C's Bimmer

Last night I was driving to the store and hit a MAJOR manhole cover sticking out 2 inches above the ground. Apparently, they are doing work on the manholes in my town and didn't bother to post signs, as this road was fine this past weekend. I couldn't swerve to my left since there was a car directly next to me. It hit the front right side and the rear right side at about 50mph. It was one of the loudest bangs I've heard to date in the car. Within 3 seconds, the TPM warning system went on and it didn't indicate which tire, so I knew it was bad. I pulled over immediately and ran around to the passenger side of the car. As I came around the rear, I heard and felt all the air leaking out of the rear. I checked the front and it was already flat. Fortunately, I wasn't far from home and had my wife come get me in the truck with 2 of my winter wheels and tires. I immediately looked at the inside and outside of both wheels after getting them off and both wheels were fine. Neither were cracked or bent. In fact, neither had any nicks or scratches either on the lips. They were in perfect condition.

This morning, I decided to take a closer look at each tire and sure enough both tires had huge gashes along the sidewall. The front got it the worst. The gash along the sidewall is completely sticking out. I can almost see inside of the tire!

Anyway, I am glad I have been putting 40lbs of pressure in my tires (thanks to polepositions recommendation) and checking the pressure weekly. Had it been at standard pressure or less, the wheels would surely have taken the brunt of those hits and probably been ruined.

The bad news is, every place online is out of the GE UHP front that I need (245/35/19). I ordered the rear already from TireRack, but the fronts are backordered across the country. Sucks! Looks like I'm going to Atlantic City this weekend with 3 19" GE's and 1 18", serious winter Blizzak tire/wheel. Hahahaha!

The best part is...the wife goes to me this morning. "How can I drive this car now? It looks terrible with your 18's on one side and your 19's on the other?!?!" It was the smartest thing she ever said about the car, as she normally complains constantly about how much time I spend on it. I kissed her and left for work. LOL!

Well, that's my story for the day. Sorry...no pix.

freed0m

Oh man Calton, sorry to hear about the misfortune I'm glad that you and your wheels are ok As for experiencing tires problems VegasTrash experienced 'almost' similar tires senario... Only that he "blew" a tire cause the needed money for more mods

monacobmw

Ouch!! Sorry about the situation.
I guess these GTs are more popular than ever as we keep recommending them here.

Looks like I may pre-order my next set just to make sure that I am covered.

Hope everything is fixed quickly.

Veight

I'm no attorney but, I think you have a case against the city you were driving in.

Heloha

Definately put in a call to the city. If anything they may have a discounted rate for tires. I had a similiar experience many many years ago in a previous life. Drove over rail road tracks and instantly had a blow out...Union Pacific covered the damage.

DrLev99

C,

That sucks, but at least the wheels are in good shape. I should be getting my new CSL on Thursday. But, I'm back to the dealer on Friday to see if they can figure out this steering wheel shimmy...still having it with OEM's also. If it goes as far as potential lemon issues, I'll have to put the OEM springs back on, so the "higher ups" don't ever see that it's been altered. The dealership has somewhat agreed to turn a blind eye if it comes to that. We'll see. Good luck getting that front tire.....throw some pics on if you get a chance!

vegastrashed

Hmmm... I see a trend here. freed0m, Calton and I have blown out our tires all within a few weeks of one another. It's the curse of the CCH!

freed0m is right, I turned a disaster into a reason for new mods.

C's Bimmer

It's funny you say that...I was thinking of taking pictures of the manhole covers and bringing my tires into the Town Hall, but I'm not so sure that will do it. do I need a police report of some sort? I'm also thinking that it's a few hundred bucks to get fixed and I'd just rather have it done and move on.

I'll contact the town and see what they say.

gwf545

Carefully check the rims for cracks. If you damaged the tire, there's a good chance the rim is damaged as well. I cracked a rim (no tire damage) somehow and it took a while for it to develop into a leak. Alloy wheels are apparently very fragile things.

slickrick

My back hurts from the impact, and come to think of it, so does my neck. Calton glad your ok and good luck with the wheels....