Is there any such relationship? Ie. will a tighter p-w clearance yield better ring wear?

How exactly do the oil control rings wear?

Stock motor.

 

What kind of car(sleeves/pistons) are we talking about or is a theoretical question? i.e. forged, cast, or the fiber prelude crap?

 

ive read several articles on honing,rings,etc... from what i gather the type of hone and crosshatch pattern affects wear more than anything.also using the wrong kind of ring for your application. most japan rings i think are nitrate coated which are a great ring.p2w shoulnt affect ring wear much,unless its way to loose and the pistons rock in the bore causeing pre-mature wear.

 

.001 in wall wear increases ring gap by . 003416 and vise versa. It's just math.

 

How do the oil control rings wear? Fatigue?

What does the end-gap in these rings affect? Ie. Do they loose tension when the end-gap is out of spec?

 

since don is paying attention,and im curious,will ring gaps affect wear one way or the other. as long as they are not extreme either way. i havent found anything on that yet.

 

You have a range. +.001 is not going to hurt.

Ring wear is more adversely affected by cylinder surface finish, cylinder out-of-roundness, and not properly washing out the honing grit.

 

I would think the circumferential ring tension would remain the same regardless of ring gap.

 

Is it then fair to say that a tighter pw clearance will maintain cylinder circularity longer and thus control ring wear better?

 

No, too tight and you can not develop a proper oil wedge.

Just like Don/MOTU, stated +0.001 is good. Wear is more of a function of the two surfaces ie hardness, lubricity, etc. and the duty they will see.

If you are concerned about wear for a FRM sleeve just replace them ductile iron and go with the nitrided rings. The FRM is a very hard surface and it will wear rings faster than ductile iron.