biturbowagon

Last night I hit a nasty pothole while driving about 25 MPH on a country road. (I never even saw it.) I felt a nasty "whump," followed by a shimmer in the steering wheel and a loud hiss. I pulled over as soon as it was safe to do so, and assessed the damage: one flat snow tire (front right) and one nastily-bent rim (ATP S5 225/50R16).

I tried to change the tire myself, but could not get the rim to separate from the hub. So I called the Audi 24 hour number. A friendly woman on the other end took down the info, and sent someone to help.

About an hour and a half later, a flatbed showed up. The driver and I decided to continue to try to get the rim off before towing the car. With extra effort we were finally able to get it to separate and to put the doughnut spare tire on.

I received a followup call from Audi a few minutes after I was underway.

So, the 24-hour service worked. Sure, faster would have been nicer (I wasn't that far from civilization), but the guy did arrive.

Today I had my stock rims and tires put on the car. It's good that I opted for all-seasons when I replaced the OEM P6000 tires, since there is still snow in the area.

So, anyone have any recommendations re the rim? Should I try to have it straightened, or should I just buy a new one? If the former, any recommended service?

Is it possible to put a full-size spare in the Avant's spare tire area, without impinging on cargo area? If not, is it practical to use a narrower tire with the same rolling radius, e.g. a 205/55R16? Although the doughnut did its job, it's still not a very good option.

TIA.

actionS4

I got 2 flats & one severely dented rim on a pothole last summer on my stock rims (had another blown tire & severely dented rim about 2 weeks before that too). Anyway, my 2-flat-tire incident happened about 90 miles from civilization (if you want to call it that - it was an Alaskan town of about 1000 people). Once I drove about 25 miles on a flat to make it to a phone (at 11pm), the Audi assistance people did hook me up with a tow-truck, so kudos to them, although it did take him over 3 hours to show up.

I eventually got one of the rims straighted (left the other to hold the spare, since mine is full-sized) - the rim was dented so badly, that it ended up cracking when they pressed it, but that's apparantly not as bad as it sounds - they can weld that, and it's supposed to be stronger than the rim itself - as long as it still runs straight. I figured it was worth the risk that they'd be good enough to hold winter tires, saving me some extra money to spend on a great set of rims for summer.

So I put a set of Nokian NRW-H's on (they kick ***!), and haven't had a problem yet - even up to 125mph. Now that spring is here, it's time for a little rim & tire shopping spree. Once I get my car back from the body shop that is - f'ing moron that plowed into me at a gas station...I won't even get the chance to take any more tires off this pothole season.