HELP - Pothole Damage - New Wheel/Refurb Opinions Wanted

[bjorno]

Having had a lovely evening amble up the old man of conniston in the lake district, and whilst enjoying a spirited drive in what was left of the sunset, I hit pretty monstrous pothole and straight away noises were coming from my left rear tyre. I'm on non Falcon Non RFTs. By the time I'd found somewhere to pull over it was flat, pumped it back up, carried on for about half a mile but it's gushing out. The tyre seems to hold pressure when stationary, and it sound like a litte is coming out each rotation as i've tried to drive along, very slowly, pumping it up was no good, and so I assumed the tyre weld I'd got would be no good either.

I managed to get it to a village by crawling along and stopping every couple of minutes to top the pressure up, and got a mate to pick me up, and I'm now assessing my options for rescuing it tomorrow, any experience anyone can share wouldbe very much apprecieated.

I am assuming that the tyre has come away from the wheel, and that it may be salvagable if refitted properly so as far as I can see the options are:

1. ring round tyre fitters and see if any of them can come out to it and re fit the tyre
2.buy a spare, either a space saver as i'm starting to come round to the idea of carrying one anyway after today, or any wheel from a scrappy that will fit, advice on what wheels will fit a z4 would be appreciated
3. order a new tyre from a mobile fitter such as black circles and see if they will fit it at the cars current location
4. get car brought back to local tyre dealer on a flatbed, it's about 15 miles away from my house at the moment!

Cheers in anticipation

 

[srhutch]

I very much doubt the tyre will be usable again, as it will probably suffered internal damage being run flat. It will probably be full of tiny rubber pellets now.

You have two choices really, carry some tyre weld and a compressor or a space saver, jack and wheel brace.

 

[Mattt]

You had tyre weld, but chose not to use it?
:?

 

[Siftah]

Cheers in anticipation

Sometimes pumping the tyre up quickly will help to re-seat the tyre on the rim, it could be that's why it's not taking air. The best bet for this is a large compressor like you'd get in a service station but that sounds unlikely considering where the car is. Maybe the AA/RAC will carry one on the back of their rescue trucks? Have you got a mate with AA membership? they cover the person rather than the car.

To be honest, I'd be asking the AA/RAC to pick me up at this point, if they can't make the wheel+tyre drivable they can recover you home so you can fix it at your leisure.

Either that, find a mate with a compressor? :\

I'd try the tyre weld too personally - sounds like you've not got much to lose :\

 

[Dav the wheel nut]

The problem is that the wheel may be damaged and that is causing the air loss, so getting a tyre fitter out may be a waste of time.
I would opt for getting the car home and then assess my options.

 

[bjorno]

Update time
Took the car into a local garrage in the village it was in this morning, the fella there took the wheel off and on the inside rim the wheel had a massive flat on it which was causing the leak, it looked like the flat on a 20p. The guy took a hammer to the rim to get it back to something a little more like roundness and we tested it was holding pressure before he refitted it to get me home. Now have the car at home and am about to start making some enquiries into getting it refurbed/buying a new one. anyone any experience of getting wheels repaired when out of roundness?

FI I had both a compressor and tyre weld with me, at the time. Opted not to use the tyre wled as it specifically says that it is no good for fixing leaks where the tyre is away from the rim.

 

[Dav the wheel nut]

As I suggested damage to the wheel when hitting potholes is quite common.
Hammering out dents in steel wheels is done routinely but my local tyre fitter will not knock out alloy wheels. The alloy will not be as strong once it has been straightened and you may also find the seal on the tyre will not be as good as it should.

 

[cj10jeeper]

bjorno - what rims do you have?

My local wheel refurber can have alloys straighted easily, but it's a compromise if it's worth it. You have to both correct the bend and then reweld the flat, so I'd be looking for a spare off ebay.

Given that this one have been hammered back to shape it's now scrap and it woudl have need correctly reforming.

The tyre will also be scrap on 2 counts 1) you've driven it partly deflated and 2) the impact will have pinched the cords internally. Sur it'll hold air then one day just probably blow out.

 

[bjorno]

They're 19" mv2 style wheels, they were on the car when I bought it, I think they're replicas seeing as they don't have an M emblam on them, and as far as i can tell by searching there aren't any Mv2s in 19", only 17 and 18"s. There don't appear to be any on ebay at the moment, will have to contact some alloy websites to see if they'll break a set of 4 to sell me 1 i guess.

CJ, would you mind PMing me the details of your wheel guy, wouldn't mind having it looked at or at least being told from the horses mouth that its a scrapper.

Bloody typical that its one of the rears with <1000 miles on the tyres that got done and not the fronts which are getting ready for changing anyway, joys of motoring eh!!

 

[cj10jeeper]

PM sent

 

[bjorno]

Hello again!
after a bank holiday trawling through ebay, alloy websites and threads on here with pictures of peoples wheels whilst my poor baby was sat outside with a broken toe I'm at a point where I'm torn between getting the wheel refurbed with CJ's contact, or getting a set of M6 reps, as I can't find a like for like wheel to replace the buckled one, they are 19" MV2 reps, had no idea when i bought the car that they were reps, had assumed they were OEM, live and learn eh. My thinking being that I'm nearly ready for 2 new front tyres anyway, and with the likely ruined tyre on the buckled wheel now would be a good time to swap, I quite like the look of the m6 reps in 18"s and like the idea of a more comfortable ride and staggered setup (235/35/19s on all 4 corners at the moment) will be going for 225/40/18 & 255/35/18 if i get the m6 reps, Falkon 452's in all cases.

I'm just not sure if the m6 reps suit the car more then what i've already got, mocked up some photoshop pics to guage gut feeling and i like the M6 reps but not sure if just because its a change, and both the mrs and my mate preferred what I've already got, would very much appreciate thoughts. Also does anyone have any experience of the M6 reps, are they lackered in the same way as 108's, ie will there be corrosion problems down the line?

To add another complication I definately need the car on saturday so would need to order the m6 reps by tomorrow lunchtime, and have no chance of getting the refurb done in time. Would I be able to put a non matching wheel (ie steel wheel or cheap alloy i could get from the scrappies) providing it had same outer diameter and width etc on there in the mean time or is that a definate no no?

Pictures below, could only find a side on shot with my dad in the car, sure he won't thank me for putting the picture up

PS didn't notice the blue calipers behind these untill after I'd photoshopped but like that with the Maldives Blue paint, that would definately be MOD number 3 if i got the wheels, so far have a zhp nob and that it................

 

[Siftah]

Hmm, well I think they look good, that colour seems to go well with those wheels and they're at least a bit less usual than the 108's

 

[klarky]

if you get the m6 reps try getting ones with the inners / inner side of spokes in black, makes them look even better.