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Pot holes!

J

Jit C240

Active Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2008
Messages
78
Car
W202 C240
Evening folks,

I've got into the habit of walking around the car and checking the tyres before I drive off. Got to my destination (my community centre for a meeting), went over a few pot holes along the way, checked the tyres again, all was as normal.

Meeting finished, went outside and checked the tyres again, everything was normal. On the way home, the steering felt a bit wobbly and I started hearing a slight grinding/tapping sound from the rear. I managed to get home safely driving very slowly.

I got out of the car checked the tyres, and the rear passenger side tyre was flat as a pancake. I listened for any hissing, but there wasn't any.

So my question is this...

What kind of damage has the pot hole done to my tyre? And how does this happen? Can the tyre be saved, or do I need a new one?

Thanks in advance!
 
Had something similar many years ago & the tyre wall had split! With modern very low profile tyres, it is possible to crack the alloy wheel as the tyre doesn't absorb the shock!!
 
Its possible the alloy has cracked and allowed the tyre to deflate.

What alloys have you got on ? are they big ? what profile tyres ?

People following me down the road must think i'm ****** as i drive around the potholes , theres so many round here.
 
The situation will get a lot worse after this cold spell.
And with more to come the cracks and pot holes will be horrendous.
 
Howard said:
Its possible the alloy has cracked and allowed the tyre to deflate.

What alloys have you got on ? are they big ? what profile tyres ?

People following me down the road must think i'm ****** as i drive around the potholes , theres so many round here.
Click to expand...

im the same they must think im a drunk, as im either inside of the holes or outside of them!

local knowlegde very useful, as ive mastered all the flipping pot holes around my area. it a point that makes my blood boil. i actually shout LOUD if i go over one, of course when im alone that is..

the other day i went over a huge one on the left hand side, sometimes i think how well built these cars are. it was a serious gash in the road.
 
Hi Jit C240 when you take the wheel and tyre in to be changed ask the tech what the damage is.

To have damaged it on a pothole you really would have felt it so it may just be a nail ot the like. If there is no visable damage get the tech to fill the tyre up and have a good listen and watch it in the tyre 'bath' for air escaping.

As Howard and Stempies state above it could be your alloy has a hairline crack, not uncommon with runflat tyres and sports springs etc. You can get the alloy welded though school is still out if this is a safe fix or not.

Good luck, and I hope its just the rubber!
 
I'm exactly the same Billy ...

I curse loudly if i forget about one and go down it ... :crazy:

Always cheers me up though if Barry is on my tail in his saxo and he doesn't know its there , i avoid it deftly and then watch his headlights vibrate as he plunges into the abyss. :devil:
 
Barry with Blue HID's no doubt. at least he'll be thinking what a nice tailgate you have!

he'll be wow look at that 430! even my VTR with K&N filter wont keep up. DAMN!
 
..i actually havn't checked after i hit that gash, i'll do it tonight actually for any tyre/wheel damage. It seemed to be running ok yeterday though.
 
It is also possible that the bump with the pothole broke the seal between the tyre and the rim, after the wheel is re-inflated the seal is restored. I had this happen on my S80.
 
Hi Guys,

Thank you all for the replies. This morning I tried inflating the tyre, but it just deflated slowly, this time I could hear the tyre hissing. I took the wheel off and put the spare on. I inspected the tyre I took off, and couldn't really see any damage.

So I went to the local tyre place, and the friendly chap said he'll have a look at it. He filled it up with air and gave it a tyre bath to check for leaks. No leaks were visible. Strange we both thought!

He then said that he'd take the tyre off the alloy and re-seal it, also to check the condition of the tyre inside. When he took the tyre off the alloy he showed me what was inside the tyre. I was shocked, basically the tyre had had been wearing away inside (from when i drove home last night), and had turned into heaps of black rubber crumbs. I guess I'm really lucky that the tyre didn't completely rip off.

Anyways, I got a new tyre fitted and got the tracking done whilst I was there.

Damn pot holes!!

The wheels/tyres I have on my W202 are 18' AMG Aero Replicas and 225/40/18 tyres.

Thanks
 
how do you mean it wore on the inside?
 
Basically the alloy was grinding against the rubber on the inside due the tyre being flat.
 
I hit massive pothole last night. And I mean massive. 5 other cars had also hit it and were parked up just down the road with their hazards on. At least 2 of them with blown tyres and damaged wheels! I also passed another car later on limping along with its hazards on!

I also pulled over straight away after I'd bounced over the bloody thing. The tyres haven't blown but it has definitely bent a steering arm as the car now pulls violently to the left and i have to point the steering wheel to the right to keep the car in a straight line

As It was dark i haven't managed to have a good look but I'd be very surprised if one, if not both of the tyres have suffered damage let alone any other damage done

On the way back from my mates later on I noticed yet another car parked up with the AA attending.

Like a fool I didn't get details from the other drivers as I'm sure we could have joined forces to get the council to pay for any damage incurred.

I need to go tomorrow to take some pics of the bloody thing and hope they haven't come along and filled it in over night.
 
Last edited:
I hit a huge pothole jan 28th 2010. Absolutely huge!! I struck it at 20mph and soon realised i had done something disasterous to my passenger side as the car was knocking and violently shaking my steering. got out and discovered it had buckled my 18 inch AMG rim. So i whacked the spare on and crawled it back. Next morning i went out to find my rear had also gone flat overnight. So i needed 2 new wheels and tyres at least!!

Anyway when I jacked it up, my stability arm across the underside was damaged and so was my shocker! This pothole was going to cost me big time. So i rang up the local press and they featured a story on it. Then ended up on local news! The council told me to claim on my own insurance and tried to fob me off but if you want to beat the council you must work extremily hard! I did, I battled them for 7 months sending a letter nearly every week. When they didn't accept liability i sent them a letter telling them that I was going to start a court case against them and they knew I had hard evidence. They gave up and sent me a cheque within 10 days!! All paid back and jobs a gooden'. Thing is, if you give in, they win.

Get your money back, its why we paid road tax this year!
 
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