Arggghhh...the pothole pirates got me!
 

Well, I have now had my 2nd pothole clip in 33 years of driving! A couple of weeks ago I was caught off guard while changing lanes and did by best to miss the 12" wide pothole and was able to just 'clip' it with a pretty good "bang" on the passenger front. Watched for my TPMS to light off or feel a funny wobble and didn't get either...whew! When I got home I did a quick looksee in the dark and didn't spot anything...whew #2. Last Wednesday one of my co-workers and I were talking in the parking lot and he starts to stare at my passenger front...uh, oh. What I found is pictured below...:eek2: Ok, how is that damn thing holding air and how did I miss it the week before! I am guessing the low light combined with it facing downward when I parked and am sticking with that :razz: Looks like the inner sidewall of the RF tire design is holding up and keeping air in, so I am avoiding tossing my spare tire on.

So, looking into getting a replacement pair of the OEM Pirelli RF's I was greeted with the wonderful price of $230/tire...are you KIDDING me! OEM tires are usually a bit more than replacements, but I am not use to double aftermarket equivalents. I have 15K on my vehicle and am showing just over 1/2 depth left. I really don't want a new pair to go with a 1/2 worn pair, especially since I have an HPDE scheduled for my MINI in June. I was hoping to put these all season Pirelli's through a good torture test at the track day and change them out at the start of the next winter season. I have decided to jump over to another all season tire, but non run-flat and a whole set of (4) to keep things even all around. Should get them mounted up tomorrow, they came in to my local Discount Tire shop today.

With that said, I will have (3) reasonable good Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Run Flat tires in the 225/45VR17 variety available to anyone local who may want them as a backup. As noted above, they have 15K miles on them and between 5/32 & 6/32" tread left. I will post up additional info in the market forum once I get them off and back home to ensure they are actually still good. I would ask for local pickup and can meet somewhere reasonable close to the NW suburbs. Will ask $50 each or $125 for all (3). PM me if interested.

Here's a great resource if your next pot hole dings the wheel or knocks it out of round. I've used them twice and they do a fine job.
http://www.awrswheelrepair.com/

Dude! Who have you pissed off lately? Looks like someone stabbed your tire to me. :eek:
Smart move to go ahead and replace all four. Hope you have better luck with the new set. :thumbsup:

Check the alignment too

It does look like a knife wound doesn't it! The inner RF layer saved the day with that tire for sure, but that tires is now on its way to becoming a recycled resource, as I got the new BFG's on this afternoon...:thumbsup:

So far, car still runs true without any pulling. Will do a quick camber check when I can feel my fingers outside, still 30 deg F and hella windy today. If something shows off, I will certainly get into the alignment shop.

I am surprised the rim didn't take any damage, but my last pothole sniper in my former Legacy actually put (2) sidewall splits in the Conti DWS's I was running and not even a mark on the rim. Sometimes I wonder if it would almost be better to hit the pothole dead center rather than clipping it on an edge. That way both sidewalls would take the load rather than a single.

Here are a couple of pics of the new shoes.

So far with ~20 miles on them they ride pretty comparable to the OEM Pirelli's. Bumps are maybe a bit softer, but only fractionally so. I think these BFG's have a pretty stiff sidewall, so not much change there. I did notice that the tires have a bit of a 'bong' sound when you hit a pavement crack as compared to the deadened 'thud' of the RF's. That is definitely a product of the different sidewall construction. There is also a low level 'hum' to the tires which is expected when looking at the tread pattern, nothing annoying just an observation. As I get some miles on these I will see if anything crops up, but for now I am happy with my choice.

That's what they make the volume knob for. :grin: :nod:

Yep, that black rectangular thing under my right foot!! :cool:

I had a pretty bad run-in with a pot hole myself recently. The inner layer of the RF still held up but I was not willing to test it as I had several bridges/tunnels to cross between Brooklyn and NJ. I had Roadside service flat-bed me to Mini of Manhattan and they quoted me at a similar $230/tire, but ended up only charging $200 (replaced both front as the passenger side also had a bump in the sidewall).

These tires only had 11K miles on them and I registered the tires with Pirelli when I picked up the vehicle, so I dropped the two tires with an authorized dealer near me to see if there's any chance this would be covered under their warranty. It's a long shot, but worth a try. Anyone ever use the Pirelli warranty?

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...bf6a5324ba.jpg

How is this still holding air??

Looks like Comp2 A/S. :) I run the same tire - and love it. :) I don't notice any hum in mine.

That is 10x worse than my sidewall breech, holy smokes!! I agree with your assessment and wonder if you received anything from Pirelli on the warranty side?

Yep Comp2 A/S, they are a great tire! After a few hundred miles they wore off the edges a bit and became quiet. Only time they make 'noise' per se is under cornering load, but not much anything in a straight line. They survived an HPDE with only losing their outer corners a bit :wink:.

BTW, if anyone is interested I have my (3) remaining OEM tires for sale here:


https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...225-45r17.html


Figured I should mention it to anyone who wants an OEM donut with a little over 1/2 the life left.