6ul wheels

[jeffw]

And I'd rather get my wheels from an East Coast supplier

[Emilio700]

And I'd rather get my wheels from an East Coast supplier

http://www.philstireservice.com/

[jeffw]

And I'd rather get my wheels from an East Coast supplier

http://www.philstireservice.com/

Yup. They carry D-Force!

[dinoracer]

Bringing this old one back up just to add this awesome picture found on Corner-Carvers forum....

[jeffw]

Wow! That's one amazing shot!

[Shawn624]

Is that a 6UL wheel?

[breakaway500]

Doesn't look like one. I'm sure the next few frames were ugly!

[TroyV]

I'm pretty sure it isn't 6UL wheel.....but it does press home the fact that wheels are a consumable and need to be replaced more often than one might think.

[sbyers]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum, I just joined to get opinions on the 6UL wheels.
I live in Australia. I have a Honda Civic hatchback 1995 EG with B16A turbo engine (approx 300hp at the wheels), I use it for track days.
I have a pair of 6UL on the front - 15x9 and 15x8 for the rear.
I use Advan A050 tyres 225/50/R15.
A couple of weeks ago at a track day, my left front 6UL wheel broke while powering out of a right hand corner in 4th gear.
I was traveling at approx 120kph and accelerating hard.
It was only the 3rd track day with the 6UL wheels.
I sent an email with photos to Emilio from 949 Racing and he said he will replace the broken wheel free of charge.
As the car sustained quite a bit of damage from the wheel coming off, (badly damaged fender, broken oil filter, cracked brake rotor, broken oil feed line for turbo) I'm reluctant to use the 6UL wheel again. Emilio said the brake occurred at the weakest part in the wheel and that a failure can happen on any race wheel. Being curious, I Google'd '949 Racing 6UL wheel failure' and found a photo of a broken 6UL wheel that broke in a similar place to mine.
So it appears this has happened before.
If you were in my shoes, would you put another set of 6ULs on your race car?
I'm nervous so I have been thinking about getting a set of forged Volk racing wheels such as the TE37V or a set of Enkei RPF1's.
Let me know if you're interested to see photos of the broken wheel and damage to the car and I'll upload them for you.
thanks!

[Chrispy]

I for one would love to see your wheel failure. A failure after that short a period of time is pretty scary.

Was the wheel subject to any sharp impact such as potholes etc? Did it get powder coated or anything?

If I was in your shoes I would replace with the RPF1, I've seen the testing process that those wheels go through and it is pretty impressive. All the Ray's wheels (Volk etc) seem to have a good reputation as well.

[breakaway500]

You can overload any wheel...they all have their break point limits. If you broke a new 6UL wheel so quickly,I would say you are over it's physical abilities,and I would replace it with a stronger wheel..like a fully forged unit.They (forged) cost more,but that is the price you pay for a stronger wheel.

I will not run anything but a forged wheel on the front of my supercharged Focus,which I run very sticky,tall...wide tires (295/40/17" Kumho V710's) Front wheel drive cars place a LOT of stress on the front wheels. They are doing everything; cornering,acceleration,braking..and the back is only along for the ride...

[Shawn624]

When you say "It was only the 3rd track day with the 6UL wheels." Do you mean that these wheels are new and you only use them for track days - or have they had a long life that only included a few track days?

[sbyers]

Thanks for your replies everyone
The 6UL wheels were purchased new in October 2010 and the car is only driven to get to the race track or to the workshop for maintenance.
I would say the wheels were driven on the public road approximately 15 times and at the racetrack 3 times.
During that time I had never hit a pot hole. The wheels were not powder coated and looked practically new.
I tend to agree with Breakaway500's reply, the wheel was most likely overloaded.
The failure occurred while accelerating hard out of a right hand turn.
At that point, there would have been a heavy load on the outer left face of the wheel plus a strong pulling force as I accelerated.
The engine produces a lot of torque so I'm guessing the load was just too much for a cast wheel that is not forged.
I have a set of Sprint Hart CP035 15x7 wheels which I have used a few times at the track, they seem to be quite strong.
I just wish they were slightly wider. I was thinking about putting Advan A050 225/50/15 tires on them and see how much grip I get.
Do you think that tire is too wide for the 15x7?
I was also considering getting a set of Enkie RPF1 wheels 17x9. A friend of mine is doing very quick times in his DC2 Integra - K24 supercharged with those wheels.
I have uploaded some photos for you.
Thanks again

[breakaway500]

I'd have to say def overloaded.You need stronger wheels,and you may even start to break hub flanges. I had to have special billet hubs made to take the forces my Focus generates.

A 7" wide wheel may be pinching that tires sidewall, which is less than ideal for performance. I've also found shorter sidewall tires to be faster (more feeling) on my fwd cars.

I have a fwd in the works that has 325whp @ 12psi (2.3T Cosworth) and hope to have the finished weight down around 1400lbs...should be fun..

[sbyers]

I made a mistake in my previoius post, I can't get the Enkie in 17x9 because the hole pattern is 5 lug, I need 4x100.
Will probably get a set of forged Volk racing wheels and sell the 6ULs.