contact name George ....... only joking)

Pretty sure this is the company though.


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## RobinHood (May 19, 2005)

peejay said:


> is there any way I can make the text bigger or can you relay the email address and phone numpber to me in BIG writing!
> 
> pete.


Pete,

it's fine on my display, but if you're serious about this and using IE, try using View on the toolbar, and select texr size and progressively increase it until you get best results. Mine is set at medium.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Many thanks!

Pete.


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## Motorhomersimpson (May 9, 2005)

Pete, to make text bigger when viewing on internet explorer…go to "View" top left of browser, click it and select "Text" then select your size of text.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

MHS…Rob


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Ok guys, i'm not that bad just yet :wink: .

I'm with aol (yeah I know!) and its only on some websites where the text is really tiny.
The site robinnhood just mentioned shows up tiny and for example, this one in the drop down menus too, so small, that I can't read it even with strong glasses....
http://www.ford.co.uk/ie/ford_vans/ford_vans/rt_home/-/-/-/-

Most sites ie MHFacts are ok, why is this?

pete.

(apologies to myself for deviating from topic :roll: )


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## RobinHood (May 19, 2005)

peejay said:


> Many thanks!
> 
> Pete.


Sorry, can't quite hear you!


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## daveandcarol (May 21, 2005)

Sorry to hear your bad news.... I'm sticking to steel......................


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## RainDancer (May 24, 2005)

*Alloys*

Hello Peejay

Sorry to read about your misfortune. I don't know if this is relevant but I do know that some Autotrails were recalled if they had rubber valves in the alloys. These were changed to Steel valves. It makes you think.


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

peejay said:


> On holiday last year we had a puncture on this very wheel, we didn't travel on it when it was flat so I don't think we damaged it at the time but I do think There was already a crack at the rear of the wheel whch led to the supposed slow puncture.


Pete

I reckon that says a lot about the general toughness of mag alloy wheels that they could put up with quite a bit of maltreatment before final failure. If ever a tyre is changed on a mag alloy wheel try and observe the process I had to step in at a tyre changer who was going to use a crowbar on my Skoda ones!

Also with all the various materials put down by gritting lorries its good to do a corrosion check once in a while - and that applies to steel wheels as well.

Regards (and congratulations on surviving)

Frank


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thanks for all your replies.

I contacted KN Wheels today, they already knew about this and read this website occasionaly so had seen this post and downloaded all my photos!
They had apparently tried to get back in contact but had probs getting back in to post.

Very helpful chap by the name of Adrian Dunn has confirmed that all the more recent range of alloys have been updated and that this is the first one they have heard of that has failed so it appears to be a one off and i'm the unlucky one!
I've kept the offending wheel and told them they are welcome to have it if they need to do any tests.

Although they only sell to the trade i've suggested maybe advertising on here as I reckon there is a growing market for m/home alloys so you never know.

pete.


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## fdhadi (May 9, 2005)

Hello Pete

I would like a set of alloys, so if they would like to contact me, that would be great (at the right price).
From what i can remember, alloy wheels are supposed to be stronger than steel, so i do think you were unlucky / lucky depending on which way you look at it.

Kind Regards
Frank


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## 88901 (May 10, 2005)

we have had numerous, apparent slow punctures with the alloy wheels on our Peugeot 405, every time it has been due to the alloy wheels corroding around the rims leaving a heavy aluminium oxide layer between rim and tyre which is porous. They look nice but prefer steel rims.


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## Nora+Neil (May 1, 2005)

Peejay

Glad that you are ok . Safe journeys for the future.


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