davenlei

Well, here we go.

One week after I bought my new TL, the wife spilt milk on the seat and hardened the leather....

One month after I bought the car, my wife was rear ended (not her fault).

Five months after I bought the car (today with 3000 miles), my wife hit the curb and scraped/gouged/dented the rim and popped the tire.

She was going 15-20 mph and turned a corner and sideswiped/glance hit the curb. She scraped 40% of the lip of the rim and put a nice gouge in the lip and put a nice hole in the side wall of the tire. By the way, this is the rear passenger rim/tire.

So what is this going to cost me?

Rim repair/replacement cost?
Michelin oem tire replacement cost?
rear alignment cost?

Do you think there was any suspension damage?

special-ed

time to trade in the wifey.

Ruserious

iTrader: (2)

Rpappi

a tooth for a tooth an eye for an eye.
she hit the curb with your car
hit the curb with her.
j/k

Ken1997TL

I wouldnt publish stories like these.. her trade-in value might decrease...

HEK

..and the car's too....

TailsToo

Isn't it three strikes and you're banned from the TL?

Pure Adrenaline

iTrader: (2)

If the price is right and she's still in good condition, I'll take her off your hands.

But I will need to do a test drive first.







Okay, all jokes aside, it's impossible to say without a picture. But, assuming it's really bad, you should look to eBay for a replacement wheel. Lots of times, I've seen a single wheel for sale on there for like 100-200 bucks. And I doubt there's any suspension damage. They are pretty tough. Rubbing against the curb wouldn't damage the suspension.

Good luck with the repairs.

PoochaKannInc

Depending on the damage...a rim repair shop might charge between $60-$200. I don't know the price of the OEM Michelin, but that is easy enough to look up online. An alignment might cost you around $50-80.

Unless it was a hard impact, I wouldn't think there was suspension damage. However, as a quick check, eyeball underneath your car. If you are nervous, ask the shop to put your car on the lift and inspect the rear suspension arms, etc.

alexkcha

It's been 3 months, and I still haven't given her the second copy of the keys.

datmrman

your wife + TL = bad combo.

Dude, your luck with this car is horrible. Break up that combo and I hope your luck improves!

whatjones911

This happened to me too. i was going about 20-25 mph around a corner and hit both the inside front and rear wheels. And i went out to look at the wheels, they were curbed pretty bad but i was suprise that the wheels werent bent or even a blown tire. Just curb rash and a piece of the tire came off i think it is the rim protector part but no affects to the performance of the tire.

mxtt

It's just a freakin car. Would you rather sleep with your TL in your bed?

weedeater

That's why she married you.

TacoBellSauce

lol
time to buy her a Honda Fit or a car like so and get a fingerprint scan start fot the TL so only u can drive it

jmbnova

I don't think I want to know the answer.....

davenlei

It looks like she hit the curb (nice dent/gouge in the rim about 1 inch across and a 1/8" deep) and then kept going which scraped 40% of the lip of the rim.

I know it is just a car but I waited a long time to get it and she knows I have been wanting this car for years. I am more pissed off that she has no respect for the stuff we own. She treats everything like it is disposable. Almost every dent/ding in her car was caused by her because she does not pay attention to stuff she does. She is not stupid, she is actually very smart but she either just does not care or has no ability to take care of anything.
She is always so amazed at how I keep my stuff in such great condition. My thinking is if I bought it, I should have the responsibility to take care of it. Her thinking is, whenit looks worn out, buy another.
An example is our ipods. We both have our own. I looked at them 3 months after we bought them and mine still looks brand new and has no scratches. Hers looks like it is 3 years old. It is scratched, gouged, dented and has makeup crap caked on it.
I really do not want to ban her from driving the TL because I truly feel like it is 'our' car and we should both enjoy it but how can I enjoy it if she is trashing it when she drives it. She has no respect for how I feel about the need to take care of what we have. For example. There is a no messy food rule (which she agreed to) for the TL but I see a lot of crumbs on the seat at least once a week.

Sorry for the rant but this latest incident just happened and I am still pissed off because the turn in that she hit is very tight and no normal person would go more than 10mph throught it.

CL Platano

I hear ya man, I dont have that problem though my wifey knows better and treats my baby nice

A_UFO

hummm....Sounds like wifey does this on purpose.. Well, I hope she makes-up for it in other ways..

Checking tirerack.com for cost of OEM. Are you sitting down? Good. $231 for OEM Michelin Pilot HX MXM4.

Rims. As an alternative to Ebay, depending on the size of your city, you might find a rim at the junk yard on a totaled TL.

neuronbob

This is exactly why I don't allow the wife to touch my car. She's never driven it in 2.5 years it's been in the garage.

Unfortunately, with her being pregnant, she eats all the time in the car (c'mon, what am I supposed to do, starve my future child? And piss off the hormonally driven pregnant wife?) and has trashed the passenger seat and environs with spilled juice, water, food crumbs.

Thank God she delivers in a couple of weeks. I'll be doing a complete interior cleaning. And I'll be buying a beater for baby service.

So I feel for the OP....

Formula 350

Sorry to hear it... it is tough when one does not care and the other does....

There is a guy at work who has some of the same problem... he said she will just drop things on the floor at home... will not put anything in the garbage can... no matter how much he complains... no change...

