buy your banded steels from a reputable source....

[Dez]

or this might happen less than 25 miles after you fit them





I'm rather lucky, as id just slowed down to 55-60ish from 8570 to pull into the services anyway. totally flat road, no bumps or potholes.

I'm also rather lucky they were tubed rather than tubeless, as it went flat gradually rather then going bang. and that I have a mediocum of car control so I could stop it without braking when it was the front that cracked on a fwd car. and that I had the foresight to set it up with a positive scrubline even though its rather low. if they were tubeless or id have braked or the lower arm had hit the floor, id have lost it on the a12 in the wet and the dark.

oh, and dot rely on your factory fit jack actually working. mine snapped in half after 2 turns and i had to scab one off a bloke in a reno master.

oh well, it was fun while it lasted.


just to clarify. THESE ARE NOT A SET OF JAMES P WHEELS.
ive already spoken to him about replacements.

[composimmonite]

Name and shame supplier ?

Paul H.

[jamesp]

never seen one do that before

heres how we break em



f1 stock car post 70mph

[PandaSelecta]

i think a name and shame is in order purely on a safety reason

[Butterz]

Sh!t!! I think I'd need a new drivers seat after that

[Rich606]

Nov 5, 2010 20:38:41 GMT Dez said:

I'm rather lucky, as id just slowed down to 55-60ish from 8570 to pull into the services anyway. totally flat road, no bumps or potholes.

Or kittens, or buses of nuns

But really, glad it wasn't more serious. That is pretty shocking that it only lasted 25 miles.

[usedabused]

Looks like was weld was "over" dressed prier to painting,

A name and shame may not be a good idea as we do not know the full story.

Just a cracked welded rim.

[Deleted]

Er, that's a bit scary Dez. Hope you'll be having words with the 'source', assuming you know where they came from. I'll be interested to see the other side of the rim if you don't mind taking a picture when you take the tyre off.

The positive thing that can come from this thread is the quality of the weld in James P's picture. No way that weld is going to be the failure mode. Smooth, neat and well penetrated

[Dez]

Nov 5, 2010 21:04:37 GMT Butterz said:

Sh!t!! I think I'd need a new drivers seat after that

yeah, ringpiece was chewing at the seat a bit after that. then the enjoyable drive of the next 30 miles of my journey as slow as is safe at rush hour on the a12, with the stereo off listening for the slightest little noise that shouldnt be there, trying to avoid every lump, bump pothole and grain of same on the road, lest one of the others should let go when I didnt have another spare. great fun.


long and short of it- I don't know who made them. I bough them on this forum. I was in 2 minds to send them back when they turned up and where an inch narrower than advertised (advertised as 9.5s, check the pics below for actual width), and the tyres a different size too. but I needed wheels asap, so decided to keep them and make do. wish I hadnt now

the seller has refunded me £50, to get james to make a replacement. ive still got to replace the brand new tyre and tube though.

and usedabused- what a load of cr4p.
if id welded them myself or indeed they were a set of james wheels , youd be able to grind the weld off both sides totally flush, then take a sledgehammer to them and them still not break. its simply a sh1t, unpenetrative weld. you can still see the weld standing proud right next to where the break is is you look closely in the photos.


personally, if id done them, id not have dressed the weld at all, but I know some people prefer them without the weld visible so wasnt too concerned at the time. I didnt dress them at all, only cleaned them up and repainted them, as they looked like this when I got them, all rust and satin black.


they had a damn good knotwheeling, a quick touch of the flap wheel round any sharp edges, any dents pulled out with a large adjsutable, a rough up with some emery, and a rattle can spray job before new tyres and tubes being fitted.

heres the insides. someone has attempted to seal two with tape (the two I put on the front) the other had had no attempt to seal them, but had been mildly ground back to remove any sharp edges.


not 9.5s, 8.5s


I think I'm going to grind back/cut out and reweld all the others myself for piece of mind. the wheels are actually perfectly true, even with unbalanced tyres on there they don't have a wobble or vibration at all, so they're worth slavaging i think. but i think i should just have made my own in the first place (only reason I didnt is I don't have a roller to form the bands) or just paid james to do some. ah well, ive and learn

[BenzBoy]

Jeez, glad that turned out the way it did - it could have been nasty!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but surely it's better to weld on the inside of the rim so that you don't need to dress the welds (and weaken them)?

[Dez]

they are welded from the inside. and the outside too. so they definatley shouldnt have cracked!!

[Davenger]

Jeebus cripes!
Definite brown moment.
Glad it wasn't too bad

[dungbug]

Nov 5, 2010 22:06:36 GMT Davenger said:

Jeebus cripes!
Definite brown moment.
Glad it wasn't too bad

+1

Glad you/someone else wasn't hurt.

[namless]

see these are the sort of things that give modding a bad name pah! well at least all was discovered in good time

[scotty82]

Personally after seeing the condition of them id be demanding my money back and leaving them on the blokes front door/window until the cash is back in my palms.

Its lucky you didn't end up doing far more damage to yourself or someone else or both.

[Mick The Cabbie]

If this had caused you to be involved in an RTA, you can bet it would have lead to banded wheels being made illegal.

[will]

This reminds me, I need to pm James.
Thanks

[armour]

They'd be going back if it was me, wouldn't fancy it happening on the other 3.

[stealthstylz]

If the previous owner didn't make them it's not his problem really, I think it's quite good that he's paid towards having a new one made. Still scary, and as above something like this causing a news worthy accident could spell the end of them.

Matt

[autohausdolby]

Nov 5, 2010 21:13:00 GMT Rich606 said:

Or kittens, or buses of nuns

I was telling our apprentice about working safely to avoid killing puppies, nuns, kittens and children ;D

Glad to see it's still a well known measure of safety.