You wanna know what sucks?

Jstas

Driving down the highway and hitting something big and heavy that fell off of a truck. I don't know what it was for sure but it bent a wheel. Not a cheesy steel wheel. One of my BIG 18x9.5 inchers. Bent it good, so much so it was rubbing the brake dust shields and suspension arm.

I have no idea what truck it fell off of. All I know is I was driving down the highway, following the dude in front of me about 5-6 car lengths back and cruising at 70 MPH. We are going around a bend and I see the dude in front nail his brakes hard in to this dust/smoke cloud in front of him. His car hops and I'm on the brakes hard already too and this thing comes out from under his car. I could barely see it from the dust and tire smoke. I cut the wheel to the left to try and avoid it and my right front tire nailed it, hard. The whole truck shook. I regained my composure and pulled over. Checked everything out and there was dust all over the front and down the right side. Looked and smelled like concrete, can't really be sure. By now the truck is long gone and the guy in front of me kept going too.

Well I figured I'd go see if I can catch up to him and either tell him he's dropping stuff of report it to the police. I get back in, start to pull away, get to about 30 MPH and clunkaclunkaclunka. I pull over, hit the brakes again and GRIIIIIIND. WTF!

So I pull the wheel off on the side of the road and sure enough, bent and flat spotted.

New wheel? $253 shipped. Ouch. Hopefully the tire is OK. If not, hopefully the tire place honors their road hazard warranty. If they don't do that, add $260 plus $15 mounting and balancing to that total. Ouch again. I could report it to insurance but they will only pay $13 due to my deductible. I wish I could find the dude that dropped that sack. I'd like a new wheel and tire for my truck.

brettw22

I've had similar happen to me except I did see the truck it came off of and I called DOT and got that crap fixed.

I've also had where a 80yo with the reflexes of a rock ran over something like a ladder and flung it right up into my bumber and skinned a chunk of bumper onto the 60 in Mesa, AZ.........

Freeways can be so filthy sometimes............good luck on getting it fixed (timely)

Toxis

while that totally sucks and I'm sorry to hear it, those are cheap **** wheels! Seriously, $253 shipped for an 18x9.5? Wow... I paid more than that for my 18x7.5. A lot more.

shadowofnight

I know what you mean bigtime.....I was riding my FJ1100 when it was still a streetbike before converting it to a drag bike...going to work over the hill into salinas when a truck ( So I think ) in front of me dumped its load of lumber in front of me.

At 70+ I dodged every single piece of lumber except one 4x8....downshifted and wheelied over it and stayed on 2 wheels( The rear wheel hit though ) .....I was happy as a pig in **** thinking I had dodged that bullet.

Well, when I crested the hill and leaned to the left as the road turns my rear wheel almost came out from under me...I pulled over and my rear wheell/tire assy was coated in brake fluid and the banjo bolt and fitting were still on the rear caliper but the hose had been torn off. I limped it into work and removed the rest of the line and hosed off the rear wheel really good....since I very rarely use a rear brake it was no big deal.

Come to find out 3 months later the FJ1100 was recalled for having too short a rear brake line...the recall read " Under maximum suspension deflection it is possible to cause the failure of the braking system " .....I guess I reached maximum deflection when that rear wheel hit the lumber.

I never did see the truck ( I am assuming it was a truck....it was a shitload of lumber ) and whoever it was never even stopped.

shadowofnight

Jstas wrote: »

Hopefully the tire is OK. If not, hopefully the tire place honors their road hazard warranty.

For it to bend the rim like that....I wouldnt trust it at speed again....hidden separated belts cant be seen easily....but sometimes can be felt with the tire off of the rim. It's been a long time since I worked with tires like that, maybe nowadays they have a new high tech test for tread separation ...if there is...I sure would watch them perform it....their dime to eat a road hazard replacement.

After my run in with the lumber ( My rim didnt even bend ) the first place after work I went was road rider m/c shop...did one hellofa long burnout in the back parking lot...and had the tire replaced...a couple hundred bucks as well.

goingganzo

the 18x8 rims i am putting on my car cost 700 a piece volk re30

sucks2beme

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. Crap falling off trucks around here is commom.
I get 2-3 flats a year from crap in the road, and I don't drive that much.

Face

shadowofnight wrote: »

For it to bend the rim like that....I wouldnt trust it at speed again....hidden separated belts cant be seen easily....but sometimes can be felt with the tire off of the rim. It's been a long time since I worked with tires like that, maybe nowadays they have a new high tech test for tread separation ...if there is...I sure would watch them perform it....their dime to eat a road hazard replacement.

I agree, you'd be crazy to put that tire back on.

ohskigod

eeeeesh! yeah man, that's Jersey right there!

that sux bud, but look at it this way.....if it had enough power to bend a rim like that, imagine what else it could have done to that truck.

your getting that rim for that price?, you know I'm calling you when I get rims and tires for the stang right?

exalted512

I was driving in houston yesterday on 610 in my fiancees civic with a group of people and we kept seeing pieces of a branch on the highway...a little bit later we saw the branch. Luckily we were able to miss it and we moved out of the way in time so the beautiful skyline behind me that wallace spearmon was driving missed it as well. Then when we got to the motorcycle show we were going to he opened his brothers door into his gt-r...doh!
-Cody

danger boy

Pfft!

that's nothing..

Try seeing the rear axle of a truck coming your way at highway speed.. and you go OH F*CK!!!!!!! missed me by about 2 feet at night. I was praying to whatever God was on call that night like nobody's business. :eek:

sucks2beme

danger boy wrote: »

Pfft!

that's nothing..

