18inch Hairpins fragile?

[MGBJM]

Hi, just had an annoying problem and wondered if it was a known issue, or simply a testament to the obsession of Kirklees council wil potholes and speed bumps.....

I was on holiday recently and noticed that both my front tyres had small nicks in the sidewall so I took it to a local garage to get a new front set (Nexens- 110 the pair fitted, not bad I thought)
When I collected the car the fitter told me that both front alloys were cracked. I wasn't really able to do anything about it there and then so just accepted the advice and avoided driving the car. The morning after the garage I had to change for the spare as the near side went flat overnight (no air leaks at all before the tyre changes) and found a crack near a previous weld on the inside rim, about an inch long. The offside has started losing air too now it's parked up at home. I have a replacement set of 4 wheels on order to make one good set that should arrive today. It just seems odd that the damage should be on the inner rims, not the outers (ok, I'll admit I have probably kerbed them parking, but not the inside of the wheel) so just wondered if there was a known problem with these alloys being particularly fragile?
It turned out to be an expensive holiday as the alternator failed too! Such is life....

[murphyv310]

Hi.
Interesting as my tyre fitter told me last year that these wheels have the tendency to develop cracks too. Now he's been in business for 35 years and I have used him for at least 20 years! So perhaps there is some truth in what he says.
The wheels are 15 years old of course so it is quite possible.

[stevestrat]

I've never been keen on them. They were on the 1.8T when I bought it, had to replace two due to buckled rims.

[wullie480]

Weird I was actually thinking this last night.
Was clearing out the shed looking for a spare for the wife's zt & I've 6 alloys that are cracked or buckled that I've kept to weigh in.
I didn't realise that I had as many damaged but these have all been damaged in the past 2 years between the 2 zts.
What prompted me was the mrs had a blow out on hers the other night on her way home from work. Wheel was cracked & buckled.

The buckled ones I could get repaired but I'm think of changing to a different style due to repeat failures.

Although I don't think the state of the roads help.

[clf]

I read a few years ago, that buckled/cracked wheels are becoming more and more common. There are two reasons, the first being the obvious deterioration of the roads we drive on, the second is wheel are becoming wider and wider. As they become wider, they become weaker, because the rim is longer from the face, it takes less force to bend the inner part of the rim than it does on narrower wheels.

[johnnyb44]

The TV programme " The Garage " showed a prime example of this on a car they were repairing. I think it was a Golf which had some wide wheels fitted. The inner rim was buckled to hell ,

[Si-monogram]

Can't beat the 31 year old wheels on my metro. Made from steel and in 31 years, they have seen their fair share of pot holes and they still go strong!

[FrazzleTC]

Hairpins are awful for it! We've replaced three on Dad's ZT over the years. I'd rather run straights. I've seen a few cracked and buckled Serpents over the years, too!

[Avora]

I have a cracked 11 spoke at the moment which wasn't spotted when I got new tyres. Annoying, but a replacement is easy to source and the tyre will swap over. I blame the potholes.

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

[DMGRS]

The only alloys on all of my MG Rovers I've ever managed to crack are 18" Hairpins... and I've done 3!

Definitely a touch weaker than the other styles, I think.