gldman

I just came back from Costco with new Michelin Pilot Sport A/S.
Just before I left the tire guy says, oh you already have a chip and scrape on the right front wheel. Does any one think that they could have done this during the install or is something like that more likely from a pot hole?

The new tires seem to really improve the ride over the el42s which I am keeping and plan to reinstall when I trade the car.

I am thinking about going to a shop with a Hunter GSP 9700 just to be sure the balance on the Michelins is as close to perfect as possible. The best price I found in Northern NJ is $25 per tire. Does that price sound good?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

princed

Well, I don't live very far from you, and I've noticed that the New Jersey curbs are not friendly towards our wheels. I think the more rounded the curb, the less dangerous -- it's those flat, square stone curbs that suck. I chipped one of my wheels a couple of weeks ago when making a sharp turn out of the parking lot at work. I was so used to my previous car, which could virtually make a 360 on a sidewalk, that I turned too wide and scraped the wheel.

Others have reported having the same problem, so it's entirely possible your chip is just a road scar. I wonder if there's something about the TL's wheels that make them more prone to damage. I've never had this problem before on any other car, and I've definitely hit curbs before...

Hybrid

Install damage would typically look like paint scraped off the wheel rim (not deep damage to the metal), small chips on the rim or near the center cap or lug nuts, and dings from being hit with tools or mounting and balancing equipment. Curb damage is usually more severe and digs down into the metal. Curb damage can have lots of parallel scrapes going at an angle to the rim (not necessarily scrapes around the circumference of the wheel like would tend to be caused by scraping the rim with a tire mounting machine).

LED Master

One of the problems with the BS EL-42 tires is that the side wall, and specifically the tread width is very narrow for a 235/45-17 tire (more so than other tires)

the tread width is only 7.5" (remember the wheel width is 8" on the insided of the mounting surface and about 8.75 - 9" to the outside lip, where it hits the curb, tire is supposedly 9.2" wide, which does not leave a lot of room for the tire to absorb any impact before hitting the tire).

The narrow tread with I am sure was selected to help improve wet weather and snow traction (more pounds per square inch to dig in), and in theory it should work, but the tire is so poor in design, the tire still sucks in these condidtions, and gives up on dry performace as the contact patch is small.

This is the cause of the wheel damage, even with a rim lip protector on the tire.

BTW - most other tires in the 235 size have a tread width (contact patch) of 8.4" or so (vs the EL-42's 7.5" patch) even the BS Potenza RE030 for the HPT option are 8.3"

Modeler

Which is one of the things that Falken 512's fixed on my car. They have a "rim protector" lip which does a great job of protecting the wheels. I actually hit a small curb on an on-ramp going about 25-30 mph today. About half of the tire is "dirty/scraped", but the wheel is fine!

need4spd

dulnev, I agree, the EL-42's do not do enough to protect the rim.

there are many better choices out there.