Reisen

Ok, so the wife just called... She hit a curb at 40mph. The wheel has some road rash, and the tire's sidewall has a tennis-ball sized bulge in it (she's limping home on it right now, I haven't seen it yet).

I'm going to go ahead and order a tire through tire rack, and I suppose we'll take it to the dealer to check, what? Alignment, tie rods, etc?

Assuming the car needs an alignment (and AudiCare won't cover it, which I don't expect it to), any reason to have it done at the dealer instead of anyplace with a Hunter alignment tool?

If it turns out she bent/cracked the 19" rim (the stock upgrade option on the 2011's), anyone know a good source online to order one?

I assume the car is grounded until I get all this fixed, since it just has the mini-emergency spare (as opposed to the full size spare my BMW has)?

This comes at a great time, right after we wrote a big check to uncle Sam on the 17th...

Audirings4

There are a few wheels on eBay.

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/Wheels-/....c0.m282&gbr=1

Personally id slide under and give it a visual look over.
Then have the alignment place take a second peek to make sure you didn't miss anything.
I'd definitely go to someone who had a Hunter instead. Actually I just had some suspension work done and asked the service manager about an alignment and he say skip on dealership.

The G Man

I agree, if she hit the curb at 40mph, have the suspension inspected by a professional.

MishMash

So I just had a similar experience, except supplement curb for unforeseen pothole after rain on Freeway at 75+ mph. Front right tire blown out, front right rim looked ok. Here are the steps ive been through to resolve:

A) Replaced ONLY tire. Drove it. Vibration at 40mph and again at 80mph and gets progressively worse.

B) Dismount new front tire, assume front rim is bent. Buy new front wheel online. Remount new tire and drive. Vibration stil at 40mph and again at 80mph but not as bad.

C) Take to Audi Dealer. They inspect EVERYTHING. They then do alignment. Turns out the REAR wheel was also bent...but control arms and everything were fine! Took a massive hit and held!

So in the end, I replaced the rear wheel and pick it up tomorrow. Problem should be solved.

I guess my point is..take the wheel and have it inspected for trueness before spending any other money on even an alignment

Coolieman1220

love BMW's tire and rim warranty.

How did she do that?

I once clipped a curb doing 15mph or so, it was covered with snow.

cwdonahue

Speaking of BMW...I was able to get a wheel straightened on my Z3. Cheaper than a new wheel. Then I had a conversation with my daughter.....

Reisen

Ok, so I had a chance to check out the Q last night when she got home.

First, no rash at all on the wheel. She must have gone completely up and over the curb (with that one wheel) without ever actually scraping it. Lord only knows how she managed that... She claims she was in a construction zone and another car drifted into her lane...

Anyway, what she thought was curb rash was actually rubber on the lip of the rim. It looks like the tire deflected so severely that it folded over on itself and left some transfer on the rim (easily wiped off).

The tire pressure held, but with a tennis-ball size bulge in the sidewall, the tire is no longer usable.

Next up will be to have the shop check to see if the wheel is still true when the new tire arrives from Tire Rack (Monday). Donahue, that's a good point about possibly having the rim straightened, since, amazingly, visually it's still flawless (no rash).

So we'll start with getting the tire changed and the rim checked, and then move on to alignment and suspension.

Thanks for the link to the rim on ebay. Unfortunately, we have the GoodYear Eagle LS2's, and they still have plenty of tread life (the car is only 11 months old), so I just replaced it with the same.

The G Man

For $1500, you better love it. I think BMW is making more money selling their tire and wheel insurance than they are selling cars.

Coolieman1220

False! in the almost 2 years and 30k miles of ownership of the 335d with spots package (that means 225/40r18 up front 255/35r18 rear Bridgestone Potenza RE050 Run Flat Summer Tires, and i have a 225/45r17 Dunlop Wintersport 3D as my winters, non run flat) I have replaced 5 tires due to nails and punctures. A rear tire installed is $430, a front is $380. The tires alone are about $50 less than that.

Oh and I had 3 bent OEM rims replaced for free. You tell me if it hasn't paid for itself? Oh and if my tread gets low, find a nail or a bubble (they bubble real easy) and new tire. unlimited amount of tires for 5 years.

Makes sense to me

The G Man

All I can say is that I have been driving for 25 years and so far I have gotten 1 flat tires and no bent rims and I have own cars with runflats before. Driving in NY city with 40 profile runflats is asking for trouble. BMW might as well tack on the price of the tire and wheel insurance and schedule maintenace onto the MSRP if one is to buy the sport package and live in NY. I am currently looking at the 5 series and the 5 series' Sport Package with the 40 profile tires have the same problem. I have decided to forgo the sport package, insurance or no insurance, I just dont want the hassle. The 45 profile runflats seem to have alot less problems. What good is a run flat tire if the sidewall gets damage and the rims get crack when you hit a pothole? What if you are on a long trip? BMW doesnt even provide you with a spare tire. I am not a big fan of the runflats, I would take a conventional spare tire anyday.