Everyone advertise same 6061 T6. Some of them, I'm sure legit. And yet, those things happen with a heavy use. Ring taxi changes wheels quite regularly. Most of potholes damages ending up without cracks either.
In fact most manufacturers of forged wheel advertise that their wheels bend instead of cracking and thus giving more chance of limiting the destruction.
Why are you posting pics of some random bent wheels found on the internet. Do you know the material spec and exact heat treated condition? Also, posting bent wheels of unknown origin on a Vendors thread is seriously not cool, and shows a selfish attitude. People may come onto this thread and assume these are Signature wheels.
Please read what I wrote, I said 6061 T6 wheels “won’t bend without cracking”, not “they won’t bend”
Even if these were cracked, you wouldn’t necessarily see it on a low res photo, or did you think cracked meant spokes sheared off and total failure? It doesn’t. A crack forming from a deformation may not initially extend fully through the material, but if cyclic stress continues, it will eventually propagate through.
The properties of 6061 T6 are a known entity, and it will not permanently deform in it’s natural state without cracking. The only way to bend it without cracking is to anneal it first, then temper it to its original T6 condition. I’ve been working with these materials my whole career, this isn’t guesswork.
I guarantee any aerospace grade 6061 T6 material that has permanently deformed in it’s natural state, will have cracked also. If, however, the aluminium is made from differing percentages of alloying elements, or it’s heat treatment is not correct, it won’t have the same properties, and may bend without cracking.
