Advice needed, buckled wheel

[sasha320]

Hi all, I have a buckled wheel.

I have no idea when I did it and in fact have been driving on it for a while!

I only discovered the problem this weekend when travelling through Germany on the Autobahn, doing speeds of around 120mph or so. The higher speeds highlighted the problem through vibration that wasn’t apparent at <100mph.

Much as I’d like to I never achieve speeds greater than 100mph in the UK so never noticed the vibration!

Anyway, I popped into an Audi dealership in Ingolstadt no less and asked them to rebalance all the OEM 21” PE wheels as I thought that was likely to be the problem.

The diagnosis was that one of the front wheels had a buckle. I asked how did they know? They said that even before they looked at the wheel they saw it had 400g of weight on it to balance it (so clearly the previous tyre fitter had just kept upping the weights to get a balance).

Apparently 400g is the sort of weight you use on a truck wheel! Also my tyre was ‘flat spotted’ and they moved it around the wheel a bit, so I’m not sure the tread was flat spotted (ala F1) but maybe the sidewall was a little deformed?

They rebalanced the wheel (with 400g) and put the offending wheel on the back.

I assume that as they let me drive the car at all, the whole thing can’t be in that bad a shape, however they gave me all the obvious health warnings about wheels and tyres being important consumables etc.

I’ve limped back to the UK and am now pondering what to do. The good news is that I have RS6 wheels coming out of my ears, so I can swap onto the 20” winter tyre shod wheels that I have.

The question I have (finally) is whether anybody thinks that I should repair the offending PE wheel OR buy a replacement?

A buckle that needs to be balanced with 400g sounds serious on the one hand, however the tyre has not lost any air and so I guess some might say it isn’t that serious a buckle?

Any thoughts appreciated and / or does anyone has a spare PE wheel?

[Ian_C]

viewtopic.php?f=64&t=129942

[sasha320]

Thanks Ian_c.

I PM’d Dartmin on Sat eve and the spare previously marketed is no longer available :0(

[ab54666]

Often quite a few on eBay.

[skirs6]

I’d take to a good alloy wheel refurbisher they’ll at least tell you if it’s repairable. I’ve just had two buckled wheels repaired on my RS3 now fine and had one done on my 6 previously, not a PE but still 21’s

[Markp]

Repair should be fine if repairer happy it can be done.
If you decide to go new, do NOT go to Audi who tend to ask ludicrous prices. A new performance 21 alloy with new tyre should cost you no more than £700 (despite Audi wanting up to twice that), and occasionally they come up on EBay with delivery miles for around £500. Though you may have to buy a set eg https://www.ebay.de/itm/4-Original-Audi ... SwW3VatDwB


PS the concave 20 is a way better wheel by the way. Stronger and much lighter. Sales wanted the 21, engineering the 20s

[Covkiller]

The chap who owns this company really is a great bloke and sorted me out on a great deal on my 20" wheels for me RS4. I'm sure he could source a wheel for you at a good price.

http://www.felmondo.com