I'm driving up in the Santa Cruz mountains. About after 2 hours, I hear a clankty-clank sound and then a loud ka-pow and I fear the worst. The engine feels fine and no smoke or additional sounds after that. I do notice the tire feels flat. I pull off to the side of the road, and yup - flat tire. No biggie happens all the time. When I get the tire off, I noticed I can't find any damage on the tire itself. I eagerly anticipate seeing where the hole is that caused the flat. The tire finally off, what do I see? A huge 1 inch hole INSIDE the rim and a piece of the metal actually fall out. As if a gun when off INSIDE the tire! The rotor, brakes, and wheel well are perfect. The car runs smoothly and with zero problems. The guys at the tire shop are all scratching their heads in amazement. What could possibly have caused this? Thanks in advance. Image Unavailable, Please Login
for clarification, that piece of metal you see is confirmed to be part of the rim. I mean, what could cause this? Like a metal rod just enter my rim just right and create a hole? I'm super confused.
looks like something punched it's way into your rim. The hole has the lip bent inward. I can't think what would cause this, other than something hitting it at high speed --- like a bullet or a metal rod thrown up at the wheel. That's weird for sure! Any UFO or Bigfoot sightings in the area? Sid
I did hear a clankty-clank right about 5-10 seconds before the big ka-pow - I don't know maybe a stray metal rod got into my wheel well? Super odd for sure.
A piece of rebar kicked up from the road possibly? Pretty weird, but relatively benign fortunately. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Oh Wow Paul! if you didn't show the metal piece I could swear someone took a shot at you! My hunch is a metal rod that got trapped in there. I see more places where it touched it? scratch and small dents. Also along the rim of your wheel there seems to have something been rubbing it. Unfortunate I think, but fortunate enough it didn't take anything else in it's path These forces are humongous as you already can see punching a hole through rather thick aluminum.
I’m glad you did not get to an accident Paul because of a rim damage that punctured the tire . I’m glad no one got hurt . Lady Luck is smiling at you.
First the stick shift snaps and now this. I guess the car has still not forgiven you for your piece about what you did not like about it.
Car runs perfectly, no suspension damage (as far as I can see) or missing bolts - but I will take another closer look! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Paul, good to see you kept it gathered up and nothing worse happened. What spare wheel did you use to get back to the work shop? Is it a full size front wheel as your spare?
Yikes? Very mysterious. I wonder if a good welding shop can make the repair? Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Paul, some of the scratches in the picture appear to be on the same track as the hole. It's as if something came loose and managed a few revolutions before rotating and getting between a part of the suspension/brake system and the wheel. I have never seen an object that was lying on the road do that. It would take a large bolt to punch a hole like that. You should definitely see a mark on the suspension/brake system where it levered into the rim. Glad you are okay.
Here's my 2 cents: I couldn't really make out from the first picture exactly where the puncture is in relation to each edge of the wheel so don't have much of an opinion of the odds of some foreign object being able to get into that position to make a puncture. But I do see fresh metal scrapes in the picture. From the previous few posts, there seems to be some uncertainty about the material used in the Mondial wheel and that leads me to a theory to explore. What occurs to me is a technical term called "galling" that is often seen in metallurgy situations. Basically, galling is an adhesion between two different metals somewhat like different metals welding themselves together by mere contact. The phenomena is mostly seen in bolts and nuts made of different materials and once mated are very difficult to unscrew. My highly remote theory based on metallurgy is that a foreign metal object attached itself to the wheel thru galling action and was in turn struck by another object that "hammered" the first attached object thru the wall of the wheel and then the first object fell off. I notice what appears to be a small "plug" next to the punctured hole. Do you think they are the same or different materials? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks John, that metal slug I think is part of the hole. There is this pattern on the opposite end of the rim that also exists on that metal piece. Once we took off the tire, that metal teardrop fell out. Let me take some more pictures/video and post. I appreciate your time and think your theory is very interesting. Cheers
If it is debris derived, I have had 1 in 1 million things like this happen to a variety of cars, last one was a small rock some how getting stuck in caliper on my Subaru. I thought i had severely damaged something and made a horrendous noise. Actually did very little damage to none to rotor and caliper assembly.
I'm starting to think it was like a metal rod or rebar, because before the loud ka-pow, I did hear a clankty-clank sound...perhaps the bar got wedged between the rotor and the rim creating the punture...i probably should have played the lottery instead of going for a drive!! I will report more when the rim replacement arrives from Germany.
I hope this will be solved quickly ! I dont want to drive with a bullet proof jacket in the future... Guido
While you are waiting for your replacement wheel, if you are feeling the need to drive, you could purchase this Mondial-t look alike. It's look and design are sooooo close to a Mondial, that I'm sure no one would even know that you aren't driving a real Ferrari! https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1992-mazda-az-1-7/ LOL - on a serious note, if I wasn't still in the middle of a move, I'd purchase this car and paint it Blue-Sera! Sid
hahaha, I'm pretty sure it is a fluke of strangeness! Wow that's pretty neat! Never seen anything like it! Cheers
And... BONUS!!! The timing belt was replaced only 10K miles ago! No info on whether it required an engine-out. Sid
