Hey all, just a couple questions. Last nite I hit a pothole that was poorly lit without any warning. It happened in West Suffolk County of Long Island so it wasn't a result of the weather. My front passenger is now flat and I'm on the donut. So I'd like to know..

1. How long/fast can I be on the donut for?

2. Should I go to a dealer to fix this or any place?

3. For all LI residents (I think 037 is one), Would Suffolk County or the Town of Huntington reimburse for this. I know section 58 of NY Law states that they won't reimburse between Nov 15 & May 15.. I have footage of the pothole in day & in nite plus the claim to my insurance company.

4. Lastly, since I needed an air wrench to get lugs off, I had to call for roadside assistance & they took a bit of paint off where they jacked it up.. What can I do about this.

Thanks in advance!

 

You can be on the donut indefinitely assuming you have 60 psi and good tread. The max suggested speed is 50 mph, I think, but I did 60 and it seemed safe.

Is your wheel bent? All the dealer could do for you is charge you outrageously for a new wheel. Does your tire have a road hazard warranty?

As for the chipped paint, is that on the wheel or the body? How did that happen from jacking it up? I would send the roadside assistance bill to the dealer. They should not be taking an impact wrench to your wheels so that you cannot change a flat. That is ridiculous. I'm about to start a thread about this.

 

I feel sorry... I had the same crap happen after hitting a pothole protruding from the side of the road. I bent both the front and back wheels, and was robbed for $1000 at the dealer for replacement OEM wheels.

If I had it to do over, I'd spent a little more and bought some custom rims.

The looks of that yellow donut, will speed up you actions long before it wears-out. If you get anything from the county or state... good luck.

Finally, I know the dealer uses a torque air wrench in tire rotation, but I have always been able to loosen the lugs by putting the lug wrench at the 9 o'clock position and stepping on the handle with my foot.

 

Been there man, hit a pothole once and the next day the tire was all bubbled up. You can always try getting the bent rim fixed before shelling out the cash for a new one..

Good luck.

 

My wheel doesn't look bent, at least not to the naked eye. I have OEM 17's & stopped my car right after impact with the pothole. My tire was not yet completely deflated either so hopefully that is a good sign that I can save both the tire and wheel. My alignment is shot though. I'm not sure about a road hazard warranty since they are the OEM Michelins on the car when I bought it.. is there anyway I can find out? As for the yellow donut, I drove 50 miles on it hitting 70mph at some points.. The TPMS lamp also came on because of the donut.

It's good to know that I'm not alone in trying to loosen my wheels though although it's unfortunate to hear that anyone should have to go thru something as inane as not being able to take your own wheel off. As for taking paint off, it was under the body of the car where you put your jack up. The roadside attendant put my jack in the area where you're supposed to put it up, then for some reason, he took out his heavy duty one and put it right next to mine to the left of the bracket and took off a bit of paint there. The missing paint is under the car and you have to bend down to see it. It's minor, but still it's something that should've happened to a car this beautiful! Does anyone know why he had to use 2 jacks at the same time??

 

I have even worse news for you -- you could have spent a little LESS and bought some custom rims.

I had pretty much the exact same thing happen to me a year ago. Hit a tall curb and BAM! BAM! the front and rear wheels/tires on the left were instantaneously destroyed.

They wanted over $300 a wheel. I think they're the weakest looking part of the entire car anyway. Tire Rack sold me four new aftermarket ones for the same money as two of their OEM ones, and the result is what you see in my avatar shot. I love 'em.

 

ROFL. So true.

OP, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but in my professional experience if you hit a pothole and your tire goes flat you will rarely get out of it without buying a new wheel and/or tire. I would be prepared to buy one or the other at the very least and, worse case scenario, be prepared to buy a new wheel and four new tires. This worse case scenario is depending on the condition of the other 3 tires on the car. Being an 08 on the original tires I would imagine they'll be worn enough to require replacement of all 4.

 

man sorry to hear but everyone is right on spending it on new wheels. look on cl or ebay you may just find a set of oem for cheap. i would sell mine with good tread for cheap but still havent got my new rims. still working on that. also if your rim isnt bent then just buy all 4 tires. i got 4 slightly new continental dws for like $300 on cl but had to drive an hr away but was well worth it.

check out ebay and cl you might find a set for less than a $1000.

 

The rims still look good to the naked eye and the car only has 6k miles so the treads are in good shape. When I hit potholes out here on my '98 Nissan Maxima (with 15" OEM's) only the tire needed to be replaced (these roads in Suffolk are horrible and don't justify the high property taxes). I know with a 17" rim, it might be different.. plus I have Aspec. I was going between 40 & 50 mph when I hit the pothole, then heard a pop & when I stopped shortly after, I heard air coming out. I had the jack up before the tire completely deflated.. I'm crossing my fingers that I can get out of this relatively cheap. How can you tell visually if your wheels are bent and that you need new tires and/or wheels?

 

If you heard air, there is most likely a hole in the tire, and you may get lucky with an unbent rim. If the hole is on the tread, it can probably be repaired, but any hole on the sidewall is unrepairable.

I think a tire shop would be able to tell if the wheel is bent on their balancing machine. If your tires only have 6k, you can likely take the one with the most tread left, put it opposite the new tire and be fine. As long as there is less than 2/32 of tread difference, you will have no issue. I think 4/32 is the specified limit on difference iirc.

 

Man I hit a pothole not too long ago and it detroyed two of my chrome aspec rims, side motor mount, and tie rod. SMH luckily insurance gave me a no fault claim and replaced the rims and tires for me. They claimed the motor mount and tie rod were wear and tear items. going to get all that replaced during my timing belt service this month

 

1) When the shop balances the tire and wheel, they can tell immediately if it is bent. You can easily see it is not spinning in a perfect circle to the side. Also ask for force balancing. The is where they spin the tire under a load.

2) Before you get to the shop, if you can't see a visible bend on the edge of the rim on with side, you can lay the wheel on its side on the ground. Take a pole or straight stick and hammer it in the ground perfectly in the center of the wheel. Take a string and tie it in a loop so it can slide around the pole. Pull the string to the inside edge of the rim. Go all the way around the rim. If the string doesn't meet the edge in a section or is too much, then she's bent.

3) Finally when you get it back from the shop, take a cup of water and place it in the cup holder. Notice the size of ripples in the cup at different speeds. If everything is done correctly, the water should stay pretty smooth at a range of speeds.

 

Since these are the OEM Michelins, it's unlikely that they would have a road hazard warranty right?

 

i took that dumb spare out my car and the dumb tools to. I would never drive a car on a spare its not worth the possible damage to transmission. Quick tow save yourself the trouble especially if you like the car.

 

 

If it helps, I too had a bent rim and found a replacement at Wheels America. The 17" OEM (refurbished) was $200 and they gave me $55 for my bent core - total outlay was $145. They also have the OEM 18" (Aspec) for $265, but I'm not sure if they are chrome.

I've been driving on mine for about a month and everything seems great.

http://www.wheelsamerica.com/index.php

 

I actually kept one of my "bent" wheels in the trunk for flats. That particular wheel was not extremely bent and I had the dealer load up on counter weights to offset.

Of course when I needed to use it, I mount it, lower the jack, and the tire sinks to a flat. But I was at a station with air and was o.k.

But a word of reason for any spare tire (cars, boats trailers, etc.), check the air pressure at least once a year.

 

It's always worth a try. Michelin has the best customer service in the industry. They may give you a proration on it but they will need you to go to an authorized dealer to get a final inspection and all. Michelin's consumer care center phone number is 1-800-847-3435.