He bought a G-35, but got a 6MT because he wanted a sportier car... he has not allowed his wife to sit her butt in the car yet after about 3 to 4 months... she can not drive a manual and if the family goes out they use her car because they have two small kids and the seats are in her car...

It it was me, I would not let her drive 'my' car since she can not take care of it... to bad for her if she feels bad..

mr.motoring

I'd like to see your wife's reaction if she ever catches you on the comp blogging away at this thread with her name on it. Based on how you so lovingly describe your significant other, she sure is an expensive insurance premium.

From your point of view though, I can understand, because you are just as materialistic as everyone else on this forum. That's why we're here. So let it all out, big guy. Your wife definitely isn't like us.

Now the only way your TL will survive to see it's first birthday is to play keep away with the keys. Hate to say it, but try as you might, it's too late for her. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

davenlei

Yea, I would love to tell her that she is banned from the car but she will bitch and whine about it and start the 'I want to trade my car in so I can have a new car' whine.

davenlei

I guess I am just very Anal about everything. I am into home theater systems and I really take care of all my equipment. I also am very anal about dong things right when I work on my house. I try to take care of the cars. I used to have my own business and really went out of my way to make my customers happy. Maybe I just need to relax and realize that things will just be average and not perfect. It is just hard to not care about stuff I have to look at every day and spend a lot of money on.

subinf

My girlfriend wanted to move my car (I parked in her spot while taking care of the dog while she was out) at her apartments. I told her to just park her car on the road and to leave mine where it was because she was going to curb the wheels. She moved it anyway, and curbed the wheels. I was pissed at the time but I dont really care now.

davenlei

Yea. Sh*t always happen when you are not driving your car. I remember my friend asked his buddy to pull his car out of the driveway so they can work on another car and the buddy decided to drive the car around the block. Well... he could not handle the power and spun the car into a light pole and destroyed the entire front end of the car and bent the frame. My friend was a wee bit pissed.

I found a set of four brand new 2006 RL rims w/o tires or TPMS sensors for $299.00. Will that fit the TL? Will it look good? Has anyone done this? Pics?

whatjones911

The RL has different bolt pattern than the TL so it won't fit

mio

MR1

You do have some decisions to make. How important is it really? Possibly you plan to keep your wife longer than the car! I do understand but do you really think she will change?

BTW, my wife hates driving my TL because she is kinda like your wife and I'm kinda like you.

colossus

Note to self - beware of other new TLs when driving past Irvine this weekend


She's not an idiot, just has bad driving skillz. If she would be amenable to it, a driving class might be an option. But she would have to take the class in the vehicle you want her to learn to drive, which would be the NEW TL

Stevie B

Time to take back the keys, and get you some curb feelers along with the clear plastic car seat covers like from back in the 60's. Just remember everything will be ok. :killer:

A_UFO

And if you have the 06 TL, I am guessing the TPMS on MID would be alerting you since the tire sensors are missing.

Also, remember to get the suspension and alignment checked. If your wife's curbing the rims caused the tire to blow-out, that can't be good for the suspension or alignment.

gurneyeagle

Sounds like my wife!

First week she had the '96 Expedition, backs out the garage before the door is all the way up, rips off luggage rack and takes out the door and rail system.

First week she had the current '01 Odyssey, pulls up close to a chain link fence in her office parking lot and the barbs from the galvanizing process punch three holes in the bumper.

Everyday for 24 years - will orbit a parking lot for 15 minutes looking for a "close" parking space. Car has more dings and craters than the Sea of Tranquilty!

Her next car will be a used Hyundai. I will never spend good money again on a car for someone who doesn't give a shit about it.

gurney,
dingless for 15 years now!

sybaek3

i agree w/you. it's just a car.

you gota be pretty upset and i understand. we all love our TLs here. but when it comes down to it, things happen and a car is definately not worth more than family...

1995hoo

I sympathize with those folks who have the food issues. I'm single, so I don't have the problem of a wife messing it up, but occasionally the GF and I have gotten into arguments when she's wanted to eat a cookie on the way to Charlottesville for football. We finally compromised that if she puts a napkin across her lap like in a restaurant, she can eat the cookie. (I usually keep some napkins in the center armrest for use as tissues.)

I refuse to go through the fast-food drive-thru in the TL, though, even with the windows and sunroof open. When I want to go to the drive-thru, I stop at home and get my other car (an '88 RX-7 convertible with 155,000 miles). The positive side effect of this rule has been to reduce my consumption of fast-food by a substantial amount.

DMZ

WOMEN, can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em, can't shoot 'em, can't leave 'em by the side of the road when you're done with 'em

King of Pain

Sell some of her stuff on ebay to pay for the repairs.

urbaita1

of your wife...

CTL52

Its better to not let her drive than call her an idiot after.

1) Suspension damage is highly unlikely.
2) Alignment is for all four tires usually, shouldnt be more than 80 bucks.
3) If you will let her drive in the future, then buy another set of 4, incase...

http://search.ebay.com/search/search...rclo=&saprchi=

And take it easy, sh!t happens, dont get so worked up. Every problem has a solution and if there is no solution then there is no need to stress!

your_mom

I would buy a pair of noise cancelling headphones for your iPod and ban her from the TL.