ouch

[Dev]

Hello everyone!

I'm writing from a short break in france, at a mates' place out in the countryside! Lovely food and wine... yum!

Problem: on the way here last night, I was going down an unlit country road and hit this central lane divider thing which I can only describe as a 'stealth painted, 2-3 inch high, pointless concrete sausage' with my front-left wheel. :x Stupid thing has utterly no purpose other than to screw up a car! The impact must've been at about 40 mph, so it was a bloody loud bang. Pulled over, had a look at the wheel and tyre, bearing in mind it was about 11pm dark and raining, couldn't see any damage. Had a look at the 'sausage', no debris, plenty of marks where other people have hit the thing. Drove to my mates house, which was only about 20km away, and the car seemed to be driving straight, but seems to gently pull a bit to the left under braking if I'm not holding the wheel. No strange noises. Had a look this morning, being daylight I could examine it a bit more, no visible damage under the car, the tyre (Bridgestone runflat) has a slight 'bump' on it which means the sidewall probably got damaged, and the alloy has a tiny line of scuffing just under the 'bump'. Couldn't see any other damage.
Drove it to the shops this morning for some bread and wine, no other problems apparent.

Questions:
1. I think it'll be ok to drive home as long as I take it easy. Anyone disagree?
2. What else should I check for before the journey home?
3. When I do get home, I'm going to need the tyre/wheel checked, and will probably need a new tyre, and possibly a wheel repaired (needed refurb anyway) - what suspension components might have been damaged/worth replacing before getting the alignment done?

Thanks in advance for your advice on this, I do feel like a prat, even though I couldn't see the thing and wasn't hooning it around the lanes (the conditions were just too dodgy).

 

[AlanJ]

These road humps can be a bloody nuisance specially when they're not signed.

Difficult to say what potential issues may have been caused by the 'bump' until you get a good look underneath however as your tyres are the only secure contact you have between your vehicle and the road I wouldn't risk driving with the tyre in the condition you describe - 70mph plus on a main road and a catastrophic blow out and the rest is left to your imagination.

The slight bump on the tyre may well be masking some severe internal carcass damage. The slight pull may also be an indication of a problem which may not manifest itself at slow speed but just when you think everything is OK......... . Sorry to be a potential 'prophet' of doom but get it thoroughly checked before you start your journey home.

 

[aquazi]

A friend of mine did something similar to his Focus.... he said the steering was slightly off center.. i said it must only be the tracking.. £20 top to fix... took it to the garage and he ended up bending the steering rack!

Really hope you havent done the same but for the sake of a few hours getting it to the garage better be safe then sorry.

 

[Rolf-Dieter]

I would inspect the wheel on the inside vertical outer rim section to make sure there is no crack. If you drive home with a crack it could open up and then you be stuck with a flat some place along the highway. Just speaking from experience (having developed cracks in two of my rear wheels this summer during a road trip).

Good luck

 

[peddy]

change the tyre or better yet change all of them to non-RFT.
Check the suspension parts and then get the alignment checked.

 

[Dev]

thanks for the advice guys, it's very much appreciated!

 

[inkey$]

Sounds painful. Good luck Dev.

 

[Dev]

Just a quick update - I 'eased' the car home from france last weekend (really did drive like miss daisy was a passenger), serious lack of garages in the middle of Normandy, most are equipped for tractors, modern family-type cars and old citroens/peugeots/renaults. 18" low profle runflat tyres for a Z4?! Seemed as though some people had never seen a Z4 - certainly got some looks on market day!

As the car was driving straight, the most worrying thought was "would the tyre blow out?" - one of the drawbacks of not having even a spacesaver in the car. Decided to drive home (carefully) using the logic that the sidewall is far stronger on this tyre than on a standard non-runflat, so it was a risk, but as long as I didn't rag it, a recovery would still be an option should the tyre fail. The sidewall looked like this;



No visible damage in terms of scuffing/scraping/cuts in the tyre - just looks like the sidewall reinforcement was battered vertically by the impact.

The other worry was "has there been any hidden damage?" - wheel, suspension, chassis?

Anyway, got home without any incident, decided to get it looked at/sorted today.

I've now got a new Bridgestone runflat on the front passenger wheel, the wheel has been checked and apart from being a bit dirty, it's all clear. The garage checked all the other wheels, and the suspension all over, everything else seems fine (apart from the inside wheel surface being corroded, but I knew that). Alignment was done, little disappointed as its the most expensive one I've ever had done, and the camber isn't perfect, but they said it's as close as they could get it with the movement the car has available! Car seems to feel much happier on the road though, might take it out on a stretch if the weather picks up today (unlikely, but hoping it'll get better).

I know I shouldn't compare, but £300 could've bought me a full set of pirellis and alignment on the old focus. That said, the Z4 does make me smile much more often!