A Painful Reminder To Check Those Wheels/tyres!

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So after @BognorMotors fitted my beautiful BBS wheels, they did a 4 wheel alignment, really thorough job which included taking off my ABT snow plough to ensure the alignment was 100% spot on. I'd covered about 8,000 miles when the new wheels were fitted.

I took the van in for a service about 3,000 miles later and the tyres were showing 8mm front l+r and 8.5 rear l+r. So a perfectly set-up alignment, the van drove like a dream with the correct alignment and B14's with H&R arb's and I was very happy indeed.

Fast forward to today, I've now got 20,000 miles on the bus, still driving like a dream, no pulling, no under-steer etc. I was driving through town when I felt the front end feel a little soft, but the tpms didn't suggest anything was wrong (I'll need to get that checked out), but something was definitely wrong so I pulled over and could hear the tyre hissing and assumed I'd run over a nail etc.

I called out Protyre because it was too wet to change the wheel myself (yes, lazy), but also because I spend about £1000 a month with them on tyres for my fleet so it's the least they can do for a good customer. I was on a busy road and needed to bump my van up on the kerb, but with a set of B14's, a low ABT splitter and a flat tyre I managed to prang my nose on the kerb, that's 3 times in 6 months :oops::mad:

Protyre turn up, whip off my wheel and it became painfully clear why the tyre was going flat...

The only possible reason for my tracking to go so far off is all these bloody potholes, I hit a huge one last week, maybe that's what caused the issue, but either way in future I'll be checking my inner tyre tread depths a lot more carefully.

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The tread block looks fairly flat / even.

Has the tracking been checked and was wildly out? To me just seems an odd place to get tracking wear.

Ian
 
The tread block looks fairly flat / even.

Has the tracking been checked and was wildly out? To me just seems an odd place to get tracking wear.

Ian

It's not been checked yet, I've had to order in two tyres for tomorrow and then I'll get it tracked, but all the local alignment company's near me are crap so I might have to run it down to Bognor.
 
Camber angle perhaps. Thinking ball joint or bush failure. Pretty severe as it looks beyond the shoulder and onto the side wall by looks of it. You've not been enthusiastic with speed cushions by chance?
 
Camber angle perhaps. Thinking ball joint or bush failure. Pretty severe as it looks beyond the shoulder and onto the side wall by looks of it. You've not been enthusiastic with speed cushions by chance?

I'm always careful over speed bumps, the bus is quite low so taking them at any speed is a no no. But, I do have a lot of speed bumps near my office on the way in/out so they could have caused some damage over the past few months, but I do remember hitting two huge pot holes recently.
 
My wife hit a pothole a couple of weeks ago in her Mini, and they reported a flat spot on the inside of the passenger front wheel yesterday during her service. That's the 3rd bent wheel we've had on her Mini, and it's always the inside edge.
They also advised her that she should be changing from her winter tyres to summers now. Who knew BMW techs also trained as meteorologist's.

https://video.citnow.com/vttNnk68SRn
 
How many miles have you done since last week then?

It really looks like it’s on the sidewall from the photos. What did the tyre fitter think?
 
@Insert Coin Jesus ! :eek::eek::eek::eek: ..... I'm off into my garage right now with a torch to look at the inside of all the tyres.

Amazing you felt nothing until it was hissing air :confused: ..... will be great to know what it was in the end, so we can all keep any eye out. Wouldn't be a good result whilst warping down French toll roads on an Alps trip
 
How many miles have you done since last week then?

It really looks like it’s on the sidewall from the photos. What did the tyre fitter think?

He was only a mobile wheel remover, I wouldn’t trust his judgement tbh.

I’ll find out a little more tomorrow when the new tyres arrive.
 
Ouch. That’s insane wear! Let us know if you want to pop in and we can Check the alignment for you, and make sure nothing else is adrift.

Thanks Oli, I wish I could just pop down, you need to open a nearer garage, call it something like Bournemouth Motor Services ;)

But thanks for the offer, if I get stuck I’ll gladly bring it to you guys for a diagnosis. :cool:
 
@Insert Coin Jesus ! :eek::eek::eek::eek: ..... I'm off into my garage right now with a torch to look at the inside of all the tyres.

Amazing you felt nothing until it was hissing air :confused: ..... will be great to know what it was in the end, so we can all keep any eye out. Wouldn't be a good result whilst warping down French toll roads on an Alps trip

Yeah, don’t be lazy like me, check both sides of the tyre :rofl:

I’ll update the thread when I work out what’s going on.
 
Ok, so two new tyres today, Hunter aligned using some settings provided by a kind forum user, they don't mean a lot to me to be honest.

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Nothing bent or twisted as far as we could see, I think the wheels were just towing out badly for some reason as it wasn't like this last time I had it checked over.
 

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Glad to hear no damage but the tyres. It’s a good example of why I should use the checklist my company gave me to use to check roadworthiness before driving every day!

I like the stripe :thumbsup:
Is that your design or off the shelf?
 
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