rbasales

I had a Victor Innsbruck wheel come apart while on the track at Pocono raceway this past September. While the wheel failure was bad the complete lack of customer service by TSW, Victors parent company, was most disturbing.
From the beginning: I am PCA National Instructor and I drive a 05 997S track car. I purchased the Victor Innsbruck wheels as an additional set for the track. The wheels were one year old and had about 20 days of track time. As always the car was tech inspected previous to the event and no wheel issues were apparent. On the first session of a 3 day event, while driving the Pocono Tri Oval at approximately 100+ MPH the left rear wheel came apart. The entire hub and rim completely separated. (Photos and you tube link attached) The car spun and did two complete 180's and returned to its original direction. The remnants of the hub on the rim sawed thru the lower control arm and dog bone causing damage that resulted in a large bill; however as the video shows it could have been a lot worse.
After the event I went on line to contact Victor Equipment Company to discuss the occurrence. I quickly learned that neither Victor nor TSW has telephone contact information listed other than to find a dealer. I was able to find the TSW corporate HQ number; however, when I called and spoke to a customer service rep, he stated “WE DON’T SPEAK TO THE PUBLIC”. Now my “Irish” was up and contacted the dealer I purchased the wheels from; WHEEL THING in Philadelphia PA. I expressed what happened and sent photos of the wheel. They contacted the distributor DEALER DIRECT in Allentown PA. To my dismay the distributor responded to the retailer that TSW said “These wheels are NOT FOR TRACK USE” Disturbing since the TSW site refers to their race heritage and the Victor site refers to their superior rotary forged manufacturing process.
In the end I reached out to Car ToyZ in Pleasantville NJ, one of our local retailers that runs a highly reputable shop and was familiar with the distributor. Between Car Toyz and Wheel Thing they convinced Dealer Direct to send a replacement wheel at their expense. Since the wheel was shipping form Victor I suggested that Victor include a UPS call tag so they could see the wheel and analyze it for any manufacturing defects. Victor decided to ignore that as well.

Bottom line; I would stay away from TSW and/or Victor wheels, especially if you track the car. Most importantly, they are clearly not interested in standing behind their product and in fact do everything they can to remain insulated from their end users. I now remember what Caveat Emptor means!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=t1m0i4pJiGE

sonny1

Now, that is a wheel failure!!!!If I were you I will never use that brand at the track again.,good luck.Sonny1.

rbasales

You don't have to worry about that, they are LONG GONE!!!!

philstireservice

http://tsw.com/about-tsw-wheels-rims.php

According to what TSW is showing on their "About Us" page they are showing their wheels on several different racecars - as well as touting that the wheels are "Born on the Track". I would like an explanation from TSW about the comment made to you about the wheels not being for track use, when they clearly imply that they are being used for that very purpose. I have an inquiry in to my distributor and will post his response here.

rbasales

Thank you for your involvement relating this issue. What has occurred and continues to occur is Victor/TSW hiding behind its distributors and leaving its retailers and end users in a fog. Obviously they are not interested in any involvement with driving enthusiasts as they do not even want to talk to them! It's all marketing without substance at this supplier.

shizzle

First off, glad to hear you're ok after such a catastrophic failure.

Frankly speaking, I don't know what else the OP expected. Here are a set of mid-market 'bling' wheels with no safety certifications being used with slicks. The grip generated by the slicks probably led to the failure of these wheels. I've never understood why people don't spend the money to buy wheels that have been tested/certified and are intended for track use.

That being said, it's inexcusable how TSW alludes to a track heritage and builds a false sense of safety by talking about a racing heritage.

philstireservice

The interesting thing here is that TSW does use their off the shelf NurburgringRF wheel on World Challenge cars. Without sufficient inspection of the damaged wheel a true cause for failure cannot be determined. Wheels don't fail for no reason. There are rather stringent tests required before a wheel is released to the market. No matter whose wheel is chosen to race/track on, racing and track use exhibits many out of the ordinary powerful forces on a wheel. Most, if not all, race wheel manufacturers have a disclaimer regarding racing/track use failures. But there is no excuse for the "lack of communication" on the matter from the manufacturer.

edfishjr

To the OP: If you examine each fracture location, you might be able to determine if this is a fatigue failure or not. If you find even one (and probably only one... the rest gave way after one failed) fracture that has an "old" surface (probably dirty and maybe worn a little from relative movement) and then a sharply delineated "new" fracture surface (one that has just been ripped apart) you will have found the basic cause of the failure. This will indicate a fatigue crack that grew gradually.

If there is no such fatigue crack, if every fracture surface looks identical and new, then it was a catastrophic overload. Still probably started at one and then dominoed.

Forgedwheeler

Catastrophic wheel failures like this are quite common. They occur from alloy fatigue. This occurs when the bending force applied to the wheel exceeds the resistance of the alloy.
Forged wheels have a certain elasticity but once this is exceeded, the spokes will soon fracture and separate.
The actual cause could be improper load rating, poor engineering, use of the wheel for a purpose not intended (track use) or improper refinishing of the wheel where excessive heat was applied to the alloy.
A third party laboratory can easily tell you which of the above was the cause.

kosmo

I just came across this thread while searching "victor equipment" . As I suspected another cheap POS made in CHina, prob w/ loose tolerances. Had Beyrens, another shell TSW company, on an M5. All bent and delaminated after 2yrs. What a joke. These guys need to be called out.

I hope potential buyers get to see this thread.
dont go cheap on wheels and tires!!!

eflight

Thanks for the post, was about to buy a set of victor wheels for a set of snow tires.

Typical customer relations for many companies I am afraid. They really don't care about taking care of the one or 2 customers with a problem as long as their sales are doing ok.

After reading this I went and got a set of used OEM wheels. In my mind used OEM looks better than new Victor.

stujelly

Wheels fail, I have seen BBS do the same thing, but it is all about the follow up service on the other end with the vendors that count. That is too bad you got treated this way. Good thing is you were not hurt and hopfully the car did not take that big of a hit.

Damian in NJ

Lousy communication, to say the least, by the manufacturer.

triblk6spd

I alway try my best to never purchase anything from a company that does not allow or even dis ourages phone contact. It makes me crazy when Im trying to contact a business and all they provide is an email.
Sucks about the wheel. ..glad everyone is ok.

brad@tirerack.com

The car can be fixed. It's good to hear you are OK. I'm sorry also the "service" after the sale was so bad. It's the first time I have heard of Victor giving someone such a hard time. You should not have had to become such a squeaky wheel to get some resolution from this.