Austin roads just destroyed two wheels

Twiddler · Jan 22, 2015

I have 21" wheels with Hankooks. Driving down 15th street toward IH35 this evening I. Light rain (read: you cannot see the black road texture well), while navigating the abrupt construction diversions in the road, it happened. That bone chilling double slam suggesting there was some segment of road missing where you just were. I actually did not even see it. It was right after a swerve in the road; I was going 5 under the speed limit. I am sick.

Immediately after, I rolled down the windows and listened, hearing a low-pitched hiss, corresponding to both of my driver side tires rapidly deflating. I immediately turned around and limped the few blocks back to my condo with the flashers on.

Okay, so I am assuming that both rims are bent and likely trashed. But, there was a soft metal on metal rubbing sound while driving, not at all like rubber in the wells. Any ideas what could be going on....and what I am in for tomorrow morning??

highfalutintodd · Jan 22, 2015

Twiddler said:
....and what I am in for tomorrow morning??

An expensive repair bill. :-(

Sorry to hear about this.

MartinAustin · Jan 22, 2015

Go back to that spot and take some pics of the road where you had the incident... and post them here please.

I imagine Austin City Council will have to pay for repairs if their holes-in-the-road are causing damage to otherwise legal car wheels/tires.

Thanks for the heads up, I will avoid that street for a couple of weeks!

sickfox · Jan 22, 2015

Take pictures of where it happened and show it to your car ins agent.

Good luck!

Twiddler · Jan 22, 2015

Thank you for your help, it is so much appreciated. The exact location is right at the entry of UMC Brackenridge as you head toward IH 35 down 15th St. The pictures are below, I was actually shocked that it wasn't deeper than it is, however I must've just really hit it right. We will see what the service center has to say tomorrow, luckily the car is well insured.

benjiejr · Jan 23, 2015

Sorry to hear this. That's a big drop if I'm seeing that picture correctly. Yikes! This is exactly what I'm afraid of. I hope all goes well. I'd be interested to hear the results after you're back on the road enjoying the Tesla again. Good luck sir.

cgiGuy · Jan 23, 2015

Sorry to hear about that. I would definitely put in a claim with the city and see what comes out of it. I'm constantly in fear of hitting things left by the construction crews here in SA.

Jaff · Jan 23, 2015

Sorry to hear about your damage!

A tip for future reference....when taking a picture of a pothole for use in an insurance claim or trying to get the municipality or a road contractor to pony up for your damages, take a ruler with you to insert in the pothole thus giving an accurate measurement of the depth of the hole...it will show immediately if the hole is deeper that the accepted tolerances for your area.

Also, if the municipality will / might entertain your claim, you usually have a very limited time frame to submit all of your data to them...sometimes it is as short as 72 hours after the occurrence of the incident...

Twiglett · Jan 23, 2015

that is my least favorite construction plan in a while. All of the contra-flow changes seem to specifically make it difficult to navigate.
However, the current slalom just elevates the craziness of it all.

AmpedRealtor · Jan 23, 2015

Ask the city to pay for the bill. I would.

artsci · Jan 24, 2015

Twiddler said:
Thank you for your help, it is so much appreciated. The exact location is right at the entry of UMC Brackenridge as you head toward IH 35 down 15th St. The pictures are below, I was actually shocked that it wasn't deeper than it is, however I must've just really hit it right. We will see what the service center has to say tomorrow, luckily the car is well insured.

Twiddler,

Sorry to hear about this and best wishes recovering damages from the city, although I have doubts that will work.

I've dealt with 2 bent wheel incidents. Most likely your SC manager will advise you to replace the bent wheels. That's Tesla policy. But he might also whisper in your ear that you can get them repaired locally (Tesla does not repair bent wheels, even its own).

Look for a wheel repair shop in your area. Depending on the state of the damage they might be repairable. If you have an Alloy Wheel Repair franchise in Austin I highly recommend this company. They can repair the wheels while you wait (take a little more than an hour). If the car's not drivable that presents a different set of problems, but I would not buy new wheels unless yours are damaged beyond repair.

