Friday night, 11:40pm, driving H & R Spring lowered MCS, barely noticeable dip in road, BAM! Five minutes later, inspect right front wheel and tire. Pirelli run-flats on 17" S-lites. Tire has large bubble and cut where it meets the edge of the wheel. Cannot ascertain if there is damage to the wheel, a professional must inspect it. Car has 9,000 miles, 2,000 of which I drove. Tires don't have a full 9,000, as the car was tracked enough to wear out a front set of racing slicks. I just had a full alignment and rotation/balance.

Went back to inspect the area that did the damage. From within my car, at night, I could see that the road had been cut out, and filler had settled, leaving 90' angles exposed. It didn't look too bad, so I chalked it up to the springs and bad luck.

Saturday, ordered 4 Yoko Parada Spec 2's. Will save 3 decent run-flats for other MCS.

Saturday night, made may way out in unmodified MCS. Mental note to self while traveling the same road to avoid hole. Chatting with companion and looking forward to a meal after hiking all day in the Poconos distracted me. 11pm, BAM!! Same place. Five minutes later, inspect right front wheel and tire, SAME THING!! Only this time, the wheel is definitely damaged. Car is 2 months and 1 week old with 6,700 miles, just rotated tires. Driving the Cross-Bronx Expressway every week hasn't done this to me!!

Forget food. Went back to scene and called cops. While waiting, spoke with some guys 2 doors down who said that a lot of people have been losing their hubcaps there lately. Cop arrived, totally disinterested. I just wanted some "official" documentation of my complaint.

Now I have 2 beautiful MINI's, and can't drive either one!!

Besides the bump in the road, the way I see it, two other things are against me. The 17" tires have very little sidewall. The run-flats are particularly hard.

Questions: 1) What is the best way to pursue this in order to get reimbursement from whomever is responsible for the road?

2) Now that I'll be lacking all full sets of S-lites, I'm thinking of buying 16" wheels. Would having them with a good performance tire be better in such a circumstance than the 17's with run flats? In other words, would I be less likely to have such a result given the circumstance.

3) Would having non run-flat such as the Yoko Parada's on the 17" give me as beneficial a result as having non run-flats on 16" wheels, given a similar situation?

4) Which MCS would benefit most from the 16" wheels? The one with the H & R Springs and other performance mods will not be driven in the snow. The non-modified one will.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Why, why, why?!?!?!
:???: :???:

_________________
I'm the boss, not you!
Get over here!
Gimme a kiss!

 

Bump. Ideas please?

 

Find out who is responsible for the road, whether it is state, federal or local. Then find out who did the work in the road. Document everything on both instances including photos of the road (make sure you date stamp the photos and use a ruler or tape measure to give a sense of scale of the change in road elevation), and find out from the jurisdication who controls the road who to file a claim for the damage. You may need to have a lawyer assist you if they blow you off, but you should be compensated if the roadwork was bad enough to damage your vehicle. Are there any signs, flashing lights, or anything warning drivers of the conditions? If not, then you've got a pretty good case.

 

No signs, no lights, no warnings. Thanks for your input.

Can I use a digital camera with a date stamp?

Interestingly enough, the elevation doesn't seem to be that great, it's just a hard sharp, 90' edge.

_________________
I'm the boss, not you!
Get over here!
Gimme a kiss!

 

Be glad your not in NC. NC has no course of action if a road or part of a road damages your tire, wheel or rips out the bottom of your car. Good luck.

 

From personal experience.

You have 365 days from incident to report a tort claim. They have 365 additional days to respond. In my case they waited a year and said, you were the 1st to point this out, hence INdot didn't know the conditions - If they didn't know the conditions, they can't be negligible.

If it was private property, you have much better chances


Alex

>>No signs, no lights, no warnings. Thanks for your input.
>>
>>Can I use a digital camera with a date stamp?
>>
>>Interestingly enough, the elevation doesn't seem to be that great, it's just a hard sharp, 90' edge.
>>
>>_________________
>>I'm the boss, not you!
>>Get over here!
>>Gimme a kiss!

 

Sorry to hear that happened to you, had a similar thing happen with my M5. I live in downtown chicago and the streets by me are actually 2-3 inches of asphalt covering the old brick streets, well they were resurfacing the streets and managed to dislodge a few of the old bricks. No street lights, no signs, nothing, but a big hole in the road!! Needless to say not only did I destroy the front rim/tire but the back rim/tire as well.... I was told by several lawyers not to even bother the City doesn't pay for these type of screw ups....

 

As a Contractor I can attest that if it is a City/State/County maintenance crew you're probably outta luck. However, if an independent Contractor is performing the work, most public agencies have public safety and convenience clauses in their contracts that require the contractor performing the work to make good on damages due to unsafe conditions in the work zone. As stated in an earlier thread, document through witnesses and pictures that there was no construction zone signage or other required warnings. Cautionary signs, cutback, trench plates, etc. in work zones are required on all Contracts in all states.

Most agencies will enforce these clauses - we get hit multiple times on all our jobs in the public right of way- and we are religious about safety. Most agencies will withhold payments or penalize us if we do not promptly investigate and pay on these claims.

 

Note to self....don't drive on that road. Better!!! It was a joke dude..chill
_________________
2002 MINI COOPER "S" 203HP

 

>>Note to self....don't drive on that road. And 2nd note to self...I am not to bright.

I don't appreciate your comment, I happen to be quite bright.

Secondly, it's a main road that leads to major commercial areas, so it's difficult to avoid.

 

Since there has been some activity on this thread, I will post an update, though it doesn't provide any conclusive information.

First of all, I'd like to thank those of you who have offered constructive ideas and advice.

I have been trying to contact my insurance company over the last 3 days. They just changed hands and the phone lines are a mess. The only time that I didn't get a busy signal is when I learned of the name change, but I got disconnected after selecting claims as my option.

I called the township in which the incidents took place. They are sending me some forms to fill out and faxed me a copy of the police report. The woman with whom I spoke had nothing to say about who is responsible (if she even knows), only that she'd send me these forms.

I went out this past Monday and took some photographs. A resident in the area had taken photos in a similar situation for an insurance company and/or police department. He came out and helped me, held a tape measure at the point of elevation and lay a yardstick across the hole in a few different positions for a point of reference.

I'll keep you posted.

_________________
I'm the boss, not you!
Get over here!
Gimme a kiss!

 

>>Note to self....don't drive on that road. Better!!! It was a joke dude..chill
>>_________________
>>2002 MINI COOPER "S" 203HP

O.K., no problem. Overly sensitive because on top of all that nonsense, my favorite parrot died early Tuesday morning after a trip to the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Emergency Hospital on Monday. The parrot on whose phrases my sig is based. He was such a good bird.

_________________
I'm the boss, not you!
Get over here!
Gimme a kiss!

 

If the township is faxing you these forms, dollar to a donut says it's their maintenance department who is doing the work.

If there was an independent Contractor involved, they'd give you either the name and number of the contractor' insurance company or their project manager. The township would pass the buck and wash their hands of this claim immediately.

Stay on them - handle this like any other insurance claim involving a second party. If they are mailing you forms and you have a police report to go on, you're a third of the way there.

 

>> He was such a good bird.

Tonto,

I will mourn your loss. Its allways hard to loose an animal, they become members of your family, and integral parts of your life.

To quote the 5 Stairsteps "Ooh child, things are gonna be easier, someday"

that song had helped me a great deal in the past.

best wishes

Alex