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      04-03-2012, 03:51 AM   #285
db71
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Drives: 10 Audi S5
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: IL

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Quote:
Originally Posted by swamp2 View Post
Come on guys lets get back on track and end the name calling and insults. If we don't the mods will be passing out warnings/suspensions and maybe close the thread. Everyone has something correct to say.

Yes some engineers have their heads in the clouds or in the "ivory tower" and can barely tie their shoes. That being said even those guys probably make important contributions to areas other engineers would not be capable of working on. On the opposite end of the spectrum many engineers are both book smart and "street"/practical smarts. Its a bell curve of capabilities and dispositions like any other person/profession.

Sure a wheel is not a rocket, not even close, but pressure loading, braking loads, acceleration loads, curb impact, sliding loads with their resultant stress and strain are not trivial either. Add in the possibility of fatigue in aluminum, casting vs. forging, grain patterns, heat treating, etc. and you absolutely have more than 99.9% of folks without an engineering background can appropriately digest and apply.

If you are fine having a designer design one wheel in a series, test one extreme and call it good to go that is your choice. However, if you believe a critical load bearing and safety related item on a car (perhaps even more so a high performance car that very likely will see speeds well into the triple digits) should have an engineer, FEA, testing AND type certification as well that is also fine. Make your choice through capitalism with your own dollars.

Either way let's get back on topic.
I was being sarcastic in case some missed it. I have met many engineering students that are very capsble of working on cars and obviuosly any engineer on a car forum is probably more than capable. and no my kid cannot design a wheel it was a comparison to get a point across.

I agree there is a lot of good info in this thread. I agree with a lot of stuff you are saying swamp.

All I am saying is that wheel technology does not change like other things in the world. The cornering, braking, accelerating loads on a xxxx pound vehicle are the same now as they were 30 years ago assuming the vehicle weighs the same and the weight is in the same place. Once a person could design a wheel for those loads they could probably figure out how to design other wheels for those loads without being an engineer.

Last edited by db71; 04-03-2012 at 10:52 AM..
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