Damage to wheel

[MetManMark]

I hit a pothole the other day. Pesky roads in Devon are shocking at the moment 😞

The tyre immediately lost pressure and I had to put on the spare tyre (thank goodness for the space-saver!). On closer inspection you can see that there is a flat spot on the inside of the wheel. I have tried reinflating it but the air pours out of the gap between the wheel and the tyre.

There is a place in Exeter that repairs alloys but they are fully booked until the New Year. They come recommended by other companies that specialise in repainting / refurbishing alloys. I have found another place that agreed to take a look at it first thing on Monday and have suggested that they can fix it the same day. This makes me *slightly* worried that they recon that they can fit me in so quickly!

The main problem is that the car will be MOT'd (by the Toyota dealership as part of a service plan) on Tuesday. The MOT actually expires on the 29th Dec. 

Any thoughts / bright ideas? My suspicion is that the dealership will just tell me that if I want the car to pass the MOT then I'll have to get a new wheel which will cost a lot of money (I dread to think how much).

 

Thanks in advance

Mark (very happy, but slightly stressed owner of a 2015 Auris hybrid TS)

[Stopeter44]

Buy or borrow a steel wheel to get you through the MOT ?

[Mojo1010]

Why worry that a place can fit u in quick? This is what u wanted isn't it? They have availability so no reason to be concern. 

[TonyHSD]

You can check eBay for the same used wheel and buy from there. Out a new tyre on and off you go to pass mot. Then keep all invoices, take pictures from the place, the pothole, everything and claim against the council or highway motorways. 

[Cyker]

Yeah make sure you go after them for compensation - The only way to get them to fill these damned potholes in is if we make it more expensive for them to pay out in claims!

They have to be made to understand that ignoring potholes is not an acceptable cost saving measure.

 

[Bper]

8 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Yeah make sure you go after them for compensation - The only way to get them to fill these damned potholes in is if we make it more expensive for them to pay out in claims!

They have to be made to understand that ignoring potholes is not an acceptable cost saving measure.

 

This morning I read that a pothole In our local area had damaged at least several cars who did not realise it was there. Apparently a cone had been put over the hole but had been damaged and removed.

The report was it would take up to eight weeks for this to be repaired. If the authorities responsible for the repair can't be bothered to repair it straight away then why do they leave themselves open to compensation claims which will amount to far more money then a quick repair.

The recent reports on local authorities running out of money gives us a good idea just what little regard they have for the money they take from us.😡

[///MAZI]

Could it not be pushed out with wood and a hammer?

[MetManMark]

I am sorely tempted to have a go at this myself @Mazi!

[TonyHSD]

13 hours ago, MetManMark said:

I am sorely tempted to have a go at this myself @Mazi!

If you want to keep the wheel getting it properly repaired is a better idea. Or perhaps use heat before hitting it with a hammer. There are YouTube videos how to , and heat is very important otherwise you can break it or crack it as well. 

[MetManMark]

An update:

On Friday last week my wife contacted a company in Exeter to fix the wheel. They said that they had a waiting list of about a month. I phoned another couple of companies who specialise in refurbishing wheels. It turned out that they didn't actually fix wheels themselves, they just sent them to the company that my wife spoke with in the first place. 

 

So I was starting to lose hope. However, I did speak with SouthWestAlloys.com who said that if I brought it in then they would fix it on the day. And they did (yesterday). The car is now with the Toyota dealership for its MOT. The tyre was damaged to I asked Toyota to replace with a similar one - the damaged tyre was only 3 months old :(. I asked Toyota to also check the alignement as I hit the pothole pretty hard.

 

Mark

[SB1500]

3 hours ago, MetManMark said:

I phoned another couple of companies who specialise in refurbishing wheels. It turned out that they didn't actually fix wheels themselves, they just sent them to the company that my wife spoke with in the first place. 

I was thinking that would be the case, most of those small businesses just blast refinish the paint / marks around the edge / diamond cut finish of alloys as opposed to this sort of issue. 

3 hours ago, MetManMark said:

the damaged tyre was only 3 months old

Typical, that's always the way with these things. But unlikely to happen often or again 🙂

[MetManMark]

I have put a claim forward to Devon Highways for £85 for fixing the wheel and £75 for a new tyre. Let's see what happens. I suspect that they will try to wriggle out of it. The entertaining thing is that they say that they will respond within 12 weeks and not to contact them until this time has elapsed.

They must have quite a backlog!