Anyone seen this before...

[DSB]

Hi All,

I went out to the car yesterday and found I had a flat front tyre ....... took the wheel off and replaced with spare - (which was also flat - but thats another story)

After a closer inspection of the flat I found this as attached. Now I have never had an alloy crack but I was a bit surprised at this - has anyone else seen or experienced something similar with an 18" Avus ??

Also just in case someone happens to stumble across this thread before I put up a for wanted post, I need one 18" avus with tyre please !!

Dan

[gottanS]

Hmm,

Never seen that on an OEM wheel myself, would almost say has the wheel been bashed somewhere else due to the angle of the crack i.e. wider at the outside.

As an alternative to buying an OEM wheel, you could look at the WSPItaly replicas which are 'spare wheel compatible'. They are available from Performance Alloys but not advertised on their website. I bought some with the smaller offset to fill the arches better and they are cheaper than OEM and 2nd hand.

The S4 Avus III replica is called Boston, you can also get them from ProjectX who advertise on P'heads but they were more expensive than Performance Alloys.

[xyber]

The top one looks like someone has used a reciprocating saw to cut the tyre off and gone too far.

[DSB]

Hmm,

Never seen that on an OEM wheel myself, would almost say has the wheel been bashed somewhere else due to the angle of the crack i.e. wider at the outside.

As an alternative to buying an OEM wheel, you could look at the WSPItaly replicas which are 'spare wheel compatible'. They are available from Performance Alloys but not advertised on their website. I bought some with the smaller offset to fill the arches better and they are cheaper than OEM and 2nd hand.

The S4 Avus III replica is called Boston, you can also get them from ProjectX who advertise on P'heads but they were more expensive than Performance Alloys.

.....Yeah I'm pretty sure it must have been the work of a pot hole as they are pretty bad around my way - despite the F1 style avoidance techniques its impossible to miss them sometimes !!

I was just surprised to see it on the inside edge with no tyre damage either.

Thanks for the replacement advise to

[DSB]

The top one looks like someone has used a reciprocating saw to cut the tyre off and gone too far.

Well I had all four tyre replaced two months ago and I trust the guy who did it and plus I watched him do it ...... so I would be surpised a) if it was done at all previously b) that my guy would have missed it this time round !!

It is a 'clean' cut though !!

[gottanS]

Defintely a crack, not uniform enough to be anything else.

The inner part of the wheel is weaker than the outside so is more likely to suffer damage. Have you tried measuring the wheel to see if it distorted i.e. from crack across wheel through the centre and also at 90 degrees to this, if different then wheel is out of shape.

HTH

[DSB]

nop not measured it yet, suppose that will confirm its be bashed on a pot hole.

[1781cc]

I had this last month, front and back drivers side, both alloys... I was really f**king pissed about it too - the potholes in Milton Keynes are terrible. I got both of the wheels welded and checked for warping/distortion so I could carry on until the replacements arrived.

Spoke to the council, told them where and when it happened, they told me: "just bad luck, we can't do anything about it and we can't cover any costs. Have a good day"

[gottanS]

Suggest you check if the pot-hole(s) have been reported to the council (potholes.co.uk), if they have and were not repaired in a reasonable time then go to the small claims court to cover the costs.

[chunky79]

I had a wheel go the same as you when i had an s4. oem wheel with a tiny crack which caused a very slow puncture. The guy who brought my wheels off me had it welded (crazy move) and has had no problem since

dunc

[DSB]

Ok so I'm not the only one then ....... little bit of comfort knowing that !!

I really dont want to go down the welding route even though it will only be my spare.

[grum71]

I had the same on some ABT alloys. had one of them repaired (welded) which, at the time was fine but another appeared some Months later. I wouldn't advise doing as I did and having them welded - in my opinion it weakened the alloy.
Definately damage from a pothole. Damn things!

[sulli]

I found my B6 S4 with a flat today. I generally check tyre pressures every week or two, and haven't checked for 2 weeks.
I pumped it back up and I am leaving it till tomorrow when I'll check pressure, before putting the spare on. My mate works for a tyre & wheel supplier and he saw what had happened and said original Audi alloys are prone to leakage through the alloy due to the poor cast, and this can act like a slow puncture. This may be what has happened to yours?

[DSB]

No I'm pretty sure I cracked it on a pothole and the tyre deflated from the crack rather than anything else.

Like the new car by the way Sulli.

[dantheman]

Just FYI I use this site http://www.fixmystreet.com/ for reporting road defects, works well up here and they do pass on info to local council.

Cheers

DTM