Zuffenhaus Fuchs

[Noah930]

Anyone left around here who bought the original run of Alton/Zuffenhaus Fuchs? I managed to break a wheel and am looking for parts for repair. It's not the forged center section, but rather a rim barrel that has cracked. Does anyone know who made the original 17" rim shells?

I've gotten in touch with Jeff Alton, Zuffenhaus, and Fikse. Unfortunately somewhere along the way the specifications have changed, and the current rim barrels do not quite match up with the original/pre-production run. I've been informed that there's no way to get ahold of those old-specification parts. So just a shot out in the dark to see if anyone else has an old parts stash, or another source for rim barrels that will fit.

[speednme1]

Did you try Lindsey? Though it’s not their wheel they may be able to help.

[Geronimo '74]

First time I hear of a failure.
Sorry to hear.
Good luck with your search

[mb911]

Kodiak wheel is whom made them.

[BURN-BROS]

Noah, The odds that the rim is a standard off the shelf is very high. take some dimensions and note how many bolt holes they are.

[Canada Kev]

Aaron, the shells are not off the shelf parts from everything I've learned from Jeff and Keith (Zuffenhaus) and Daryl (Fikse), these wheel barrels are a specific design for these wheels.

I have a set that are from very early in the start of the production run, but not of the first 50 sets that Jeff built. I had an issue with mine recently where on the inside of the one of the rear wheels, a crack had formed between the bolt holes that hold the wheel together. It actually went far enough around that it connected 16 of the holes (about half way).

At that time I contacted Jeff Alton and sent the wheel in to him to repair. It came back fixed a couple months later. All was good.

Fast forward just over 1200 km. I experienced a tire that was losing air. This was the same symptom as the other wheel, but it was much faster this time - completely flat in two or three hours vs. about two days with the other. After removing the wheel and dousing the back side with water, it was obvious the air was escaping out the other wheel through another big ass crack.

I spoke with Daryl over at Fikse and he told me they changed the design of the wheel shells and that the new ones were not a direct bolt on. They'd have to have a new one machined. So I sent them my wheel and they made another hoop, sent it for anodizing, assembled the wheel and returned it.

It was extremely frustrating to have this happen with both wheels failing the same way at roughly the same mileage, especially for what we paid for them. I don't track my car and while it gets driven in a sporty fashion, I wouldn't say I drive it hard or abuse it. The assembly bolts were still tight and lock tighted in, taking some effort to remove. Daryl assured me that these new shells wouldn't fail in the same fashion. I hope he's right.

I don't know all the dynamics of the Alton/Zuffenhaus/Kodiak/Fikse 17" Fuchs wheel scenario, but now it seems to be in Fikse's hands. This is how I understand some of what transpired: I believe Jeff had a relationship with Kodiak and they originally machined the wheels. Keith over at Zuffenhaus got involved and became the sales point and becoming more involved in some fashion, with Kodiak still manufacturing. Later Kodiak merged with Fikse. Give Daryl at Fikse a call and see if he can make it right for you. shoot me a PM if you want his number.



The rear of the second wheel showing the faint line of a crack that developed between the bolts.

[Noah930]

Thanks for your input, Kevin. Sounds like my failure is similar to what happened with your wheels--cracks between the bolt holes of the inner rim shell. Out of curiosity, how long ago was it that all this transpired? When I spoke with Fikse (Brant, not Darryl) this past week, they apologized that they could not source a replacement inner barrel (I obviously didn't know of your story at that time), and their solution is to make me new wheel. So perhaps their ability to manufacture a new shell (to old specs) is no longer possible? I don't get the feeling that Fikse is holding out on me just to make a sale of a whole wheel. Both Jeff and Keith have pointed me towards Fikse, which is reasonable given that they're no longer really involved in the wheel anymore. I emailed Kodiak today, on the off chance that Fikse hasn't already asked them about my problem.

[Canada Kev]

I'm pretty sure it was the summer of 2017. First wheel was in the spring and the second was in August.

They didn't have parts sitting around. I was told they had to build it just for that instance.

[BURN-BROS]

Hi Kevin, I cannot see the crack. Can you highlight the area?

[Canada Kev]

Aaron, admittedly it's difficult to see on the black wheel. On the first wheel that cracked my tire guy showed it to me when I had him address my tire leakage. It was very faint, but it was releasing tiny air bubbles in the dunk tank. Upon further inspection, I saw that it went to the next bolt. Then to the next. And the next and the next and the NEXT...

