Was at Cecil saturday and a buddy of mine with a 9sec 02 Camaro had a catastrophic wheel failure with one of his front Bogart wheels......driving at 10mph warming the car up! Tire instantly flat and couldn't even drive it. I can't imagine what could have happened 15min later going down the track at 135mph...... Billet center ripped out of the spun alum barrel. He does some mild wheelstands....2ft....relatively soft landings. Race wheels manufacturers say NOT FOR STREET USE but wheelstands IMO are just as bad or in many cases worse. I have the same wheels on BQUICK and though (fortunately) I only pull the wheels a few inches, I am glad that is the case. BUT I admit to thousands of miles of street driving. I am going to call Bogart and see what they say..... Makes me wonder if some wrecks are caused by this type of failure....how would you know after the fact when everything is mangled. (Note: these are USA wheels....I would never put Jegs or Summit housebrand Chinese wheels on a car, not worth saving a few bucks)
My4 year old Billet Specialties wheel started leaking and I found it cracked where the center is welded rim. I don't recall ever hitting a pot hole, especially one that would cause a wheel to crack. I took it to a buddy of mine that fabricates and welds for a living. He told me that it should have been welded on the inside and the outside to prevent flexing. Billet Specialties didn't care.
My SunCoupe has 35yr old Centerlines....I need to give them a hard look. I think Autodrags were street legal?
Hang on to them. That's when they made quality parts. I had to buy my Billet Specialties after my two year old Centerlines that Summit "forgot" to balance were junk.. I took them to have them balanced and was told that there was way too much runout to balance. When I returned them to Summit, they informed me that Centerline had gone out of business. Summit did give me full credit for the Centerline's, but I still have junk wheels.
Bogarts have quite a few failures out there on the interwebs......champion had a good many also.....those SUPER light wheels concern me always have ...I know the failure to success rate is exponentially one sided and there are no guarantees with making a pass but still ....
I had a Monocoque come apart years ago. Fortunately just went flat in the lanes not down track. I believe they are out of business.... I believe the guy who dismounted the tires put a hurting on it. I was standing right there and said hey go easy....super light wheel. Not that he did anything different but I had a wobble after that.
I just talked to Bogart and Steve (standup guy) there said having a spool pushes a side load on the front skinnies when turning and that causes early wheels to separate. He said post 2010 wheels use a different weld and more of it. No failures since 2010 changes. He recommends send them in to be checked and usually rewelded.
I know they like to make those wheels light,but I don’t need to play with safety. Just make more power.
Certainly in his best interest to do so....nice wheels have gotten stupid expensive...8 mean draglites are $350 each now
HoleShots (USA) are pretty nice and fairly reasonable price last time I checked but who knows now....
