fu*k - really glad you're OK.

Nay worries mate! Hope you keep some Andrex in the car now!

Depending on the alloy grade and the heat treatment, heating up to as little as 180°C for a reasonible length of time can result in a 60% loss of strength

very very odd :o, my metallurgist at work would love a challenge like this, but would probably teel you that this is down to a previous defect ( as mentioned before this looks like either the centre has been heated / had its material properties changed ), or that a stress fracture has been created a while back, which has just grown into a full crack.

Either way, I'm glad to see you walked away, this could have been a fatal incident.

You REALLY need to find out who did this & put an end, as if someone thinks they can repair wheels ( if indeed it was a repair, which I reckon it is ), they need to be stopped, as this WILL kill someone else

Agreed with hard alloys, they don't like being heated in a zone, the only way is to stress releive the whole lot, costs a lot, as you need to know the material, times etc to heat, then controlled cooling etc...

I would strongly advise you to check all the other wheels ( especially the rear faces, as these will show up cracks, as they are rougher, which is where a crack may initiate ( rough surfaces )

Blinking El
I am thinking of getting a whole new set of refurbed alloys from Solo Italia, is it safe to get these?

yes sure, ask them if they have an independant radiograph film of each wheel on all spokes & a dye pen report

only way to be sure

but I doubt any wheel place would ever do this

Well the lad who I bought the car from stays up in Stirling so I imagine it would be somewhere in that area (though more probably Glasgow/Edinburgh) that did the powder coating. I don`t see any receipts for the job in all the paperwork i`ve got with the car and i`m waiting on him getting back to the message I sent him.

Baz