Updated with picture. I ended up having most of the right front suspension replaced. The rear was fine. I also upgraded to new Rota Subzeros all the way around with much thanks to Tom for lending me his hubcentric rings.

On the way home this evening I decided to pass a slow van on the right in a poorly lit area. While looking way ahead for traffic, I noticed what appeared to be a pile of snow on the ground approaching fast. It turns out I was coming into an intersection with a street approaching from the right. The mound turned out to be a raised curb about 4 feet in diameter. I hit it head on at about 35 mph with both right side wheels. Stopped car immediately. Small curb rash to outside front wheel and wheel looks flat, but no light on the dash. Car is making rubbing noizes as wheel rolls and I'm sure there is damage, but with poor lighting I can't tell. Manage to limp it home 5 miles through residential area. Once in garage I can see damage is severe. I can't believe I was able to drive it home. The right front wheel is so badly damaged that the inside lip has separated from the rest of the rim about 6 inches around. The dent to the rim is maybe 4 inches deep. The rear rim isn't quite as bad, but still ugly. I can't tell what damage there is to the suspension without lifting the car. It looks like the strut may be damaged as the rubber seal piece around the top of the strut under the hood is cracked. The rest of the underside of the car looks fine and unbelievably there is no damage to the spoiler lip.

 

Call MINI of Sterling, not the new parts counter but the service side. They, like most dealerships, have wheels taken off cars for customers who upgraded to different wheels during a new car purchas. I'll bet that you can either replace the two bad rims or get some 15" holies or 16" rims mounted with tires for less that a new wheel and new tire.
John

PS. glad you are ok, I hope the damage is slight.

 

Dejavu

Hurt my Mini a few months back, both right side wheels. Limped to a nearby friends house. No body damage, lots of suspension damage to the passenger side... Struts, control arms, wheel bearings... And of course the wheels.

 

My husband has a set of S-lites that he wants to get rid of. If you're interested, PM me.

 

if he hasnt sold them yet .. hard to beat this deal by someone in your area

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=55002

 

wow...those are nice wheels...good price too

 

I have 2 S-lite w/ no tires. I bought them second hand from a NAM member. I also have 1 unmounted goodyear Runflat also from a NAM member.

The s-lites have clear coat peeling on them. I can sell you all 3 for $100.

Depending on where you live I can drop them off. If you want them.

 

Don't forget to have your alignment and related stuff (control arms, associated suspension) checked...

 

This is why I love this board. You guys are the best. Thanks for all the leads. I am working on them now. After talking with the dealer this morning he said to take it to a body shop first. Fortunately there is a great shop just 3 blocks from the house. They took a look and said besides the tires and wheels it will need the whole right front suspension at a minimum. I'm pretty impressed with the way the car held up; it was a really hard hit. I'm also impressed with the S Lites. Yea I know they are big and heavy, but you can't believe the punishment they took. I'll post a picture soon. Thanks again!

 

. . . for no reason the experts can figure. I didn't sideswipe a cement curb or drive into a large land mammal. The car has 53,000 miles on it, but the rim just cracked as I was pulling away from the mechanic and the tire went almost flat in five seconds. The mechanic called the nearest MINI dealer, and a guy in the Parts department said he'd seen MINI rims fail before. Has anybody heard anything about a design or materials flaw in the 2002 Mini wheel rim? The dealer won't return my calls.

 

Well, I have a very nice set of OEM wheels for sale, but they may be more than you are looking for (both in terms of size (17") and cost):

FS: R98 "Web-Spoke" OEM 17" wheels in DC area

 

Cause is all speculative, but I have to imagine that anything cast can have a flaw when being made, and that time/wear/stress can ultimately result in the cast item breaking.

 

Well, so much for my grand conspiracy fantasies. Thanks for the response. I didn't want to believe a bad thing about MINI anyway. My mechanic gave me a set of 17" rims that someone left with him. So I'll buy a new 16" rim and have TWO sets of wheels for the MINI, and I'll be motoring large.