[arnabchak]

This is the second automotive instance I have come across where the alloys are breaking.
The first being the orange KTM alloys.

Extremely risky and I can assume that this in the XUV case of two possibilities simultaneous or independently could cause this:

1) Poor Metallurgy and alloy mix
2) Poor Alloy design. For example, the floral design in the OP clearly does not take the behemoth weight of the XUV.

Very scary indeed and M&M should deeply consider a precautionary recall.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Nope - I think it's actually the opposite.

Alloy wheels are MORE likely to break when compared to steel wheels, which will continue to bend even past that threshold.

^ That applies to cast alloys (the huge majority of wheels on our cars). Forged alloys (the high end, lighter, stronger versions) might actually be more prone to shatter when the impact received crosses their threshold.

True that about the breaking vs bending of alloy vs steel rims but at the same time an alloy wheel is MUCH more stronger than a steel rim when it comes to resisting deformation. Also the XUV 5oo does not have a low profile tyre as it has a 65 aspect ratio.

Alloy wheels can withstand quite a lot of abuse, these pothole hits will mostly never cause it to shear like this.

Just to give you a perspective, mine are alloys too in my Swift, prestige ones, got it when the car was 10 thousand kilometers old, the car has seen 2 strut bends because of pothole hits, an entire Ladakh circuit and numerous times when I have missed larger than life speed breakers on the highway which have caused a nuclear explosion kind of sound inside the car but NEVER has the alloy broken, and most of the times I am running on the highway with an additional 3 to 4 PSI which adds additional stress on everything when it faces a sudden impact load like a speed breaker. Yes 2 of them have a little runout which is why they are always on the rear side of the car, but this kind of breaking that the XUV has witnessed is too much.

Yes if climbing over a divider or running over a big stone at high speeds, I can understand this conditions, but if mere potholes with a 65 profile tyre can do this to an alloy, IMO it's not safe enough to be in a car.

[Higgs_Boson_i]

Originally Posted by akash_m

Just a humble submission:

The statistics say only 1 plane crashes in 1,10,00,000 (11 Million), or the chances of crash are .00001% in every flight.

As far as my knowledge goes, every crash is investigated to depth. Same goes with alloy wheels also. Where human safety is involved, even a single failure should raise questions..!!

Fully agree. Even though only 5 instances have been unearthed there could be potentially more. Also Mahindra as a manufacturer while on the one hand provides value for money vehicles but it appears in the case of the XUV 5OO compromised on quality. Faulty alloys are not the only issues with this vehicle there have been other incidents regarding the clutch, suspension, brakes and so on. Not really sure why Mahindra choses to still test their vehicles at the expense of its customers rather than doing a thorough quality check before releasing the product to the market. Once again I limit my comment to only the XUV 5OO as I have not heard of their other products having such serious and frequent issues.

[double]

Mahindra, Are you watching this space ?

I am one of the poor chap, installed this alloy from day 1. Installed before the delivery of vehicle itself.

After paying almost 15Lac rupees, still you want us to risk our life, when my humble WagonR Premo's alloy still lasts for more than Nine years.

Do refund our money back, OR replace with your stock alloy without pressure sensor, if you want to keep your cost down.

Please act on it immediately.

[tamojoym]

Originally Posted by double

Mahindra, Are you watching this space ?

I am one of the poor chap, installed this alloy from day 1. Installed before the delivery of vehicle itself.

After paying almost 15Lac rupees, still you want us to risk our life, when my humble WagonR Premo's alloy still lasts for more than Nine years.

Do refund our money back, OR replace with your stock alloy without pressure sensor, if you want to keep your cost down.

Please act on it immediately.

I am also on the same boat -quite confused as to what to do .Took these alloys paying more than after market ones .Now what a predicament

[SDP]

I was at a XUV service center today and saw at least 40-50 cars during the day. Noticed just one car with the speed-rim alloys. So if someone is going to guesstimate how many cars are there with these alloys, now there is a crude data point.

Took 2-3 pics of the alloy so that people who have not seen the particular alloy can get some insight into the design.







Click on the pics and you can zoom in.

EDIT: Spoke to the RM about OEM of the alloys. He had no clue. He was aware about the alloy breaking issue and had seen the pics on FB. Some 2-3 owners had already contacted him and expressed concern over those alloys. His opinion was that there have been no such cases that he is aware of and alloy can not break without a severe impact.

