Bent factory wheels

[JohnCh]

Has anyone with the Caterham 13" wheels had issues with slightly bent rims from the factory? Not something severe enough to prevent using the wheel, but just a quality issue that is apparent when on the balancer?

Thanks,
John

[moosetestbestanden]

I have them, no issues, other than they are heavy, relative to the fragile but light Barnbys

[JohnCh]

Thanks Chris. I spoke with Ben at RMSCI earlier today and he hasn’t heard about this either. However, most of the wheels he receives already have the tires mounted.

As background, I ordered a set of these wheels in late February, and they finally arrived Friday afternoon. The next morning I took them to the tire shop to have my R888s mounted, and learned that all 4 wheels are slightly bent. Two bends are minor, but were still visible to me when the wheel was on the balancer, and two are severe enough to force the tech to statically, rather than dynamically balance them. He didn’t think it would be an issue on the road, and with the statically balanced wheels on the rear of the car, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary in my limited testing.

After speaking with Ben today, I am going to move the back wheels to the front and try it again at higher speeds before deciding if I need to deal with a return. Given the hassles involved with the latter – have the tires pulled, ship the wheels to the UK, and then hope the new wheels take less than 2-1/2 months to arrive and that all four are straight – I’d rather not deal with it unless necessary.

It seems a little odd to me that all 4 wheels are bent, yet the boxes show no signs of damage. It almost makes me think that this is more of a production issue, hence the reason for my earlier query. As for weight, yes they are a little lardy at 10lb 5.5oz, but my outgoing 14x6 wheels are even heavier at 14lb. They also look really good on the car. :)

-John