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This paper will document a rationale for wheel straightening based on the rise of declining roads, increased consumer preference for lower profile tires, unintended consequences of wheel customization and the reduction in energy consumption. A recommended patented procedure detailing how A356-T6 wheels can be straightened will be presented. To validate the recommended procedure a sample of wheels was uniformly deformed and straightened and subsequently tested per SAE J328 and SAE J175. Test results are provided that indicate straightened wheels should be fully serviceable in their intended service. A laboratory protocol to replicate the wheel flange cracks is described. The protocol is used to demonstrate that wheels without deformations do not result in flange cracks. Conversely wheels with deformations in excess of 1.5mm do result in cracks at less than 750,000 cycles.

SAE J2562 defines the background, apparatus and the directions for modifying the Scaled Base Load Sequence for a given a wheel rated load for a wheel design. This practice has been conducted on multiple wheel designs and over one hundred wheel specimens. All of the wheels were tested to fracture. Concurrently, some of the wheel designs were found to be unserviceable in prior or subsequent proving grounds on-vehicle testing. The remainder of the wheel designs have sufficient fatigue strength to sustain the intended service for the life of the vehicle. This is termed serviceable. Using the empirical data with industry accepted statistics a minimum requirement can be projected, below which a wheel design will likely have samples unserviceable in its intended service. The projections of serviceability result in a recommendation of a minimum cycle requirement for SAE J2562 Ballasted Passenger Vehicle Load Sequence.