C5Natie

I dont know if anyone here owns COR wheels but I thought this article was interesting. The center of the wheel completely broke off from the wheel causing a lot of damage. Now the company is blaming the owner and has changed their warranty info after this.



This Guy’s Wheel Self-Destructed And The Company Who Made It Is Blaming Him



If you're buying wheels for your track car from a company that says things like "they're at home on the boulevard or on the racetrack" then it's reasonable to assume that the track is one of the expected places you'll be using those wheels. That means if the center of the wheel busts out while driving, you wouldn't expect the company to deny your warranty claim because "our products are designed for street use."
But that's exactly what one Mustang owner says happened.
Today over at the North American GT-R Owners' Forum (NAGTROC), member Tay posted a sad tale about a wheel. Specifically, a very expensive wheel made by Cor that decided to bagelize (the center of the wheel broke out) itself while the owner was receiving some track driving instruction in his Mustang.
His post caught my attention because the same thing happened to me while I was driving in the 2008 24 Hours Of LeMons race. There are some key differences, however. The biggest of which is that I was racing on the cheapest racing steelies bad checks could buy and this guy's Cor wheels cost over $4,500.
Here's how the owner describes the event:He says the wheels were purchased new in mid-2011 and that he had their centers painted gold about a week before the incident by a reputable shop that he says has experience working with race cars.
The owner says he contacted Cor to have the wheel replaced under warranty. According to him, Cor requested the wheels be returned for analysis (I'm imagining the wheel on the couch sobbing because its mom-wheel never really held it) and then they responded with this letter:
After receiving the letter, Cor seemed to have updated their Warranty information on their website to include a statement saying the warranty was void if the wheel was used in "competitive events." This is counter to previous statements, including Cor's own blog posts where they state Cor wheels can "gain unmatched performance on and off the racetrack" and one where a specially-prepped GT-R with Cor wheels is described as "every bit at home on the track as it is on the boulevard."
It doesn't really seem like Cor wasn't promoting their wheels for track use. Hell, the first sentence on their "about" page reads "COR International was founded by a team of veteran wheel enthusiasts with a commitment to produce the very finest street and competition wheels."
As far as the claim that the painting somehow weakened the materials of the wheel, I'm slightly skeptical of that. I haven't done a comprehensive metallurgical analysis, and I don't know if the paint was based on acidic alien blood, but from past experiences I can't think of a situation where normal automotive paint degraded cast aluminum. Perhaps the wheels were heated in the painting process?
From the information available now, it seems like Cor's image of a track-friendly company doesn't match up with how they actually support owners. If they want to just be showy street wheels, that's fine. But if they're going to repeatedly suggest their wheels' prowess on the track, they need to just suck it up and replace warrantied wheels when they break. It's just a wheel, guys. You build them.
UPDATE: as pointed out below, the company's limited warranty does mention track use, although in a way that seems to contradict their image:It should be noted that the owner says this was added after his claim, and has screenshots to back this up on his post.




http://jalopnik.com/5953859/this-guy...ium=socialflow

LoneStarFRC

Welll, alrighty then. No COR wheels for me.

Thanks

0acuteperformance

Cor's Official Response. While I might not agree with how a couple things were handled, I still believe in Cor. I've been selling wheels for quite some time and even the best companies have wheel failures including OEM. For those that know me and my reputation, you know that customer service is the #1 priority and making money comes second. I will be the first to drop Cor if I think their wheels are not up to standards.

http://www.corwheels.com/statement-from-cor-wheels/

If in doubt, shoot me a message and I can give proof that I'm not saying this just because I sell their wheels.

Michael
Owner
Acute Performance

C5Natie

I just wonder why they are saying their wheels are not for track use when they obviously use racing for their advertising? Youd think that for the price of the wheels and how many they sell they wouldnt have hesitated to just give the guy a new wheel. I like their wheels, looks wise, but I'd be worried now if I had them on a hpde car.

0acuteperformance

I think it's more for if a car goes off track who knows what will happen. Too many weird things can happen on the track. Or, their product liability requires them to put it.

nvusgt

I'm sorry but Cor since day one has been marketing their wheels as performance wheels "at home on the track." They handled this entire situation incredibly poorly, not only did they renig on their "peirformance" claim and say their wheels are street use only, they also changed their warrenty and then lawyered up to put out a ridiculous legal silence statement. Has anyone heard the saying "perception is everything?"

