07-14-2008, 04:30 PM
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Ronal A1's getting old - inspect yours!
A picture is worth a thousand words ...
Here's the story; he was running his Alfa 75 (I think) on the 'ring and lost this wheel.
BridgeToGantry.com - Everything Nurburgring Nordschleife! - Always check your wheels...
Before you all throw away every single Ronal A1 out there, inspect them first. I've seen many wheels break due to fatigue and/or age, so this applies to every brand of wheel out there, but older ones -- even the original Alfa Speedline or Benzoni wheels -- are more susceptible.
Last edited by nizam; 07-14-2008 at 04:52 PM.
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07-14-2008, 07:22 PM
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lets face it...under track conditions...on a "street" wheel this is going to happen from time to time...anyone who drives hard should inspect there wheels.....
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07-16-2008, 01:39 AM
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That is shocking.
Most decent street wheels (such as the OE alfa stuff) is so over engineered to deal with thousands of km of travel and heavily laden use that they usually don't cause a problem on the race track (obviously unless impact damaged or old/fatigued) but this makes good case for racing on NEW wheels...
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07-16-2008, 05:25 AM
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Was the Ronal A1 was used as Alfa OE at one point? I thought it was aftermarket. Lightweight aftermarket wheels are probably the ones to worry about. This type of failure may be why some aftermarket wheel makers have two lines: a street line built to weigh more but be more durable, and a 'Race Only' line where lightness and the risks associated with it are more likely to be understood and accepted.
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James
1984 GTV6
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07-16-2008, 05:58 AM
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damn I wouldnt want that to happen to me, but I reckon in hindsight it's pretty funny!
I mean, imagine the convo to his mates later that day at the pub...
"going round the ring and you wouldnt believe it!"
"What happened? Over took a Porsche? Saw a naked lady on the side of road? Lapped it in under 6 minutes?!"
"Nah my wheel fell off!"
"Oh... spewing dude..."
lol sorry!
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i cavalli mai abbastanza, ed il peso sempre troppo...
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07-16-2008, 09:51 AM
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 Quote:
Originally Posted by Echo Leader
Was the Ronal A1 was used as Alfa OE at one point? I thought it was aftermarket.
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Iīve seen them on the third series boxered engined alfasud sprint veloce (which carried the sprint name) with the 1.7 8v engine. I can tell you that on this model they were 15 inch. Also, seen on some 75 as I can recall.
I canīt be sure if they were all 15 inch on the Alfetta as Iīve seen 14 inch.
Maybe they were also used on other models that I donīt know...
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Ennio
1982 gtv2.0
Last edited by Ennio; 07-16-2008 at 05:22 PM.
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07-16-2008, 10:38 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gtv27
.. but this makes good case for racing on NEW wheels...
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The new forged, lightweight wheels have proven to be the best bet for track use. They are expensive, though, but provide peace of mind out there on the track.
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07-16-2008, 10:47 AM
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From the link:
"A closer inspection of the fractures shows that two of them were not shiny. Two of them were in fact coated in brake dust. For a car that gets its tyres changed every 10 days and it wheels polished, that's quite disturbing. It means that wheel looked OK at a glance, but was in fact fractured for some time..."
That tells you something about the amout of use these wheels recieved. I wonder if the car was part of the 75 Experience which is essentially a driving school that uses the Nurburgring as a home track. If so, that is well beyond the level of stress 99.9% of street users would inflict on thier cars.
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07-16-2008, 11:32 AM
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After looking at all the pictures, I would suspect that the tire failed before the wheel did, thus causing extra stress on the wheel. Could have been caused by exceeding the rated speed of the tire for a long period.
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Gifford
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07-16-2008, 11:38 AM
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Why do you suspect that? I believe Nizam or Zamani found cracks on their own wheels after tracking Ronal A1's. I think its the wheel's fault.
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1987 Milano Platinum - check for many new items. [B][COLOR="Red"][URL="http://alfabb.com/bb/forums/showthread.php?t=42980"]PARTING OUT[/URL][/COLOR][/B]
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1984 GTV-6 - 80K miles
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07-16-2008, 12:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grant
Why do you suspect that? I believe Nizam or Zamani found cracks on their own wheels after tracking Ronal A1's. I think its the wheel's fault.
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Gifford
'72 Super, '67 GTV --> SOLD
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07-16-2008, 12:06 PM
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I'll post pics of my Ronal A1's that were retired after street use of 12 years after I discovered cracks while washing the inside of the wheels (yes, I'm anal like that).
Sorry, they're in the shed, up in the rafters, can't get to them that easily right now.
Zamani found cracks in his Ronal A1's with race rubber, but I know those particular wheels were street wheels prior to being turned into race wheels.
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07-16-2008, 12:34 PM
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Any way of repairing wheels with such hairline cracks (not the failed one shown in this thread)? I have been a fan of the A1 on the 75 ever since I had them on my 1986 2.0 carb 75 many moons ago in Europe.
Jes
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(Repeating what I suggest or do is at your own risk - be critical)
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07-16-2008, 02:57 PM
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any "good" wheel shop that does custom widening and repairing of aluminum wheels "should" be able to repair them
will they be any safer...only time will tell
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07-16-2008, 06:31 PM
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I wouldn't trust any wheel which had such fatigue cracks repaired, as the only way to repair them is to weld the cracks. Trouble is, the welding process itself creates stress risers around the weld, which can make the repair itself a fatigue "short lifer'.
If cracks with brake dust in them were found, it proves that it was the wheel which failed in fatigue at those points at some time in the past. Obviously these wheels are understrength, and should be pulled from further use. I strongly suspect that many aftermarket wheels being sold have not one iota of strength or fatigue analysis applied to them.
Hows a customer to know which ones? I guess that maybe if it looks really light (and cool), it probably is too light.
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