The fact that it has happened to two people on the forum, it sorta smacks of either a manufacturing fault, bad design from a stress point of view, or a lack of product testing before release. On saying that, the pothole does look like a mean little b'tard.

 

Im going with the third choice. I dont think BMW did enough testing before this car came out. Seat heater problem, did they not test the seat heaters. The glitches are the worst. I dont think the testing cars had the i-drive.

 

Wow that is kinda spooky, hope mine don't give out like that. That is ugly

 

oops , forgot to log in

 

This is one of a row of reflectors that I chose to drive over. For those that are not familiar with the story, these are a pyramid that comes to a point and 3 1/4" high. I hit them at 3:30 am when they looked like a normal row of very closely spaced reflectors. I wouldn't expect a low profile wheel to survive this encounter. I was the fourth to be towed with two flats that day. All four wheels and tires needed replacing.

 

Pennetta, the more I thought about it the more I think you may be right! She did travel 50 miles (80km) in half an hour and on a twisty country road. I have started divorce proceedings. I have applied for custody of her Audi TT and will let her keep the kids and the house is now on the market.

P.S. In the pictures you posted your wheels look OK, how much for the set?


P.P.S. BMW have sourced a wheel by overnight courier but haven't mentioned costs as yet. The pictures of the other damaged wheels posted are scarily similar to the damage on my own wheel. I do accept the fact that the wheel will take more impact with the run flat and also that the run flat may have in this instance saved the car from going of the road! There was only a scratch on the rim of the wheel probably due to the run flat absorbing the impact.

 

I would definitely put a claim into the council. Probably a waste of time, but worth a go.

Bent rim is one thing, but this crack is terrible. Got to BMW. This is a serious problem, *IF* the impact wasn't huge.

If BMW don't respond positively, SEND THE PHOTO TO AUTOEXPRESS

 

I agree with Banglebox. The wheel shouldn't have split like that. I assume your wife drove both wheels over the same pot hole so why did only one fracture? It sounds like a manufacturing defect to me. BMW GB used to advertise the quality of their wheels over 3rd party copies by showing an x-ray photo of an alloy with a hairline crack saying that BMW quality assurance is this stringent. If your dealer won't submit it as a warranty claim or BMW don't cough up the cost of a replacement, write to all of the car mags. You can e-mail them the pics and get their help to pressure BMW to supply a new wheel.

After all, what is the cost of one wheel for BMW vs negative publicity in the motoring press!

The runflat should make no difference to the rim. Alloy is harder than rubber and should not crack like this.

 

I agree with the masses that is completly ludacrist that a wheel should split like that, well if you brought that useless wheel insurancr now is the time to use it

 

I'll join in and agree too

Definitely claim from local council - It's rather ironic that claims are preventing road repairs in the first place though

I remember reading that millions is claimed in compensation for this sort of thing! But we live in a litigation crazy society nowadays