I posted about my bent wheel problems only a few weeks ago and the thread has some good advice.

hiroshiy · Jan 24, 2015

Purely out of curiosity do tires play any significant roles in situations like this? I think I've experienced gaps / drops like this with my former car (285 30 R20 on the rear) in Japan but never experienced these issues. With Bridgestone, Pirelli. We sometimes have to drop 2 - 4 inches of curb to get out from tight street parking.

Right now I have summer Michelin PS3 and winter Bridgestone Blizzak both 19 inch so I can't tell my experiences on my Tesla but... I can't believe roads in the States are that bad.

Twiddler · Jan 24, 2015

I am no expert on this, but the tires needed to be replaced within the next 2-3k miles anyway, so were likely more prone to rupture leading to rim (and possible suspension) damage. The pothole was surprisingly shallow. I have certainly hit worse in the past without an issue. I think it was a mix of worn tires and the abrupt jagged step up of the hole itself. The car is still at the service center - I will post a full report when available.

Also, I considered rim repair, but the cost is already well past my deductible.

jerry33 · Jan 24, 2015

hiroshiy said:
Purely out of curiosity do tires play any significant roles in situations like this? I think I've experienced gaps / drops like this with my former car (285 30 R20 on the rear) in Japan but never experienced these issues. With Bridgestone, Pirelli. We sometimes have to drop 2 - 4 inches of curb to get out from tight street parking..

Tire size and air pressure are the most important static factors. The more sidewall height and the higher the air pressure the lower your chances of having pothole damage. Of course, the speed at which you hit the pothole makes a difference as does the angle of impact. (If you can't avoid, hit square on and release the brake before impact so that the suspension is free to move).

Don't let anyone convince you that higher pressure will increase tread/tire failures, the ratio of tread failures caused by impact to tire and wheel damage caused by low pressures is very low. if it's as high as 1 in 10,000 I'd be surprised. Exception--the tire is very old and perhaps has had previous damage from cuts or penetrations. (All this assumes that you aren't putting on $25 tires. Cheap tires are, well, cheap.) I suspect very few Model S tires would fall into those categories.

Twiddler · Jan 24, 2015

Good to know - thanks! In that case, the tires were Hankooks, and the pressure was exactly 50 PSI - I had checked it earlier in the week. I also hit the brakes after both tires hit using much the same logic (akin to hitting a patch of ice).

hiroshiy · Jan 25, 2015

jerry33 said:
Tire size and air pressure are the most important static factors. The more sidewall height and the higher the air pressure the lower your chances of having pothole damage. Of course, the speed at which you hit the pothole makes a difference as does the angle of impact. (If you can't avoid, hit square on and release the brake before impact so that the suspension is free to move).

Don't let anyone convince you that higher pressure will increase tread/tire failures, the ratio of tread failures caused by impact to tire and wheel damage caused by low pressures is very low. if it's as high as 1 in 10,000 I'd be surprised. Exception--the tire is very old and perhaps has had previous damage from cuts or penetrations. (All this assumes that you aren't putting on $25 tires. Cheap tires are, well, cheap.) I suspect very few Model S tires would fall into those categories.

Thank you, @jerry33, for the advice. I'll keep my eyes on air presasure. Too bad Tesla skimped on TPMS in Japanese models. I installed FOBO instead!

Haven't bent rims for 30 years of my driving. Maybe I'm lucky or the roads are better here...

charperimg · Jan 25, 2015

Let me know if you need two new rear wheels. I had this happen to me and bought replacements and got the wheels fixed. What I'm selling are the wheels I got fixed. One was bent and has been repaired and one had curb rash and has been repaired. Good as new. 21" wheels for the P85+

Twiddler · Jan 29, 2015

UPDATE:

No damage to the suspension etc, just two bent rims and two new tires (driver side front and rear). Overall not too bad - I had expected much much worse

aaronw · Jan 30, 2015

Given how bad the roads are around where I live I bought Tesla's tire and rim insurance when it was briefly available. I'm glad I haven't had to use it. *knocks on wood* I'm constantly dodging potholes in San Jose.

Austin roads just destroyed two wheels

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