Bent wheel and sidewall tire bubble

ipaqxman · Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:35 am

So today I noticed a sidewall bubble and slightly bent rim. Not sure when it happened but must have been from the pot holes. Please see attached photo.

The tire appeara to hold for now. Would like to know from forum experts what my options are?
1) safe to continue driving for now?
2) can professionals repair the rim to a safe standard? Can I buy new SLS wheel from Suzuki directly and around how much? Ebay has remanufactured ones which Im unsure of quality wise.
3) i have AWD and around 15k miles on stock OEM tires. If I only replace one tire with a new dunloop would it cause a lot of problems down the road?

Thanks,

sx4rocious · Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:53 am

can't answer the rest of your questions, but it's definately not safe!! You should be able to make a comp claim on your insurance and\or go to the city to file a damage claim if you can remember what pothole defiled your beautiful car. As far as a single new tire on a AWD system, acording to the guys in the SX4 forums, you may have to replace BOTH front tires at the same time, just to be safe. With that low of mileage, you should probably be OK, but if it were me, (and assuming I had the $$$) I would change out both fronts and rotate them in pairs.

sx4rocious · Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:55 am

oh, and I've seen some reman wheels that were perfect. A good shop should be able to repair the wheel safely and save you the $600+ I heard these things cost!

Wed Mar 19, 2014 12:01 pm

ipaqxman wrote:So today I noticed a sidewall bubble and slightly bent rim. Not sure when it happened but must have been from the pot holes. Please see attached photo.

The tire appeara to hold for now. Would like to know from forum experts what my options are?
1) safe to continue driving for now?
2) can professionals repair the rim to a safe standard? Can I buy new SLS wheel from Suzuki directly and around how much? Ebay has remanufactured ones which Im unsure of quality wise.
3) i have AWD and around 15k miles on stock OEM tires. If I only replace one tire with a new dunloop would it cause a lot of problems down the road?

Thanks,

NOT safe to drive on. That tire has been severely compromised. There are badly damaged/broken belts inside and is why it's bulging....nothing to keep the pressure inside. That will fail on the road. Put the donut on, it'll be far safer for everyone.

Rim: Can't say about fixing a bent cast aluminum rim. If I had to guess I'd say probably not. Most everyone I know who's bent one off-roading has replaced it with something else. My trail rig has steelies, I can beat them straight and go on my merry way.

Tires: Depends on condition of the remaining 3, but at 15k mine were worn pretty good across the entire tread and the bad factory alignment had the edges worn more. Maybe time for a new set of tires...they're not worth wasting money on a new tire and then replacing all 4 in another few thousand miles. Mine lasted around 21k.

ipaqxman · Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:37 pm

Ok thanks for the input.

The only way to get a new factory wheel is through the dealer parts?

Wed Mar 19, 2014 4:13 pm

That tire is done. You should replace it immediately as it's compromised and can blow out easily. At 15,000 miles (with these crappy Dunlops) the wear is probably at a level where all four tires should be replaced if you have AWD. AWD system usually require all the tires to be replaced at the same time unless the rest of the tires are fairly new. It's for the sake of minimizing differential wear. This is why AWD cars should not only have the same tires on all 4 wheels but also tires of the same age and condition.

Keep in mind these OEM Dunlops suck. They actually get worse and worse as they age. My car is now at 24,000 miles and the road noise and ride quality are much worse compared to when I bought the car at 7,500 miles. I hear and feel road imperfections much more than before. I'm also seeing minor cracking in the side thread as was discussed in another thread about these OEM Dunlops. I'm not the only one either.
I hate to say it because of the cost, but replacing all the tires may not be a bad idea given that these Dunlops wear so poorly. The Kizashi alignment issue did not help either and my tires are worn unevenly. Are yours? If so, more reason to junk these Dunlops early.

As for the wheel, it does not look too bad. Maybe it can be fixed. There are wheel repair experts you could consult.

LPSISRL · Wed Mar 19, 2014 7:30 pm

My "crappy" Dunlops have 44k miles on them and still have enough tread to pass inspection.

Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:07 pm

LPSISRL wrote:My "crappy" Dunlops have 44k miles on them and still have enough tread to pass inspection.

You're lucky, but I have a feeling that once you replace them, you will notice how much comfort and noise isolation you will regain. I used to like these tires when they were new and didn't understand what people complained about.
Now, I do and join the chorus of the groans against these crappy Dunlops. This is especially true since I've had much better tires in the past in my other cars that performed well even in high mileage. In comparison, these Dunlops have aged as well as a meth addict.

ipaqxman · Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:30 pm

I have felt fine with the stock tires and didn't have problem with uneven wear. But I also align my cars and rotate the tires.

In the end I decided to replace all four tires since I am afraid of screwing up the AWD. Safety is also my main concern.

Therefore if I will have 3 fairly unused tires (15K miles) by this weekend if anyone is interested to buy them for dirt cheap.

Thanks for all the advice

twoqttsdad · Wed Mar 19, 2014 10:20 pm

Maybe the SLS rims for sale in the personal classified section is still available?

I see tires that have sidewall bubbles due to "impact breaks", but I have never seen one with rubber separation like the one you have. It almost looks like the beginning of a "zipper tear" that's common in industrial applications with overloaded or underinflated tires.