Rear - Solution 4
Buy
a new carbon composite or carbon/alloy composite wheels. Carbon fiber
is poor with impact loads. That is a fact, but you will normally only
read or hear
statements about high tensile strengths, monumental stiffness, light
weight, and other truths that don't mitigate the low toughness concern
enough to satisfy me. Though the carbon fiber wheel manufacturers design
around the poor material properties there are fundamental differences
between a wheel made from
a (relatively) ductile material like cast or forged aluminum and those
made from a brittle
(in the true engineering sense) matrix of plastic and carbon fiber. The
manufacturers push performance gains such as lower polar moments, less
unsprung weight and
the like. Yes, they often have street approvals but that, to me, is
little consolation. You have to be prepared to deal with wheels
that are not as robust as something made of 100% metal. beside being
outright tacky these wheels are expensive and finicky, not what I
normally look for in a purchase.
Some gurus at an on-line forum have refuted my technical opinion on plastic wheels. What else is new? Go here
to be enthralled with innuendo and horribly misapplied analogies. These
types of wheels are banned in every type of motorsport racing I can
think of. They are forebaden primarily because of the nasty failure
mode. The reasons for my personal lack of acceptance are similar to
those of the sanctioning race bodies around the planet.
OK now,
lets look at it from a less technical angle. Even if these wheels
possessed some real value and were truly race and roadworthy it does not
stop them from being cheesy.
I have done some intensive research, just as the gurus did, and developed this simple formula to explain
partially what I am talking about. The equivalency is plain to see even
to the most technically challenged.
