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Thread: Keizer Wheels Cracking

  1. #1
    Some teams approached us in Michigan and California about the Keizer wheel centers , cracking and breaking.

    This has not happened to us yet but I would like to hear more about this.

    How it happened? How long you've had the wheels? What are the specs on the wheels?

    Thanks
    Umur Selek
    President, Project Manager, Marketing Leader, Pedals&Brakes
    Rutgers Formula SAE 2010-2012

  2. #2
    Some teams approached us in Michigan and California about the Keizer wheel centers , cracking and breaking.

    This has not happened to us yet but I would like to hear more about this.

    How it happened? How long you've had the wheels? What are the specs on the wheels?

    Thanks
    Umur Selek
    President, Project Manager, Marketing Leader, Pedals&Brakes
    Rutgers Formula SAE 2010-2012

  3. #3
    I would also like to know more about it.

    Out of personal interest, it would be great if someone can share failure pictures also.
    06, 07, 08 - Ashwa Racing (R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore)
    09 - Rennstall (University of Applied Sciences, Esslingen)
    10,11 - Red Shirt / Scrutineer (FSG, Hockenheim)

  4. #4
    I know back in 2002-2005 there were alot of teams having problems with the Keizer wheels. Offsets being incorrect, rims out of round and failures after less than a season of use. I haven’t heard much about any problems since then, just teams saying that the BBS and Jongbloed wheels are far superior.

    If you search the forums there are a few discussions started from those years and they point out the flaws each team saw in the wheels.

    This year our team used a set of 4 Keizer Cosmo wheels bought in 2009 and had only 15-20hrs of time on them that cracked outwards from the mounting holes during testing one day. After looking into the cracks and why it happened we found out that the wheel centers were actually Magnesium when we ordered Aluminum centers in 2009 (checked our ordering forms). Might have been a mix-up in assembly at Keizer but we never noticed because we didn’t think to check that the material was correct.

    We suspect these started cracking from over-tightening the lug nuts on the Magnesium center instead of what we thought was 6061-T6 Aluminum but who knows? Maybe a flaw if other teams are seeing problems. I should have pictures up soon.
    Geoff Van Gemert
    Western Michigan University
    2009-2010 Project Manager & Suspension Team Leader
    2008-2009 Suspension Team Leader
    2007-2008 Suspension

  5. #5
    The team ordered a set of 7" wide wheels the year after I graduated. To achieve the correct offset, Keizer machined the mounting pads pretty thin (IIRC less than 3/16") and the countersinks for the tapered lugnuts knife edged the holes. I think they found cracks in 2 of the 4 rims after competition.

    We ran 6.5" wide sets on several cars prior to this with no issues but there was also significantly more material in the mounting pad area (over 1/2").

    I wonder how much these reported failures had to do with the combination of width and offset?

  6. #6
    This year, in our first year, we ordered A1series from Keizer that they had on special offer for FSAE teams. We haven't yet tested the car, but they do seem quite 'flexible'. The center is actually just an aluminum plate, around 7mm thick (not sure exactly, I am not at the workshop right now ). There are no strengthening ribs or anything, so we might add some ribs on it to make it more rigid.

    From FEA analysis, we should be losing up to 1deg of camber due to wheel flexing.

    I hope that this flexing does not lead to fatigue cracks...

    I will post more when we test the car for the first time.

  7. #7
    The knife edge from the countersink is a huge issue with fatigue no matter the material. A huge stress raiser coupled with a large initial crack from the drilling/knife edge and you got the perfect recipe for a failure. Overtightening or not, it was a flawed design.

    A few years ago 2007-2008 our Keizer 13" wheels began having problems with rim sealing. We tried everything to fix it but it just kept deflating. I don't quite like the execution but seems that everyone prefers the "lightweight" over the durability
    Philippe
    Stress Engineer

    Technical Director 2007-2010
    Brakes, Steering & Drivetrain Lead 2007-2010
    Body Subteam Leader 2005-2007
    McGill Racing Team

    "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." A. Einstein

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