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New Forester has problem after 800 miles, normal?
I bought a brand new 2008 Subaru Forester about a month ago. Everything seems fine until yesterday -- I drove around in the local, and didn't even hit anything noticeably major, then I heard a loud 'pong'-- it turned out both the tire and rim broken.
I'm a new driver and don't know much about cars. I do notice that the broken part is the inside of the tire, which adjacent to the rim. The car only has around 800 miles on it.
I'll bring the car into the dealershop for repair tomorrow. But now I'm worried if the car itself has quality issue. Can anyone shine me a light -- i.e.: is the problem normal? If not, how shall I deal with the issue?
I'm a new driver and don't know much about cars. I do notice that the broken part is the inside of the tire, which adjacent to the rim. The car only has around 800 miles on it.
I'll bring the car into the dealershop for repair tomorrow. But now I'm worried if the car itself has quality issue. Can anyone shine me a light -- i.e.: is the problem normal? If not, how shall I deal with the issue?
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Comments
Good luck on it.
-mike
You hit something hard enough to ruin the tire and break the wheel. Any impact hard enough to ruin a tire is also likely to break a cast wheel. This is not a quality issue. You damaged your car and you or your insurance should pay. You should also go back and see what it took to cause this damage, so you don't do it again.
You must have premium cast alloy wheels. If you had plain steel wheels, the wheel might have been OK after such an impact.
-mike
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The cost part is not the major things I'm worrying about now. I want to make sure if the car itself is fine. Thanks guys for your help!
The good news is that it happened so soon you will not need to replace any of the other tires, unless you so choose to upgrade them!
-mike
The 2008 Forester X models come standard with steel wheels and plastic covers. My 2006 Scion xB also has steel wheels with plastic covers.
To get the alloy wheels on a Forester, you have to order an X with the Premium Package, or a Sports, XT, or LL Bean model. Likewise on my Scion, alloy wheels would have been an option.
If it was the solid edge of a pothole, it could have bottomed the suspension hard enough to damage the shock absorber in the strut.
If it was loose road debris (steel that fell of a truck), a small item could have bounced up after the wheel went over it, and done damage under the car. But he did on hear evidence of that.
It was probably a piece of debris. He said he "heard a loud pong", which would have been the sound of the tire being sliced by a sharp edge that continued into the wheel. If he had hit a pothole, there would have been a huge bump and bang, the tire would probably not be cut, the rim might or might not have been dented, the tire would usually hold air unless the rim was badly dented, and the shock might have been damaged.
I would say he hit a piece of a steel I-beam, a short section of W6 that fell off a truck. The flange would have pressed through and cut the tire against the wheel with almost no impact, continued on and dented the wheel, the weight of the steel would have prevented the beam from bouncing up, and the 6" beam height would have allowed it to pass under the car.
I don't see how anyone could look at a sliced tire and a dented rim and even have vehicle malfunction enter their mind.
We forgot to consider that the second wheel that may have hit the same thing. There is no mention of a second impact or damage to a rear wheel. The second wheel would have hit a pothole with the same force as the front. If the thing was a piece of steel, it could have been knocked aside enough to miss the rear, or maybe not. The rear should be checked, too.
"... The cost part is not the major things I'm worrying about now."
When I bought my 2008 LL Bean last month, the salesman offered me a very expensive tire and wheel insurance policy. I had never heard of such a policy, and asked why I might want it. He said I might hit something and ruin a wheel, which would cost $500. My first thought was that a whole set of nice aftermarket alloy wheel can be bought for not much more than that. Then I told him I had never hit anything in 50 years that had damaged a tire, much less a wheel, so I declined the offer.
But... maybe Subaru is experiencing a high breakage rate of their OEM alloy wheels, and has encouraged their dealers to offer this policy.
Nah, there's nothing wrong with Subaru rims, just an opportunistic dealer looking to sell something at close to 100% guaranteed profit
FYI, I think these tire and wheel insurance policies are a common pratice at luxo dealers whose models come with expensive rims that are easy to damage when parking next to a curb. Guess the non-luxo dealers have realized the profit potential and have now started to also offer them
-Frank