I literally, not figuratively, drove the wheels off my MR2 today

"SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie" (sidewaysondirt)
11/16/2014 at 17:48 • Filed to: aw11, mr2, autocross

Okay, well not off, off, but it was dangling. Sorry, I forgot to take pics when it happened. Luckily it didn't come completely off and wreck the brakes or the control arm or anything. The hub and bearing failed during an autocross today at a 1/4 mile banked oval. The course was actually really good and I finally got some Direzzas on it, but there were some very long left handers on the banking that I was attacking with full force and loading the front right. I started to notice a vagueness at the front and that the brakes were failing and took a look at it after my run, and yeah. The brakes are fine. Unfortunately, the hub and bearing was pulled by the wheel about a half of an inch out of where they should be and no longer on straight. I'm going to blame it on the new tires having a stupid amount of grip. I think that they were just putting way too much force on some 25 year old parts with 210k miles. Towed it home and ordered some parts. Should be back up and running in time for the next one. On a positive note, I was shocked at how competitive it was. It was top 5 by the time I left and even a friend of mine who I brought with me who had never driven a stick before a crash course last night was outrunning a kind of surprising number of the consistently quick people. It was still a blast even with the dramas. I'm glad that I had my wheel problem at autocross instead of the rallycross I was thinking of going to that is about ten times as far away. Here are some pics of Charlie in action:

DISCUSSION (8)

TheOnelectronic > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
11/16/2014 at 17:56

That's just the adaptive track width system optimising itself for your new tires, bro.

Brian Silvestro > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
11/16/2014 at 18:01

Too much turn in, slams corner, goes into grass

-me

(start at 2:27 if it doesn't work)

3.14 rad/s > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
11/17/2014 at 09:41

Same thing happened to me the first time I drove my MR2 with Direzzas. Pulled apart my right rear wheel bearing and hub. Luckily, I was just driving around an abandoned parking lot at the time, so I was only 1 mile from my place.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > 3.14 rad/s
11/17/2014 at 09:52

Wow. How many miles did yours have on it when it happened, and have their been any repeats of it? I'm a little nervous at the moment about that and trying to figure out what the best way forward is. I know that the corner that failed had an impact at some point with a rock or something because I had to replace the control arm and tie rod down there when I rebuilt the suspension, so I'm hoping that it's that as opposed to the components not being able to cope with modern tires.

3.14 rad/s > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
11/17/2014 at 16:26

I had about 187,000 mi on it. I had just purchased the car a month or so before and I think the previous owner must not have properly torqued the axle nut that holds the bearing together.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > 3.14 rad/s
11/17/2014 at 17:24

Yep, sounds like the same deal. I guess I should at least rebuild the other hubs and replace the bearings.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Brian Silvestro
11/17/2014 at 19:10

Fiesta ST wants to rallye!

Brian Silvestro > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
11/17/2014 at 19:10

And that's why I take it rallycrossing. It gets it's fill. I want to satisfy it.