Buckled alloy symptoms

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JonnyP2468

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Joined
Jul 29, 2018
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82
Location
Manchester
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A class
After going over a mediumish pot hole, I have just been out on the motorway and cannot see/feel anything obvious about the car or notice anything untoward with the wheel alignment. No vibrations either etc. I can’t see any obvious flat spots either. Would you say it’s safe to say that I got away with this one? :)
 
It sounds like you may have dodged a bullet, but it would be worth checking the sidewalls of the tyre(s) that hit the pothole for any sign of damage or bulging and then check them again in a week's time once they've been subjected to more use.

Alignment issues may not show up when driving. The only way to be certain is to have a 4-wheel alignment check.
 
Up to 60mph then gently pass it listening for any noises or vibration. Drumming from the rear and wheel wobble from the front. Any pulls either side under breaking...

Fingers crossed you've dodged a bullet...:thumb:
 
Thanks for both replies. If I’m honest, I don’t think the pot hole was that big, but my parnoia takes over sometimes. I’ve done some motorway driving since. Would it be fairly obvious if something had happened?

Cheers guys
 
In general you will notice a vibration through the floor-pan and/or steering at motorway speeds if you have a buckled rim.

You should check the tyre sidewalls (inner and outer) for any sign of bulging though. Tyres can suffer internal damage from hitting a pothole, even if the rim is unscathed. The reason I said check now and again in a week is that initial weakening may not show up straight away but the carcass can rupture over time. Unless you're unlucky or hit the pothole hard then more than likely the tyres are ok, but it's worth the check.
 
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You could jack the wheel uand turn it by hand looking for out of round situation. You could at the same time run your hand over the tread and back side wall, the one you can't see, to try and feel any bumps in the side wall....
 
Well the easiest way of finding out if the alloy is buckled is to go to a tyre fitters and get them to run the wheels on their machine,a small cost to find out,if they say there is nothing wrong then it might be a wheel bearing, again get them checked out, both those things generally show up as vibration at motorway speeds,if you have had this for a while you well get even more vibration when you brake from a decent speed ,this could well point to a wheel bearing.
 

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