The cost of legal fees alone would've covered an entire set of new wheels. If one of the selling points a company tries to focus on is high performance and their motto (until recently) was "At home on the track as it is on the boulevard" and the second something like this happens where they back peddle to reclarify their brand....Fail. This company deserves to lose a gob of business and if they're butt hurt about it have them call CCW, BBS, Foreline, Volk Racing, HRE etc to get a better idea of how it's really done.

Also another thing. Is Cor even aware that defensive driving manoeuvres depending on the road condition and speed (a combination of aggressive breaking, turning the wheel hard and who knows, a pothole. How about European folks on the autobahn in case people say track speeds couldn't be reached off the track) that this incident has a possibility of occurring on the road? What then, would they say the incident that occurred was more than the wheel could handle and tell the owner "sorry?" They make it seem just because the car was on a track that the same conditions couldn't possibly happen off the track.

I was a fan of their wheels, but after this I will never consider or recommend them. Customer service speaks for itself and they lost big.

WKMCD

Sorry Michael,

They've screwed the pooch on this one. You can't advertise a wheel "at home on the track" and then not honor the warranty. It's called bait and switch which is not only bad business but illegal in every state. The fact that they changed the wording on their website AFTER THE FACT speaks volumes. Had anyone been seriously hurt, they'd be on the hook and if you sold the wheel - so would you.

0acuteperformance

You're right so would I. I am fully aware and still continue to defend them. Just so you know, their hands were tied legally before they were given any opportunities to resolve.

lionelhutz

Lawyers and insurance companies - there isn't much leeway left once they are involved.

As for the track use issue - can you show me any products that are warantied for track use? You'll find products sold for track use, but typically not much if any warranty is given.

FRITZM

Am I missing something or is COR telling a lie in its 10/24 letter?

"Prior to the involvement of legal counsel, the client was offered a full refund, regardless of any specific warranty considerations."

Cybermind

It's complete bull**it on their part. I have been working in the aerospace industry for 26 years and I have seen loads of failures of all sorts and looking at that photograph, I can tell you that it should not have failed like that if it was designed/ manufactured properly, track or no track. Of course I am assuming that there is no evidence of impact anywhere on the rim lip and from COR's response, that is a safe assumption.

You can run across a lot of emergency situations in everyday driving which can exceed conditions found on a track and a properly designed wheel should not snap off in the middle like that. Unless, it received a huge impact. Even then, it should be maleable enough to bend and distort but not snap off.

I'm tired of wheel companies charging big bucks for wheels and then not taking responsibility when something like this happens. In this case we are talking about one wheel. Seriously, COR could not have done the right thing here and at least have sent him a new wheel? Really?

leadfoot4

I agree with what you've said, but I'll play the devil's advocate for a moment...OK, they accept responsibility for the wheel's breakage, and replace it (which they should, BTW). Now the car's owner says, "OK you said your wheel was defective, now fix the damage to my car, which was caused by the failure of your wheel". I think that's what COR is afraid of.....

Cybermind

By them sending him a new wheel, it is not automatically considered an admission of defective wheel design. Just one failed wheel......period. Why and how it happened is another story. They could've at least sent him a replacement wheel to smooth things over and then take it from there. It's just good business. Look at what it got them; threads such as this.

PS: I still say that wheels should not fail catastrophically. I wonder how the DOT would feel about it? If COR wanted to minimize the damage to their company, they have gone about it in completely the wrong way. Today's social media can ruin a company's image and reputation in the blink of an eye.

leadfoot4

Again, I agree, but I think they're playing a big game of covering their behinds...and as you say, in this day and age, it will come back and bite them.

K-Spaz

I think it's more a case of, now that they know these flimsy wheels are not strong enough, they know this won't be the last case of this. If these start breaking en-masse, they need to quell the storm now, so the new policy on these is c.y.a.

Some idiot designed a wheel with little or no structure cause they thought it looked kewl. There's no meat to them. Just look at the thing. I would never put my car on something with such a flimsy looking structure. Whoever drew this thing up had the mechanical sense of a rock. Look where it broke, look at how much leverage the wheel and tire are putting on that area, and tell me you wouldn't expect this to break?

wcsinx

Never buy Cor wheels. Roger that

lionelhutz

Your polished thin spokes likely have about as much material in the spokes as those wheels. You'd better get rid of them right away.

leadfoot4

True, BUT the shape of the OE C-5 spokes is much different, and that appears to be the difference.

LoneStarFRC

Not to mention any potential differences in alloy and/or manufacturing processes.

Cybermind

Furthermore OEM C5 thinspokes do not fail catastrophically. They fail gradually, normally due to fatigue. That is an acceptable failure mode because it is manageable and detectable.

I'd bet that the OEM C5 thinspokes would probably do better on a track than those COR's wheels.