[audioholic]

IMO the spokes where they meet the center of the alloy are too thinly casted. In addition to this, there is a wedge between the two spokes which again is reducing the thickness of the link or I am not sure in what words to put it. This is the part which has to transfer the forces between the whole wheel and the trans-axle. It is highlighted below:





In either case, this was the place where the alloy gave away. Even if both are to be blamed to be caused due to driving habits, is it so that the same part should break always? Moreover, are these thin spokes sufficient enough to carry around 600-700kgs of load at each wheel and along with that experience a lot of other forces during rough roads, braking etc?

I guess the alloys offered with the W8 is apt for the car since the wide spokes are capable enough. Since this petal alloy is ONLY AN ACCESSORY and not a standard equipment, we have lesser complaints turning up. Most of the XUVs I see on the road are W8s and it is quite rare to see a W6, and even rarer to see a W6 with these alloys. Else there would have been more issues turning up.

[sridhar-v]

Originally Posted by audioholic

IMO the spokes where they meet the center of the alloy are too thinly casted. In addition to this, there is a wedge between the two spokes which again is reducing the thickness of the link or I am not sure in what words to put it. This is the part which has to transfer the forces between the whole wheel and the trans-axle. It is highlighted below:

Attachment 1349421

Attachment 1349422

In either case, this was the place where the alloy gave away. Even if both are to be blamed to be caused due to driving habits, is it so that the same part should break always? Moreover, are these thin spokes sufficient enough to carry around 600-700kgs of load at each wheel and along with that experience a lot of other forces during rough roads, braking etc?

I guess the alloys offered with the W8 is apt for the car since the wide spokes are capable enough. Since this petal alloy is ONLY AN ACCESSORY and not a standard equipment, we have lesser complaints turning up. Most of the XUVs I see on the road are W8s and it is quite rare to see a W6, and even rarer to see a W6 with these alloys. Else there would have been more issues turning up.

You have placed ur finger on the pulse of the problem.
From my experience as a design engineer, with extensive FEA work under ones belt, that area jumped out as a potential issue. If the cores in the moulding die did not position properly you would get a possible thin section. Alternatively some air pocket or inclusions/slag could cause local weakening of the parent metal.
Unless there was 100% radiography of the wheels done on an inline basis by a machine with automatic defect detection the problem would not get caught.

M&M - change the design pronto!!!

[Sedate]

This looks like lateral forces are the culprit here. The shear pattern looks like some force has pushed the tires outside - it also looks like a fatigue failure than a brute force cracking.

Takes ages to replicate in a simulation/finite element analysis.

The same case with Fiesta/Figo rear twist beams.

[satya180]

These are made by Neo Wheels. Unfortunately I have also seen how these are made, and trust me, Ive never seen an aluminium casting (especially something as crucial as a wheel) being made and finished/ corrected so crudely. No wonder they break like this.

[rahul_kej]

Visited the service centre today. They had an external look at all 4 wheels and clicked pictures of each wheel. As expected nothing could be made out with an external inspection.
They re torqued all the wheel nuts with help of a adjustable torque wrench to the specified number.
They will be creating a report along with the pictures and forward it to the company. I think next I will be receving a call from the company for what can be done by them.

Friends to be frank there was a feel of nervousness (totally psychological) when I was going to airport today to drop my sister. I know its not that easy for an alloy to break but still I drove at controlled speeds.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by satya180

These are made by Neo Wheels. Unfortunately I have also seen how these are made, and trust me, Ive never seen an aluminium casting (especially something as crucial as a wheel) being made and finished/ corrected so crudely. No wonder they break like this.

Satya, you associated with either Neo Wheels or M&M in some way? Was wondering how you know these details. We have been trying to figure out the OEM for these wheels right from the day the thread started.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by SDP

Satya, you associated with either Neo Wheels or M&M in some way? Was wondering how you know these details. We have been trying to figure out the OEM for these wheels right from the day the thread started.

The Neo wheels website does state that they supply wheels to M&M.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by audioholic

The Neo wheels website does state that they supply wheels to M&M.

Attachment 1349819

I am aware of that. Neo does supply to M&M. The question is, do they supply XUV Speed-Rim design alloys? Other design for XUV and for any other models of M&M don't have the issue.

I have seen Neo alloys offered as Mahindra Genuine Accessories on new Scorpio. It actually had the Neo logo, when I checked out one 2 days back.

[latentpotential]

Any update by the member on how the alloys have been inspected by the Mahindra A.S.S. team?

In my knowledge, the ONLY way to inspect an alloy wheel for faults is Xray-ing them (mentioned earlier as well).