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It happened at walking speed when detouring into a small road which recently got a new pavement. Although there was a very small passage from old to new pavement causing a very slight bump. I can't imagine that this could cause the wheel to crack.

Most likely, there was already a hair thin crack in the wheel, as nearer inspection showed that a part of the crack emerged earlier.

We are not sure but believe that this wheel was the spare wheel until until the tire puncture we faced last year.

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Damn! I've never seen that. Usually one sees the tire exploded, but not the rim like that. Your theory is as good as anyone's at this point.

Craig

Ouch. Out of curiosity, bias or radials?

Michael:

I have seen wheels brake, though they tended to be aluminum rather than steel. But all metals can suffer fatigue and it is no one's fault when something like this happens. It's a good thing you were going slow when it did happen because I do not think it would be a lot fun to be trying to control that car at 70 mph with a catastrophic failure of the wheel. Odds are the tire would blow out as well, regardless of whether it's a bias ply or a radial.

One thing to consider and that is the tire pressure. Bias ply tubeless tires take about 24 psi, while radials (such as the ones on my Clipper) go as high as 36 psi. This might exacerbate a situation in which a steel wheel more than 50 years old is compromised by either rust or metal fatigue. It might be a good idea to check your other wheels.

It seems kind of odd, though, if this had been the wheel for the spare tire. Those wheels are generally not subjected to a lot of use. But what else can I say?

I would check all of the wheels for internal rust now. I think that wheel had been stored with no tire on it somewhere where it got very rusty. Glad you had no other damage.

Wheels were always with the car, at least for the 20 years I'm owning it. They always held tires. Leads me to the long storage time the car went through... Yes, I will check all of them, and consider to replace them all with new ones.

Pure luck that no bigger damage occured.

Tire is Remington G78-15.

I saw this happen about 3 times with a friend who had a 56 Clipper. The catch was he had a 4 speed truck transmission in the car and would pull a trailer to Hershey to sell his parts. He was a mechanic by trade and figured he had the rear end overloaded thus putting to much strain on the rims. He finally found some kind of truck rim to settle the problem. The worst ride I ever experienced was breaking a steering knuckle on a 55 Patrician while going around a curve at 45 MPH. It took out the steering and brakes at the same time. Being the wheels were connected together by the torsion bar it set the frame onto the ground. Oh what a ride!

It looks to have rusted from the inside out. Probably from condensation/sweat.

Happy it didn't happen at highway speeds.

Tire is Remington G78-15.

At least it can't be blamed on running radial tires which is good news for those who already have or want to run radials.

It seems kind of odd, though, if this had been the wheel for the spare tire. Those wheels are generally not subjected to a lot of use

But, if it was the spare and it was just sitting dormant in the trunk for years or decades, any condensation could have sat constantly in the same part of the rim and ultimately cased the rust & weakening. Maybe an argument for inflating with dry nitrogen.