Re: wheels, plating and cracks

[Simon Favre <simon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I really like Warren Reid's comments on metallurgy.  That's what's great
about this forum.  I would like to point out that steel wheels CAN fail,
particularly in racing.  This is why most vintage racing organizations
have outlawed steel wheels on Alfas UNLESS they are Borranis.  Felix
Chiu managed to tear one up on a Giulietta Spider.  He mistakenly
thought that the later 105 steel wheels (4.5x15" from an early GTV) were
stronger than the 101 Borranis.  I would have thought so too, but he
barely managed to save the car when one of the wheel centers fractured.
It was about to tear the center of the wheel out by cracking from one
lug nut to the next.  He caught it in time and brought the car to a safe
stop.  OK, he was using tires that are considerably stickier than were
available when the car was new, but the steel wheel still failed.  The
Borrani wheels are much stronger, but they're getting scarce.

Among Alfa racers fitting aftermarket wheels, forged alloys are 
preferred.  The catch for vintage racers is that the selection of sizes
for Alfas is limited to those that usually violate the no more than 1"
wider than stock rule. ;=(

Wheels can be X-rayed.  A friend got some old alloy wheels with his race
car.  They were made by one of those "backyard" makers.  He had the wheels
X-rayed only to find they were full of voids.  He's not racing on them.  I
believe one of the other problems with chrome plating is that it prevents
you from performing periodic crack tests. True?

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