Shelby vs. Rock

Postby **Luke** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:12 am

I had 2 sets of worn rally tires dismounted yesterday and when we threw one up on the machine we noticed that something was missing from one of the wheels:

We were running tubes on the tire and it was holding air just fine, and judging by the mud and dirt embedded into the grain of the aluminum, we ran quite a few stages miles like this, woops! We threw it up on the balancing machine and spun it and the wheel is still dead true! So... they don't bend... but they will break.

Geoff · Postby **Geoff** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:57 am

haha, nice! That's nothing compared to the soccerball that Seth and I destroyed though :-)

I have one Shelby with a small bend in it. I also have a few others with cracks.

GRMPer · Postby **GRMPer** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:17 am

Yea, one of my Shelbys (ironically, one with my street tires) has a bend as well.

Sean Tennis · Postby **Sean Tennis** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:41 pm

I remember when the Shelby wheels were new, a guy put them on his rally car and they all broke, DNF'd because the wheels were to weak.

Nice looking for a street car but not strong enough for competition!

Postby **Luke** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:48 pm

Have to disagree, In 15 events I've just bent to just about everything else possible underneath the car, but this is the first wheel causality... maybe weak compared to a speedline or something but compared to other factory wheels... strong!

Sean Tennis · Postby **Sean Tennis** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:15 pm

I've seen them crack on street cars... our rough stages out here are to much for them.

It is good to hear that you are having good luck with them.

Postby **Luke** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:55 pm

Sean Tennis wrote:I've seen them crack on street cars... our rough stages out here are to much for them.

It is good to hear that you are having good luck with them.

Yeah I'm sure I'll have a slew of wheel failures now and really eat my words, thats what usually happens to me in these cases.

Sean Tennis · Postby **Sean Tennis** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:53 pm

Don't curse yourself...

It might be a good idea to give your stock of wheels a look over every so often just to see if something is damaged.

DeLorean · Postby **DeLorean** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:48 pm

The only time I have ever managed to bend wheels were when I have taken the car over curbs or center dividers that were knocked out of place by plow trucks... Most of the saab wheels seem to be fairly strong except for the early sunflower wheels & the SPG wheels. The lady who I got my 86 900-T from, every time she went in for inspection she needed at least 1 new sunflower wheel because they were always bent... wasn't there some guy who ran a Merkur in rally WV that had sunflower wheels? I bet those were nice and tweaked when he was done.

Ben H had a similar failure to that shelby in his NG-900 several years ago, though it happened to one of the 16" 3 spoke wheels well known for being bendy. A large chunk of the lip just got knocked right off, but it still held air. I think it also involved a curb hit. haha, he still runs the wheel on his car to this day (in that condition)

saab90089 · Postby **saab90089** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:37 am

I have a set of the 8 spoke 15" wheels which are bent enough they do not balance so well (after a few accidents :oops:

). Between that and the more then bald tire they are used for auto-x (the few times I've gone).

My 16" wheels hit a pot hole and bent 1 wheel. Took about a day before I noticed the tire was low. I have heard these wheels were not the strongest either.

Ian

Postby **Jordan** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:41 am

There are a couple of different types of 8-spokes. The Ronal versions I've heard are very soft and bend easily.

Luke's Shelby's have been through 3 full seasons of use hit many-o-ditch, I'd have to say they have stood up pretty darn well considering. He has a couple of sets, but I'm sure they went through plenty of rallies and who knows how many road miles before hand.

Postby **Luke** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:25 am

DeLorean wrote: Most of the saab wheels seem to be fairly strong except for the early sunflower wheels & the SPG wheels.

Also weaker than shit: manhole wheels, incas and ronal 8 spokes.

Geoff · Postby **Geoff** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:37 am

some of the shelbies had an issue with the castings cracking. I think it was a bad batch of wheels. They'd crack where the spoke meets the hub.

I've found the shelbies to be pretty strong. The minilites seem pretty strong too (Jerry Sweet used to run them in Maine and I think he said he only destroyed one or two in all the years he ran there). The soccerballs are pretty strong but I've bent them a lot in Maine (big rocks). The 24-spoke wheels and Incas are really soft, softer than the 15-spoke sunburst and SPG wheels.

I'm bringing two sets of 16" SAAB wheels (Super Aero and those soft 3 spoke NG900/9-3 wheels) to the shop today to get straightened...

airsweden · Postby **airsweden** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:47 am

Geoffy......... who/where are you getting wheels straightened? Chris used a place in Glens Falls, NY once for a customer's wheels and they kinda sucked. I've got a set of wheels that I was about to put on my 9000 for summer but they could use a little tweaking first.

JT

Postby **Luke** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:16 am

airsweden wrote:Geoffy......... who/where are you getting wheels straightened? Chris used a place in Glens Falls, NY once for a customer's wheels and they kinda sucked. I've got a set of wheels that I was about to put on my 9000 for summer but they could use a little tweaking first.

JT

Yeah how are their prices? I have some minilites I'd like to get staightened.

Shelby vs. Rock

Shelby vs. Rock

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