EOI - CNC AE86 Hubs in standard size and +10mm track

[Anthony]

heh understeering into a gutter pretty much covers all the axes from a hubs point of view .

[sundee]

Heh very true , but then we are talking about multiple catastrophic failures.
Can the hubs come with airbags?

[Frak]

I didn't think you'd understand a technical response....lol

[Jacobxxx]

Play nice ladies, facts only please!

[blair]

It's funner to read when they don't play nice though...

[fantapants]

lol at calling out frak on technical issues

fwiw the nature of aluminium, however its structured, means its not suitable for certain things.

i can only mention from my experiance with bikes, which i know is a very different kettle of fish, but utilising aluminium balances weight against regidity. To gain an advantage from aluminum, it has to be lighter. to be lighter it utilises less mass. But because its softer, it looses regidity. So we increase the regidity of the material with additives. Which unfortunatly leeds to an increase in the brittle nature of aluminium.

While i have no doubt this balance can be achieved with a great deal of accuracy, in my experiance it also means that the margin for error is MUCH smaller. And this leads to more chances of failure.

in short, id agree with ant and frak, its fine if you are not utilising them on the road regularly. Or if you can replace them regularly.

But thats just imo

[sundee]

I still don't agree . I really think that aluminum or in this case duralium (spelling)
Would easily cope with the task. A 2xxx series for hi heat and Fatigue resistance.
These materials make up nearly 3/4 of an aircrafts ZFW ( zero fuel weight )
Now if this material was prone to be unreliable and fail, why then would it be used in the making of such critical structures so vastly?

I do however agree with blood nuts aka fantapants comment to some degree - but I think it can be achievable safely with hi accuracy

[rthy]

what parts of the aircraft do they use it on?

[Kid Karola]

Alloy and Aluminum is not the same thing. Far too often the two terms are used interchangeably when they shouldn't be. *Definition: An alloy is a homogeneous mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements* Yes there are Aluminum Alloys with varying strength and properties, but Steel is itself an Alloy and there are many derivatives of both.

The material selection; strength, toughness (resistance to fatigue), corrosion resistance, treatment process, stability at operating temperatures, machinability, cost, etc. Not to mention the re-design of hub is of major importance; changes in steering geometry, stresses on major components (axle, bearings, sus, brake, wheel) will no longer be the same, and this needs to be taken into account. Balance is another consideration, but CNCed part will generally have inherent balance and less flaws than a casting (which needs to be post-machined anyway)

I think the CNC/billet hub option has advantages and disadvantages over the OEM cast hub. For track/race use yes or daily road use maybe-no? A track is a relatively steady environment and 100km track time is arguably more punishing than 1000km on normal roads. You don't redline launch, flat out accel then hard brake, ride kerbs, repeat for 30 min to hour+ everytime you drive do you? That said, roads surfaces and conditions are constantly changing, add pot holes, gutters poor maintenance... but most of the time you're not pushing at the limit of physical envelope for 100-1000-10,000km at a time.

It's not the sort of thing you can just fit and forget, As mentioned these would have a shorter lifespan and need to be inspected/replaced at regular intervals preventative maintenance - remove & test, if ok shelf for spares or bin & replace regardless. 70-86% of guys here are balling on a budget so not an option. Generally if you want 10mm track for aesthetic reasons or grip, it would probably be easier, cheaper, less drama to get wheels that fit with correct offset, use spacers or longer LCA, all of which have pro-cons in themselves. For those looking for every last umpteenth of performance with cost no object, sign below.

[slide86]

Ok these will be made from K10 45 steel........

This company I am dealing with is not a backyard operation, they have insurance for thr car parts thry make underwrittrn by lyodds of London.......

Like I have previously stated, they make components for other Australian performance shops and a v8 supercar team, I'm sure they have an idea what they are doing.

I'm not making a comment on anything else, simply cause I don't know. I'm just going by the facts I'm told by the team that will be making them