Sad sad day for me,

I was going around a sweeping turn onto the freeway and hit a pot hole, you know, the bone jarring ones you feel in your whole body! First thing I thought was thank god I have camber plates and reenforcement plates. After checking, no mushrooming.

However, the hit was bad enough to put a slight bulge in the side of the stock Dunlop runflat. The rim (R99) doesn't appear to be bent to the naked eye although I guess I'll have to take to a shop and hope they tell me the same?

Now comes the worse part and my question. When I turn to the right with the steering wheel turned more than 90 degrees or so, I hear a "thump, thump, thump". Seems to be about every revolution of the wheel. I haven't jacked it up yet to take a closer look, but I did turn the wheel both ways to lock and there doesn't seem to be anything rubbing or touching. I will check a little closer tomorrow.

What did I most likely break or bend? Bearings? The hit was on the front driver side wheel at about 50 mph on a right turn so most the weight was on that side. The alignment was already off slightly pulling to the right and doesn't seem to be any different now. As my sig says, I have Cross coilovers, they are set pretty soft right now at 3 in front and 4 in back. I drove about 5 miles home and the runflat light didn't come on yet, so it seems to be holding air.

Sorry to post and run, but I will check back tomorrow. Hopefully I didn't forget any crucial info.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

 

I bet the thump is from the bulge. I lost a Pirelli in the same manner going straight on the freeway but hit a seam to an overpass in a road construction area so it felt like a 3" vertical lip! Didn't light up the TPMS instantly but on the way home I did. That damage was the only kind not supported by Pirelli so had to get a new tire as the RF structure is not repairable.

 

Bad news...
I'll bet the thump is tire damage.

Maybe do a rotation
do front to rear same side ...
(while looking close at components)

 

There are a lot of "thump" type noises, but the one that I have with my Cross C/o's is the wheel hitting one of the locking collars. It is rotational and only happens when going in reverse with the wheel cranked all the way to one side and on sweeping style on-ramps that bank to the right (passenger side wheel). The clearance between the wheel and c/o is very small and for some reason in certain situations it rubs. I took the wheel off and saw where it was rubbing and decided to sand it down a little to see if that made it better. It did make it better and now I rarely have the thump noise.

Good news is it could be something alot worse and more expensive than one wheel. Goodluck figuring it out.

 

Thanks guys!

I feel a little better, hopefully your right. I'll go buy new rubber and see. I now have two tires with plugs in it, a bulge in another and way too much wear on the fronts, I don't think I need anymore reasons to get rid of these runflats. Of course, with my recent luck, regular tires might not last too long, lol

I'll do a quick rotation like you said Brian.... you sure your son needs those nice tires you have in the back yard, j/k

 

You can turn in the damage under a claim to your insurance company.

You just have to weight the pros and cons... how much is the damage above your Collision deductible vs what impact will the claim have on your future premiums (yes, hitting a pothole is considered an at-fault accident).

 

Thanks, nice to know... probably won't be doing that though,

 

A sidewall bulge is usually because some of the internal cords tore, or sometimes a "snake-bite" injury, where the tire gets damaged on both sidewalls at once by being squashed against the rims.

Prepare yourself for the cost of a new tire, or maybe take the chance to switch to non-runflats when you see the price...

 

Thanks Rick, I have been playing with the idea of changing out the runflats anyhow, I do know how much they are,

I have no doubt that I should be changing all of them at this point.

My concern is, did I damage anything else...

After removing the wheels to give a rotation, I didn't see where anything was hitting or rubbing. But after placing the rear on the front and giving it a spin, WACK! Turns out Mat was right, it is hitting the lower locking ring. The tire and wheel are clear form it, but there is a little plastic piece mounted on the wheel that is hitting it. What is this, is it for the flat sensor? It is not a weight as they are mounted inside the wheel. Can it just be removed?

Something must have got bent a little for this to suddenly be a problem, nothing is obvious to the eye after looking behind the wheel.

 

i know it's not cheap, but it's safer: H&R 5mm spacers....which may then require changing your lugs....not a big cost....just more of that "you gotta pay to play" stuff

i was thinking that getting non runflats will be the "silver lining" for you...you will definitely say "shoulda done this sooner"

good luck!

 

Well, after taking it to the shop to have everything evaluated, I bend the lower bracket of the coilovers,

I just knew something was bent. Waiting to hear from Cross to see what this little mistake is going to cost me.

 

Ouch, my MINIs twin separated from birth was just injured! Dude I hope you get everything sorted out!

Also, did you head out to Hawaii for vacation yet? I had a blast!

 

LOL

Welcome back! Glad you had fun. While in Florida, we decided not to do Hawaii this year as the flights were just too darn pricey for a second vacation back to back. Had a nice relaxing time in FL though. Think we might do Tahoe in Dec., That way the airlines don't get all the money! They lost our bags both ways!

Just waiting to hear from Cross on the cost for new bottom brackets.

 

Hopefully it'll be a cheap and easy repair!

 

Bottom bracket $205
New tires $550 (Star Spec's )

The tires needed to be done in the next month or so anyways. I am very excited about "poop" canning these darn runflats!

Hopefully nothing else is discovered, cause I'm just about out of money that I was not expecting to be spending. Tis is live I suppose, lol

 

you will be happy with the star specs....much nicer ride i love mine. bad luck about the bottom bracket though ....are you all fixed up? how's the ride?

 

No, not fixed up yet, everything just got ordered today. I figure 2-3 days for arrival. That puts me at next week for everything to get done. Maybe Tues or Wed.

I'm like a giddy school girl now that those tires are ordered. Can hardly wait!

I had some 5mm spacers put on the front so there is no rubbing until then. I think I might need the spacers anyway with the wider tires. Too bad I was 2 minutes late on grabbing a used set in the Marketplace.

 

how did you make out with the stock lugs? with the spacers, i could only get about 3-4 turns with the stock lugs (i had purchased a conversion kit before i installed the coils...and was quite bummed to find out i had 14mm lugs, not 12mm like most mini's). if you need longer 14's tsw is the only place i could find. many have the 12's. good luck!

 

you could return them for a defective replacement from where you bought them.
you shouldn't need tire insurance either. they will pro-rate the tire, but it still beats full price of a new ones.

info for next time?

 

Ahh, I remember reading your post about that a while ago, that sucks. Tell you the truth, I have no idea about the lugs. I had the shop put them on after doing the inspection for me. They had a set of used H&R's for $40, so I said, go for it. I also have the 14mm. The shop said 5mm was ok to use with the stock bolts, anything bigger and I would need longer ones.

 

Sorry, what are you referring to? My tires? I am still on the stock runflats. It just gave me a reason to toss the runflats a little earlier then I was planning.

 

well i sure trust brian...maybe mine were a liitle different because of the night spoke wheels? but i didn't feel safe getting only 3 good turns on a lug. you may want to loosen one of yours to see how well it's on? hopefully, it's not an issue for you....but if you find you don't have many turns, it would be better and cheaper in the long run to find out now otherwise you could have another thread that starts with :( in the future.

 

Ya, good idea!

..... just went and checked, your right, only about four turns. Does seem a bit on the short side. I will look into a stud conversion kit.

Thanks!

 

yea, i saw that in the post as i responded! guess I should've read a little more before responding

 

No prob!