HELP!!: Hit a Stone/cement block cracked a RIM & busted a tyre

[aZa]

Guys, i think u cud help me, a week back driving in noida, a truck ahead of me drove over a bunch of cement blocks used in making a divider. It was all so sudden and one of the cement blocks came on the road before i could react my left front tyre hit the cement block @ 50kmph. the car jumped violently and on stopping near by i saw i had a puncture on removing the tyre i found the alloy rim was slightly bent on the edge (inside). Later on at home i found out that the tyre (Potenza GIII 175/60/13) had a busted sidewall too. Next morning i tried putting my stepney another potenza (same direction) on the alloy and got the air filled. The bent edge wasn't leaking but there was a hair line crack on the bend and that was LEAKING !!!

Anyways i straight away got a single new alloy RIM of the same design. Also got all the wheels balanced and aligned immediatly. Now the tyre guy put my front wheels at the back and back wheels at the front saying front wheels had more wear n tear than the back ones. After getting everything done i drove back home. And now i find the steering is harder than before and the car pulls to the left on breaking. The next day i went to the tyre guy again got the alignment checked and everything. its a bit better now but at low speeds of 20-30kmph with windows up i can hear a rubbing sorta sound from the front wheels.

The car is a Santro Xing XS 2005 with potenza Giii 175/60/13 and 30K on the odo. Do you think that cement block hit has caused any suspension damage??? I didn't find anything evidences of a cement hit upon inspecting the wheel well. The car rides properly today i took it at 130kmph on DND toll bridge no issues watsoever. But that rubby sound as if something is touching the from wheel is very irritating, its not loud and u have to listen very carefully to hear it. Any ideas guys ?

This cement block has already caused me a cracked alloy + busted potenza and now this rubby noise !!!! sux i kno


aZa

[manveet]

well aZa .. you should have shown it to one of us .. i know for a fact iraghava is the always readily available for a first-hand inspection

anyways .. i'll give you a call next time i'm in noida .. you never know a fresh eye might throw up something

hoping one of the experts on the forum can figure out your problem .. these small little things are very irritating.

best of luck dude

[Nikhilb2008]

Hope to have a reply for you by tomorrow emailing this link to a contact

[kpzen]

Hey aZa..

Check the gap b/w tyre n wheel well(both sides)of the hit tyre n compare it with your front right tyre gap....If there's a difference in gap of left n right tyre this means the hit has caused the wheel to shift a little backwards.....
Solution for this is to get the suspension arm checked or even replaced....

KP

[iraghava]

Fatso funny you never pointed it out to me on the phone! But I agree with KP here there's a big chance it might have bent the A-arm on the suspension which might need to be fixed/replaced, I too years back had a somewhat similar problem & the A-arm got bent so had to be replaced. I'll be there on Sunday/Monday give me a buzz & we'll have a look at it.

Sorry to hear about your wheel & tyre though. I did tell you on the phone that there was a good probability that you alloy was gone!

[rks]

Tough luck, aZa -- not much you could have done about it. Which raises the question of why these stones are left lying about on the road -- in this case probably after some maintenance/construction work on the divider. I consider this to be criminal and the contractors should be held responsible and punished severely.

A technical doubt. If the suspension arm is bent, won't that reflect in the alignment?

Had several close shaves with stones in recent times on my Santro. Once on the Expressway in the left lane at night -- had to swerve to avoid stones. On the road towards Chunabhatti from Ghatkopar side, there are big stones next to the divider -- very dangerous, and had a couple of close shaves at night. Closest shave happened long ago when heading out from Bangalore in a rented Maruti 800. While following a mini-truck at 50-60 kmph, suddenly found a huge stone on the road which the truck guy straddled -- no way the Maruti could pass over that stone, had to stand on the brakes to avoid a smash up. I have hit stones too, but luckily not very big ones that caused noticeable damage.

[suren181]

Would suggest you get the lower arm checked on your car... preferably with a Hyundai service station. How was the alignment on the car did you check out on that when you got the wheel balancing done?

[kpzen]

Originally Posted by rks

A technical doubt. If the suspension arm is bent, won't that reflect in the alignment?

The allignment will be affected n will cause non uniform tyre wear....

KP

[aZa]

KP : the left front tyre ( the one that took the hit) is a bit backward now. But strangely after the hit i travelled all the way to karolbagh and back changed the rim etc. the car felt fine steering was light and no noise. Post alignment its become different.

ok another thing while doing the alignment all the colors on the computer screen have to be in the "green" area right >?

[kpzen]

Originally Posted by aZa

KP : the left front tyre ( the one that took the hit) is a bit backward now. But strangely after the hit i travelled all the way to karolbagh and back changed the rim etc. the car felt fine steering was light and no noise. Post alignment its become different.

Get the suspension arm checked by an expert(or replaced) n then get the allignment done n it should be fine.....
While cruising is any noise coming from the front end???? A hissing sound???

Originally Posted by aZa

ok another thing while doing the alignment all the colors on the computer screen have to be in the "green" area right >?

It should be green though not sure....But didn't u get a report of the allignment

[viper]

Originally Posted by aZa

KP : the left front tyre ( the one that took the hit) is a bit backward now.

Hi Aza,

You will need to change your lower arm to have the problem rectified. It is not dangerous but advisable to get replaced as it will affect the handling of the car and cause premature tyre wear. That assuming it to be very soon as you say you get a rubbing sound which if it is the tyre rubbing can be potentially dangerous since rubbing sound = contact = tyres getting heated up = tyre burst.

I think you get the picture.

Viper

[speedzak]

It's so logical too Aza! You hit a stone and the alloys crack & rubber goes burst. So, you think the suspension will be fine without any problem? You've to get it inspected in whole soon.
And the steering tightness? Should be an alignment cum suspension problem & maybe due to new rubber too.