In the photos I posted above, it looks like a little wandering smear that travels in a general radius of the shell by the bolts. In these enlargements below, I drew (with a track pad so please don't judge) a pink line adjacent and trying to follow the crack. Some areas it is very faint. It was very visible by eye and now I wish I had taken better pics and maybe highlighted it with some chalk or something.






It doesn't help that the photos get resized smaller when I upload them. Slightly enlarged picture 1.

[Canada Kev]

This is the same pic from yesterday and a highlighted version.

[dg567]

Scary stuff good thing you guys were able to notice that before anything catastrophic happened

[Noah930]

I had only one suspect wheel. It had a slowish leak. Came out to a flat tire one morning. Unfortunately I was about 200 miles from home. The one wheel had 3 about 5 cracks in it: 3 between bolt holes, and 2 superfine cracks along the barrel next to the holes. It was one of the barrel cracks that was leaking.

[Noah930]

[Jeff Alton]

Sent you another message through FB Messenger...

[Noah930]

Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate your help.

I love these wheels. I've run them hard these past 8 years, so while I didn't plan on this occurring, to a certain degree it's what happens in this sport. Just relieved it was a flat tire, and not some catastrophic failure at speed.

[IROC]

How are these wheels sealed?

I have (and recently "refurbished") a set of HRE Fuchs replicas that I bought in 1997. My inner and outer wheel halves sandwich the "Fuchs" center (not made from a real Fuchs) and then are sealed using RTV inside the wheel. Mine would not leak given cracks like you show above.

Just curious.

Some pictures of how mine go together:

[Canada Kev]

The shells are stacked on the back side of the centre and the bolts threaded into the rear of the centre section to hold the sandwich together from behind. This way the bolts are hidden. Inside the assembled wheel, RTV type sealant is then applied to seal up the join. Your wheels, Mike, have a nut and bolt to hold things together while the Zuffs have just bolts screwed into the back side of the centre section.

I was also curious why mine leaked with the sealant. On both of my failures, the first symptoms were flat tires. But the RTV should have sealed that area. Perhaps the cracks extended far enough into the inner shell past the sealant? I didn't notice, but admittedly I wasn't looking for that, either.

When this issue first appeared, the tire was exhibiting a slow leak and was down about five psi after two or three days. After getting frustrated with having to be on it with checking the pressure constantly - they were always super air tight previously, losing only a couple pounds even over five months of winter storage - I took it in to my tire guy to get sorted. He had it in the tank and only after a significant amount of time did a small air bubble form at the edge of one of the bolts on the back side.

So I took the wheel home and disassembled and reassembled the wheel thinking the sealant had failed somehow and was causing the rather slow leak. It held air for a week once I had my tire re-mounted and I was happy. Problem fixed. Yay!

Until I went for a drive. After I got the wheel back on the car and went for a celebratory rip around some bendy street areas near home for a half hour or so. I then parked the car for the rest of the weekend. Sunday afternoon the tire was flat again.

I took it back to Ralph thinking I had picked up a screw or nail because this leak was so much quicker and it had already shown my repair was solid by holding pressure for a week, right? It was leaking at the same spot but much more urgently this time. That's when we started investigating further and found the cracks which had migrated to a number of bolts.

I can only surmise that after I reassembled my wheel and it held air, that the RTV I applied perhaps covered any invisible cracking in the shell. When I went for my enthusiastic little drive, it stressed the wheel enough to enlarge the existing crack. I don't know; I'm only speculating.

[Canada Kev]

Originally Posted by Noah930

I love these wheels. I've run them hard these past 8 years, so while I didn't plan on this occurring, to a certain degree it's what happens in this sport. Just relieved it was a flat tire, and not some catastrophic failure at speed.

Amen, brother. While I wouldn't say I've driven mine hard, I concur.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by IROC

How are these wheels sealed?

I understand your question. My wheel wasn't leaking from the cracks between the bolt holes. Rather, it was bubbling from a tiny hairline fracture along the barrel of the wheel, close to the crack between the bolt holes. In my pics above, it almost looks like a smudge of brake dust. In fact, it is a smudge of brake dust covering the tiny little crack. If it hadn't been bubbling, I wouldn't have noticed it, and just thought it was a machining edge in the metal barrel. That crack would not have been covered by silicone on the "inside" of the wheel.