muffin57

I can't believe this.

I just hit something on the road, and it damaged my 2 month old 17" wheel and rim. The wheel has a 1.5" chunk kinda hanging off, and the rim is scratched on the edge. It looks like the tire itself is ok. (No bulges. The slice isn't that deep.) I do have the wheel insurance, but I don't think it's bad enough.

I'm wondering if I should pull off the hanging piece on the tire, or try to somehow glue(?) it back on or something. Maybe I should just leave it as is. I don't think it's going to fall off. It's just more noticable the way it is. I'm also wondering if there's anything I can clean the rim with. The scratch isn't too bad, and it's on the side, so it's not all that noticable, but it definately is dirty, and a wet rag isn't doing the trick.

Any thought would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Solomoan

Has a guy on retainer that will repair wheels/rims for $100/wheel. He did one on my 04 GX 470 after I hit a gap between the pavement and a steel covering plate that threw the alignment out of whack, and made such a noise that I thought it cracked the axle.

He had it for 2 days. They gave me a Lexus loaner, and it came back as good as new.

montgb

iTrader: (7)

A similar thing happened to the tire & wheel of my 350 (i.e. chunk gouged out, scratches). First thing I did was get a quote from a wheel repair specialist. Most auto dealers or body shops use a third party wheel repairman - ask them for references.

If the damage was minor, he could have polished it out for $75 while I waited. However, since a small chunk of the wheel was gone, he couldn't repair the wheel onsite. He quoted me $200 to take the wheel back to the main shop and fix it. It would take a week to do, though, and I didn't feel like waiting that long. I got a new wheel from Ebay for the same price.

muffin57

Thanks for the advice.

I too couldn't believe the noise the impact made. I'm not even sure of what I hit. I'm lucky the damage wasn't worse. I'm gonna look into a wheel specialist. Maybe I can have the tire and rim fixed.

VitB6

Lexus offers (or at least should have offered everyone that bought a car) a $400 tire replacement package. So if you ever get a flat tire or damage the rim they will replace it free of charge. This sounded like a deal that was too good to be true, but I hopped on it. Got a flat on the highway about 1 month ago. Called the dealership. They ordered me a tire and got it in, in 2 days. Installed it the next day. No charge. Fantastic!

tgara

I had a similar situation with the IS250 (aka Wifemobile). While parking, wife hit a curb after having the car for about 2 months. She gouged the right front tire and scratched the painted rim pretty bad. I got a new take-off rim from a seller on eBay, and the local tire shop set me up with a new tire (I didn't want her driving around on a damaged tire regardless of how minor the damage was).

One thing I would mention is that if you take the car to a tire shop to mount a new tire on a new rim, make sure they are familiar with handling tire pressure sensors because the old sensor will have to be moved into the new rim. Use a shop that has done this before, or go to the dealer. The first tire shop I went to gave me a long song and dance routine about how new seals are needed, how he won't warrant the work, blah blah blah. Turns out he didn't know jack about this system and was lazy. Bottom line: Use a shop that knows the TPMS.

hapaboy

the tires for life program woulda saved you any kind of greif. rim and tire replaced at cost of the program deposit.

ddrewboy

Experienced the same thing as OP by hitting a pothole in Atlanta. It drove fine all the way back to Savannah but I dont want to chance ruining the other three tires since the alignment is probably out of whack.

Worst of all, it was only 4 days old

I would need to replace both the wheel and tire (maybe repair the wheel later).

Anyone knows a dealer on the east coast that would give a good discount for CL member?

muffin57

Here's an update:

I do have the tire insurance, so I figured I'd bring the car to the dealer just to see what they say. I was told that the damage wasn't that bad, and that the tires are safe. That's good, but I'm still not happy with the way it looks. Especially the rim. I asked the guy if the rim could be repaired and he said no. He told me that scratches in the rim wouldn't come out.

I'm also wondering about the tire insurance itself. If a tire wears down from normal use, will they replace that? Or does it actually have to blow out or get a flat?