Try seeing the rear axle of a truck coming your way at highway speed.. and you go OH F*CK!!!!!!! missed me by about 2 feet at night. I was praying to whatever God was on call that night like nobody's business. :eek:

It only counts if you hit it.

Jstas

ohskigod wrote: »

eeeeesh! yeah man, that's Jersey right there!

that sux bud, but look at it this way.....if it had enough power to bend a rim like that, imagine what else it could have done to that truck.

your getting that rim for that price?, you know I'm calling you when I get rims and tires for the stang right?

No dude, this is a stock replacement. Ford doesn't even make them anymore. I either gotta get a NOS wheel or a knock-off from another wheel company. I managed to find NOS from Detroit Wheel and Tire which is probably why I got it cheaper. It's probably old TireRack stock that didn't sell. It's fine with me. I mean, I know I'm a loser because I'm not paying more, alot more and it isn't a $700 Volt wheel but I have payload capacity to worry about and the stock wheel holds up something like 2300 pounds all by itself where as most high performance aftermarket wheels struggle to hold 1500 pounds up. I need, at a minimum, about 1800 pounds at each corner. Hopefully the tire place replaces the tire under the warranty if not, I'm going to have to shell out more.

But as for the rest of the truck, it doesn't look messed up nor does it feel it. Once I put the spare on, no more rough ride. No funny noises and everything seems to be OK. I will get it up in the air and look at it when I get some time later this week but otherwise, I think everything else is ok. But I was going to get new shocks but this is going to eat up the money I was saving for that so back to square one. BTW, shocks for my truck are about $680 for the set and that's just parts. I'd install them myself but the truck is going to need an alignment after that so might as well buy them and get them installed and save some labor on the alignment.

ND13

That's a very good deal on a new factory wheel. The 17's I had to replace when all four were stolen were $756 each, for 2001 Sebring LXi Coupe chromes.

Joe08867

Jstas, I wouldn't trust that tire if I where you. Especially with the load needs you have. I would rather spend the money on a new tire then chance a blowout with a fully loaded truck.

This happened to me a few years back and the DOT covered most of the cost from what I remember. It just took a while to get the money.

jflail2

And regardless of the disclaimer on the back of a dump truck for example, if a rock falls out the back and cracks your windshield, they are indeed liable for your damages.

Not that that applies in this case, but in general the carrying vehicle is responsible for what it is carrying, and can be held accountable if something falls off/out and damages your vehicle.

sucks2beme

+1 on changing out the tire. If it goes flat slowly in the driveway, one thing.
When it goes out like that, the tire is toast. Or a slow ticking bomb waiting
for 2 A.M. on a cold night.

Jstas

Guys, the tire on the bent wheel is not flat. It's holding air just fine. the wheel is bent and out of balance. It's got to get replaced at a minimum. The tire has to come off the wheel. So when the tire comes off the wheel, we will look at the carcass inside. It's easy to see a bad belt on the inside, not so much the outside. If the tire is bad, I'll ditch it. If it looks good, I roll on it through the winter until I can get some cash next year to replace it. I'm just hoping that since it was a road hazard, they honor the warranty which it should be covered by according to the terms. But we all know how that goes.



jflail2, you are 100% correct. A secured load is the responsibility of the vehicle operator. I would pursue that but I have no idea what the truck looks like that dropped the bag. If I had seen the bag drop off the truck, i would have moved way ahead of time. But I only saw the guy in front of me try to avoid it and I didn't have a whole lot of time to avoid it myself at that point. Otherwise, I'd be filing police reports and insurance cliams. Right now, the hassle in doing that is not worth what I would get out of it. I need a wheel and tire and I can't wait while this stuff is tracked down. It's a loss, I'm gonna hafta eat it for my own sanity's sake if anything.

ohskigod

Jstas wrote: »

I either gotta get a NOS wheel or a knock-off from another wheel company. I managed to find NOS from Detroit Wheel and Tire which is probably why I got it cheaper.

cool that sounds like a lucky break there on finding the wheel. Like I said man, thank god it wasnt worse.

Fireman32

Sucks to hear man. like others said it could have been alot worse. Years ago when I was driving a truck I had my window smashed by somthing that fell of another truck. Thank god it hit the passenger side or I might have been killed.

Toxis

goingganzo wrote: »

the 18x8 rims i am putting on my car cost 700 a piece volk re30

can I have sex with your wheels? One of my top two favorite Volks of all time. I have the Work CR Kai's only because I wanted a quality Japanese rim but on a budget.

billbillw

Your lucky. People die on a fairly regular basis from hitting debris in the roadway. The cost of a new wheel is a small price to pay. That's why I try to stay at least 3-4 seconds behind the next vehicle when I'm on the highway. 5-6 car lengths is not nearly enough at 70 mph.

In fact, there was an article in our paper last week about it
http://www.ajc.com/search/content/printedition/2008/11/17/roaddebris.html?cxntlid=inform_artr

"Debris-related accidents are not uncommon. In 2004, a tally by the Automobile Association of America determined trash on highways contributed to 25,000 crashes and up to 90 deaths a year in the United States and Canada."

concealer404

Toxis wrote: »

can I have sex with your wheels? One of my top two favorite Volks of all time. I have the Work CR Kai's only because I wanted a quality Japanese rim but on a budget.

If he backs out of the wheel sex, you can come visit my car.