Yo!
So I was driving on a surface street going around 40 mph today and I guess I hit some debris on the road. It was a harsh noise and I could tell the front right tire blew out from the way the car responded, so I pulled over...

After switching to the spare and inspecting my rim (15 inch Sport rim), it turns out the tire is in fine condition, but the inside of the rim looks like something incredibly powerful punched a hole through the metal. I THINK what I hit was a rock, but I 'm wondering how the heck it exploded the rim without phasing the tire. I checked my tire pressure the day before because I was working on the car, and they were all around 32-34 psi. I have around 20K miles on the stock tires, and they are all in fine shape.

An engineering friend of mine was saying that the rim itself might be defective or something....but I 'm pretty certain that Honda's going to do as much as possible to avoid helping me out on this.

Vid:
YouTube - Fit Rim Damage

Any thoughts?!

Thanks in Advance,
tre

 

Could it be possible that the tire was pushed into the rim so hard that it caused a hole in the rim? What are the symptoms with the damaged rim? If it was defective, then weren't you having issues before the incident? If so, then you can tell Honda that something is wrong with the rim, without mentioning any accident (would be hard to believe though). You can always get a reconditioned rim for around $150.

 

My story is like comparing "apples to oranges", but occasionally factory rims are absolutely defective metallurgically. Long ago, my wife drove a '90 Ford Taurus. The wheels looked like cast mags or aluminum, but were actually stamped welded steel with molded plastic to make them look like custom wheels. Remember now, this was a Ford, and one of the worst models they ever made. After she had driven it for about 3 years, on her way home one day on a mountain road, the steering went to hell and she could hardly keep it straight on the road. Thinking that she had a blow-out, she found a place off the road to park it and hitched a ride home.

When I got to the car, the real problem was absolutely bizarre. The center disc of the right front wheel (the drive wheel) had cracked loose from the surrounding rim and was only attached by a 4" strip of unbroken metal. The tire and outside rim were leaning out from the fender at a 45 degree angle.

Your story almost sounds like a high power bullet impact on the wheel. ???

 

well assuming the debris was in different shapes and sizes, maybe you ran over a piece that was curved and sharp? and when your tire pushed one end down the other side of the debris smashed into your rim (missing the tire). kinda like if you step onto the end of a pitchfork or something, and the wooden handle springs up and hits you in the face? just a speculation, i think it may be possible

 

You don't know that the tire is ok. Go to a tire facility (America's Tire) and have them dismount the tire and inspect it. It would seem crazy that the tire is ok but punctured the rim.

 

this happens alot here in the montreal area with our monster potholes and mags. Specially if your tire is a little low on pressure. You hit a pothole or something on the road. Tire flexes and the mag takes the force of what you hit. Tire might have just a scuff on it..but rim is cracked.

It happened to my beloved wife twice now since we put the 18's on her beetle.

 

Edit - Added video of rim!
YouTube - Fit Rim Damage

 

haha i watched your video and it looks nothing like i imagined. the scenario i thought up probably can't explain the way your rim looks.

 

Yeah dude, I took it to the dealership, and the service manager pretty much told me to go buy a new rim. He's baffled at how it happened too. He said the district manager guy will be around next monday and he might be able to help me, but until then if I want to go on the freeway, I'm going to have to buy a new rim.

 

Does anyone have any rim recommendations if I'm gonna get some new 15s (for cheaper than 1 sport rim at dealership) that I could swap the stock tires onto?

 

Looks like metallurgical issues. From the way the rim split open, it looks like there is a soft spot in your OEM wheel. What did you hit exactly? A large rock or pothole can provide enough force on your wheel to trigger such an event. It's exactly what Injundon said, the wheel took the brunt of the force and unfortunately it looks like the wheel has a soft spot. If it were metallurgically sound, then you would see a stress crack and possibly a chunk taken out of the wheel, but because it is bent up the way it is, it leads me to believe that the OEM wheel is defective. I'd go argue that with your service manager and ask that it be replaced under warranty. If your dealership doesn't want to have anything to do with you, ask them to send a snap shot to the head office to determine the cause of this problem. The only problem is that you've driven 20k miles so they might just attribute it to fatigue loading and wear and tear...

 

Yeah, like I mentioned, the dealer said I could talk to the district manager guy if I want to next week, but most likely they are going to deny me.
tre

 

The only sorta plausible thing I can think of is if your tire was really low on air, then the rock could have deformed the tire, but then the inside of the tire is going to be really gouged up, and I would have thought it would have gone through the tire.

 

District manager I think is still too low. I'd call Honda's hotline and file a complaint and have some digital pictures ready on hand to send to them.

 

Why get 4 new ones? Just replace the damaged one and save yourself some money. Put air in your tires!

 

You can get one from College Hills Honda:

Honda Fit Alloy Wheels - Genuine 2007-2008 Honda Fit Alloy Wheels

It's $280.93, you might be right. Could be worth it to just get new rims since you'll be paying over half of the cost of a new set of Heliums for example.

BTW, he did have air in his tires to 32-34psi, probably hit a big rock or pothole which is what caused that kind of puncture.

 

Yeha, the dealership I talked to wanted $385 for a new rim, and yes, the tires have been properly inflated for the whole life of the tire. I'm not sure if its clear in the video, but you can tell from the treadwear that I've had them properly inflated the whole time. I actually checked them on Sat morning because I was washing my car, then the rim blew out on Sunday afternoon. The tire was around 33 psi.

 

this is strange cuz my ex gf had this problem with her rim and it happened in riverside as well. we were driving and then boom we heard a loud noise. but her car was ok. when we entered the freeway, thats when she started to lose her steering and we heard a lot of tire noise. we stopped and checked it out and her rim cracked and her tire was not retaining air. riverside rocks, potholes and their crappy streets suck. sorry about wat happened and hope u can get it fixed with honda cuz it looks like a defective wheel. but if u wanted to go aftermarket like illusive said u can go that route.

 

he's going to get 4 new aftermarket wheels if it's cheaper than buying one oem replacement sport wheel.