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Apr 20, 2008 9:17 am
Apr 20, 2008 9:17 am
Subject: Re: Steering wheel spokes
Folks,
These spokes look like very useful items. However, this is a very safety critical item, and yanking our fast heavy cars round a bend and having a spring steering wheel spoke fatigue and fracture could cause a fatal accident. Hence, before I bought one of these items other than from an established supplier. I would want to know what grade of spring steel was used and what the heat-treatment was.
Sorry to be a bit ulta cautious here but us old car nuts have to be very careful with all our safety crtical items. I was at the VSCC Malvern event some years ago when Sir James Briscoe was killed in his Vauxhall 30-98. Driving too fast and we think something broke. - Very sad. I knew him. I returned from this event driving my 2 Litre very carefully and reflecting that it is a very well balanced car in terms of performance and road-holding. This can not be said of a Vauxhall 30-98! Too much grunt and not enough brakes!
We have to be SO careful of safety-crtical parts. After all this is why I will only buy genuine parts for my Mercedes from reputable sources. Of course, I'm not suggesting anything else here with these spokes. We are lucky in the old-car movement that we are still largely self governing. I think we are still trusted - for example, If you buy brake cables from Speedograph Richfield you automaticaly receive a conformance certificate with their items. We need to hope that the EU does not try to force us to have all our replacement parts 'CE' marked. Or maybe we are required to do so, and this is not yet being enforced, and we are all breaking the EU Law!
So Oakley, tell us more about these useful items? What does 'correct spring steel mean'. Can you get your supplier to do something similar to what Richfield do? Otherwise, if it was me, I might be a bit nevous about selling them on the open market!
Folks, sorry to be so cautious but I am a Chartered Engineer (Eur Ing in Europe) and I pay huge sums of Professional Liability insurance every year so worrying about these things becomes second nature, and I intend to continue driving my 80-year old car around for many years to come!
Cheers, Colin M34.
Folks,
These spokes look like very useful items. However, this is a very safety critical item, and yanking our fast heavy cars round a bend and having a spring steering wheel spoke fatigue and fracture could cause a fatal accident. Hence, before I bought one of these items other than from an established supplier. I would want to know what grade of spring steel was used and what the heat-treatment was.
Sorry to be a bit ulta cautious here but us old car nuts have to be very careful with all our safety crtical items. I was at the VSCC Malvern event some years ago when Sir James Briscoe was killed in his Vauxhall 30-98. Driving too fast and we think something broke. - Very sad. I knew him. I returned from this event driving my 2 Litre very carefully and reflecting that it is a very well balanced car in terms of performance and road-holding. This can not be said of a Vauxhall 30-98! Too much grunt and not enough brakes!
We have to be SO careful of safety-crtical parts. After all this is why I will only buy genuine parts for my Mercedes from reputable sources. Of course, I'm not suggesting anything else here with these spokes. We are lucky in the old-car movement that we are still largely self governing. I think we are still trusted - for example, If you buy brake cables from Speedograph Richfield you automaticaly receive a conformance certificate with their items. We need to hope that the EU does not try to force us to have all our replacement parts 'CE' marked. Or maybe we are required to do so, and this is not yet being enforced, and we are all breaking the EU Law!
So Oakley, tell us more about these useful items? What does 'correct spring steel mean'. Can you get your supplier to do something similar to what Richfield do? Otherwise, if it was me, I might be a bit nevous about selling them on the open market!
Folks, sorry to be so cautious but I am a Chartered Engineer (Eur Ing in Europe) and I pay huge sums of Professional Liability insurance every year so worrying about these things becomes second nature, and I intend to continue driving my 80-year old car around for many years to come!
Cheers, Colin M34.