Originally Posted by
punkncat
I am sure there will be some folks chime in about how "it's all my fault", but I experienced a failure of the steering tube on my Felt F5 which presented the EXACT way you are describing. The steerer tube delaminated from an "overtighthening" (as Felt called it) and I was out a $400 fork. In spite of the torque spec on the stem, don't (and I mean don't) tighten it over 5nm.
Just as a side note, I recall (or think I do) from looking into replacement forks, that Felt was doing the next gen fork with an Aluminum steerer rather than Carbon. For what reason after the failures of the previous generation (think recall +) we can only surmise. According to what year your F5 is, it may not be possible for you to have crushed the steerer tube.
If the fork manufacturer does not specify a torque for the stem side bolts that is safe for the steerer tube, than using the stem manufacturer's recommendation cannot be legitimately construed as over tightening, i.e. the fault of the assembler. You should have fought them for a new fork. The same thing happened to me at the other end of the stem, re: a Kestrel lightweight handlebar that crushed at the stem manufacturer's recommendation. The bar was replaced in warranty.