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Any history of wheel hub fatigue/failure on E30s?

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    Any history of wheel hub fatigue/failure on E30s?

    My buddy just had a hub failure on his Corvette AutoX/One Lap car and my other buddy was talking about the common front wheel hub failures on track Miatas.


    Is there any history of hub fatigue issues on E30s? I can't see to find anyone building billet hubs so that's usually a good sign that it's not an issue, but I wanted to get input from some of you who have run big stickies on these cars.


    I'd really not like experience a failure like this in the middle of turn 11 at Road Atlanta and put my car into the wall because I was too cheap to upgrade a known failure point :mrgreen:

    #2
    Not unless someone ignores a failed wheel bearing to the point where that comes apart. I can’t ever recall an actual hub failure.
    2006 GMC Sierra 2500HD 4WD LBZ/Allison
    2002 BMW M3 Alpinweiß/Black
    1999 323i GTS2 Alpinweiß
    1995 M3 Dakargelb/Black
    - S50B32/S6S420G/3.91
    1990 325is Brilliantrot/Tan
    1989 M3 Alpinweiß/Black

    Hers: 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo Black/Black
    Hers: 1988 325iX Coupe Diamantschwartz/Black 5spd

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      #3
      Are you sure they actually meant the hub failed? The corvette probably uses a bolt on hub/bearing assembly that lots of people refer to as just a hub. A failed "hub" in that case would mean a hub/bearing replacement as a unit. I don't know what a miata uses but even if it's not a bolt-on assembly lots of cars you can't get the hub separately from the bearing so some people interchange the words. Food for thought.
      84 325e - 91 325i - 92 318 touring - 91 Trans Am - 01 S4 avant - 03 S-type R - 96 F350
      Manual swap all the things!

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        #4
        Originally posted by iansane View Post
        Are you sure they actually meant the hub failed? The corvette probably uses a bolt on hub/bearing assembly that lots of people refer to as just a hub. A failed "hub" in that case would mean a hub/bearing replacement as a unit. I don't know what a miata uses but even if it's not a bolt-on assembly lots of cars you can't get the hub separately from the bearing so some people interchange the words. Food for thought.
        Yes. The hub flange fatigued and broke from the rest of the hub. My concern is that the E30 uses regular cast and machined hubs and with wider wheels and stickier tires, I want to avoid a failure on track. Here's an example of the C5 failure:

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          #5
          Originally posted by citizen_insane View Post
          Yes. The hub flange fatigued and broke from the rest of the hub. My concern is that the E30 uses regular cast and machined hubs and with wider wheels and stickier tires, I want to avoid a failure on track. Here's an example of the C5 failure:
          I don’t think that I’ve ever heard of that failure occuring. And I’ve spent a decent bit of time around SE30 guys.

          Edit: I will note, that anybody with a widebody kit and gigantic tires usually upgrades to E36 5-lug parts. So if you’re planning to go extreme, you’re probably going to much larger hubs anyway.
          2006 GMC Sierra 2500HD 4WD LBZ/Allison
          2002 BMW M3 Alpinweiß/Black
          1999 323i GTS2 Alpinweiß
          1995 M3 Dakargelb/Black
          - S50B32/S6S420G/3.91
          1990 325is Brilliantrot/Tan
          1989 M3 Alpinweiß/Black

          Hers: 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo Black/Black
          Hers: 1988 325iX Coupe Diamantschwartz/Black 5spd

          sigpic

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            #6
            Well, that's why I'm asking. I'm going to be running 15x10's on the car so the overall track width is increasing by ~4". I have no intention of moving to E36 5-lug because I don't plan on running a wheel larger that 15".

            For now the car will run 245 Rival S 1.5's, but in the future it's possible I'll run Hoosiers depending on how race car the build ends up.

            I did a little more research and it does look like the BMW designs are much better than the others. You can see they have thick flanges and very large radii on on the back where the flange meets the bearing housing. I'll probably just add a line item to my yearly checklist to verify there are no cracks in the hubs and just make up some kind of replacement schedule based on track time.

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              #7
              You’re going to be on an annual or so hub replacement schedule anyway. The bearings don’t stand up to hard use.

              Edit: And 245 tires, even hohos, don’t count as gigantic. You don’t get to say gigantic if you’re running less than 275, and even that is dubious.
              2006 GMC Sierra 2500HD 4WD LBZ/Allison
              2002 BMW M3 Alpinweiß/Black
              1999 323i GTS2 Alpinweiß
              1995 M3 Dakargelb/Black
              - S50B32/S6S420G/3.91
              1990 325is Brilliantrot/Tan
              1989 M3 Alpinweiß/Black

              Hers: 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo Black/Black
              Hers: 1988 325iX Coupe Diamantschwartz/Black 5spd

              sigpic

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                #8
                Any history of wheel hub fatigue/failure on E30s?

                Came here to say stuff but everyone already said everything I was gonna say. LOL. If it’s a concern at all, upgrading to one of the many 5lug hubs immediately bumps your design factor thru the roof as pretty much every 5lug option is designed for a seemingly indefinite fatigue resistance on vehicles that are gonna weigh between 500-1000+ lbs more than a stock e30, let alone a lighter, stripped for racing e30 chassis.

                All that said, in the last two decades I have been reading Bmw enthusiast forums I have never heard of a bmw hub fatigue failure, not once. I’ve heard of bent ones, but that typically comes in hand with a chassis totaling event
                ...what hasn’t been done to an m20 yet?

                m20 Oil Stencil

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                  #9
                  Wow those Miata hubs are cheesy looking!
                  Build thread

                  Bimmerlabs

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by nando View Post
                    Wow those Miata hubs are cheesy looking!
                    scary!
                    2006 GMC Sierra 2500HD 4WD LBZ/Allison
                    2002 BMW M3 Alpinweiß/Black
                    1999 323i GTS2 Alpinweiß
                    1995 M3 Dakargelb/Black
                    - S50B32/S6S420G/3.91
                    1990 325is Brilliantrot/Tan
                    1989 M3 Alpinweiß/Black

                    Hers: 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo Black/Black
                    Hers: 1988 325iX Coupe Diamantschwartz/Black 5spd

                    sigpic

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Even the vette hub looks very flimsy vs the BMW hubs!

                      Gotta love 80s German engineering :)
                      My e30: OEM+ with M30B35

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                        #12
                        All my Miata buddies have experienced hub failure. We've broken a lot of parts endurance racing E30s, but never had an issue with the hubs.

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