2 inches of tire between the wheel and the road don't leave much cushion.
2 inches of tire between the wheel and the road don't leave much cushion.
I've only ever destroyed one wheel, loss of traction on an on ramp. Oblique strike at 35 mph into a tall curb, I claim youth and stupidity for being there.
It ripped the lip of the rim away from the drum and the hub began fracturing the hub as the spokes started to fold in. Looks very impressive, I keep it on my "wall of shame"
The most impressive part was that it held air pressure until I pulled the valve core 3 days later to reuse the tire.
Prior to that my only issue has been bending VW oe wheels which I'm pretty sure are made from playdoh.
Appleseed wrote: Foraged vs. cast. Foraged is less stiff, but will bend. Cast is more stiff, but "shatters."
Foraged wheels? Like ones you find on an old rusted-out car when you're lost in the woods of nova scotia?
a week from now I'm sure I'll see that photo on the Subaru forums with some Volk-lover claiming that "only friends let friends use Rotas" ..... that photo should have a perma-tag on it saying "this is not a Rota" lol..
Just got my answer from Tire Rack - impact damage voids the structural warranty. They said they could give me a 15% off coupon on another set of wheels.
Wait, wait, wait.
If you hit a pothole, which is an expected driving condition, you've voided your warranty?
That's like saying if you void your warranty on your car if you get into an accident.
Otto Maddox wrote: Just got my answer from Tire Rack - impact damage voids the structural warranty. They said they could give me a 15% off coupon on another set of wheels.
That wasn't unexpected. It's impossible for a manufacturer of anything to warranty against unkowns like impact damage; more so when the specifics of an incident cannot be verified.
Ask if the 15%-off discount applies to five wheels. If you take advantage of the offer, it might be wise to by buy a spare. And consider going to a smaller diameter wheel and higher profile tires, too. If the potholes are that big and numerous, a few pennies of prevention is worth dollars of cure.
Brett_Murphy wrote: Wait, wait, wait. If you hit a pothole, which is an expected driving condition, you've voided your warranty? That's like saying if you void your warranty on your car if you get into an accident.
Wait, wait, wait.
If a car is totalled in an accident, you expect the manufacturer's warranty to cover the replacement?
Otto Maddox wrote: Just got my answer from Tire Rack - impact damage voids the structural warranty. They said they could give me a 15% off coupon on another set of wheels.
"...I was on an ideal surface, at a very small slip angle using a DOT legal radial tire in a non-competition environment when all of a sudden I felt something..."
i would try and take it up the chain at TR and see what comes of it. It also might be worth a letter to the manufacture.
I had a set of one season old Kosei K1s bought from TR. They had about 2500 miles, mostly accrued by driving to and from Summit Point and doing 3 or 4 track days. At the end of the season I was going over the car and after scrubbing the wheels noticed hairline cracks on the rear lips running from toward the center straight out. The wheels had never hit a pothole, and I don't use the curbing much on track. Certainly not to the inside of the wheel, anyway. Both wheels were on the left side of the car, and both were as round as new.
After much, much back and forth TR offered a 15% discount on a pair of replacement wheels. I bought 'em so I'd have a set, but they're only for transit and rain anymore.
The response was left as a phone message. If nothing else, I'd prefer 15% off on a set of tires that I could put on my OEM wheels.
They confirmed that my damaged wheels are no longer made and are not available new. So, I've got three wheels and tires with about 12,000 miles on them, one destroyed wheel and one suspect tire. And the tires are discontinued too. So basically, I don't have much to work with.
Warranties cover only manufacturing defects.
I would still press this further with tire rack. Even point them to this thread.
iceracer wrote: Warranties cover only manufacturing defects.
I would call a wheel cracking in half during normal usage as a manufacturing defect.
Potholes are everywhere. This was not a collision or a curb strike.
Devil's advocate time: You could replace "wheel" with "tire" and "crack" with "sidewall bubble" and its an argument that happens everyday. The manufacturer can only control so many things and will usually be pretty good about covering issues that crop up in the first few hundred miles. After that unless you have some type of road hazard protection, you're on your own. I've seen few places that offer such a things and are very expensive.
That said, personally I'll be very wary of selling MSW wheels again (I use TR Wholesale). A bend on 35 series tires? Sure, it sucks. A bifricated drum? That's crazy.
Well, I continued to be squeaky (but very polite) after my first rejection by Tire Rack.
They've given me a $100 gift certificate to use as I please. This is pretty close to what I paid for the wheel on clearance. I am going to buy a nice set of tires for the OEM 17" wheels and be done with it. Thanks to all for the advice.
That is a much better/fair offer on there part. Proof in my book that TR is decent company!
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