Hit a hole in the road, tyre damage and wheel buckled

wingman

wingman

wingman

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Travelling home from work yesterday my girlfriend hit a manhole cut out/hole in the road (not a pothole) that wasn't sign posted or had any hazard warnings around, and it made the car almost undriveable and felt like a bag of nails.

She nursed it home and we realised the tyre was cut (it's a runflat so at this point we figured it might've been okay to drive), but we called Mini emergency services who came out last night to take it to our local Mini dealership (huge shout-out to Mini emergency services, one phone call was made and they sorted everything out, including a hire car dropped off at our door within a couple of hours).

Mini have today advised that it'll need a new tyre (of course) and that the wheel is buckled. Tyre is £200 and I can only wince at the idea of what the wheel is going to cost (18" Cooper S F56 alloys). My girlfriend said that the gearbox didn't feel right either (especially third to fourth), but they've advised that everything apart from the tyre and wheel seem fine. Could a damaged tyre and buckled wheel impact the gearbox at all, and if not, should we push them to check more thoroughly?

Speaking to her colleagues today we've also found out that, people who left work after her (roughly an hour and a half later, travelling the same road) had noticed that the police had sectioned off that bit of the road, we've called 101 to ask if we can get an incident report because it's too dangerous to travel back to that road and get a photo (nowhere safe to stop), and we've got that incident report number.

We've got protected NCB bonus, but also don't really want to go the insurance route but understand we may have to. We contacted the local council last night to report the incident but I can't imagine the turnaround being that quick, so I'm guessing the insurance route would be best, but I don't want to suffer a claim at the hands of someone else's fault.

Any ideas?

Thanks.
 
****** probably stole the manhole cover, they do that :/

You would probably have to contact the council for compensation. But GL, they are always awful to deal with.
 
wingman said:
Mini have today advised that it'll need a new tyre (of course) and that the wheel is buckled. Tyre is £200 and I can only wince at the idea of what the wheel is going to cost (18" Cooper S F56 alloys). My girlfriend said that the gearbox didn't feel right either (especially third to fourth), but they've advised that everything apart from the tyre and wheel seem fine. Could a damaged tyre and buckled wheel impact the gearbox at all, and if not, should we push them to check more thoroughly?
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I'd imagine a sudden shock like that to the system could do damage elsewhere but I've had a couple of wheel alignment issues that translated to other parts of the car not feel "right" either which went away when the alignment/toeing was fixed so possibly it is just a different perception because it drives differently.
 
Nasher said:
****** probably stole the manhole cover, they do that :/
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The girlfriend said it looks like it was a professional job, cut out properly - but she said it was dark and of course didn't see it until the last second.

Perhaps these folks are pros at getting them out...

Rroff said:
I'd imagine a sudden shock like that to the system could do damage elsewhere but I've had a couple of wheel alignment issues that translated to other parts of the car not feel "right" either which went away when the alignment/toeing was fixed so possibly it is just a different perception because it drives differently.
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Thanks Rroff, I'd be inclined to agree, the whole balance of the car is out and she's quite panicky with these like this - as most of us would be I guess. I'll push for them to check again and we'll get a wheel alignment.

Mini have quoted £99 for an alignment, do they have some ultra perfect alignment tech? We've refused that for now, I'm sure KwikFit is like £30...
 
wingman said:
Mini have quoted £99 for an alignment, do they have some ultra perfect alignment tech? We've refused that for now, I'm sure KwikFit is like £30...
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There are different levels 2 and 4 wheel (if applicable), laser or computerised, etc. etc. no idea what is/isn't better - last one I did was full everything plus steering rack rebuild cost me £100.

EDIT: The one before that I had done for £40 at a main dealer and it wasn't really that great IMO better than nothing but they didn't get the root of the problem - then had an independent look at it and they diagnosed a few other issues with the steering rack and it did actually improve things loads.
 
Rroff said:
There are different levels 2 and 4 wheel (if applicable), laser or computerised, etc. etc. no idea what is/isn't better - last one I did was full everything plus steering rack rebuild cost me £100.

EDIT: The one before that I had done for £40 at a main dealer and it wasn't really that great IMO better than nothing but they didn't get the root of the problem - then had an independent look at it and they diagnosed a few other issues with the steering rack and it did actually improve things loads.
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To be fair we'll be claiming via the council or via insurance so we might as well get Mini to do it?

Similarly the off side is obviously a worn tyre, and it's going to be a new tyre on the near side, the off side still has a lot of tread left but it will be different amounts of tread. Would this be an issue?
 
Depending on how badly buckled the wheel is it could well be repairable. I had two rear wheels losing air recently due to buckles: got them repaired and it drives perfectly with no loss of air or vibration. As long as it isn't badly cracked or something I'd definitely take that over buying a whole new wheel from a dealership.
 
Police haven't said what the issue was on the road ? but I suppose you'll re-pass eventually and eyeball it.

4 wheel Hunter laser alignments going to be £70+

(driver observation, in Cambridge anyway, people tailgate, also leaving no opportunity to necessarily watch the road ahead, or react to suspension on the car ahead, so driving straight through culverts, raised/dropped drain covers, they must drive through them every day too, on their commute ... so I'm ambivalent when colleagues complain)
 
^^ Spot the pickey! :p

I have witnessed two a-holes in a tranny doing it before along a long stretch of quiet road (drain covers) they had a big bar to lever them out so they must be worth something, now the new ones are plastic (and yes I reported them as soon as I seen them) plenty of dog walkers walk on the edge of the road/grass and could break leg a swell as a car crash due to hitting the holes
 
b00merang69 said:
^^ Spot the pickey! :p

I have witnessed two a-holes in a tranny doing it before along a long stretch of quiet road (drain covers) they had a big bar to lever them out so they must be worth something, now the new ones are plastic (and yes I reported them as soon as I seen them) plenty of dog walkers walk on the edge of the road/grass and could break leg a swell as a car crash due to hitting the holes
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Something like 10p per kg, probably half that if getting rid of on the black market, makes a large manhole cover worth something like £5, must be a million things you can steal far easier which are worth far more!
 
I had the hunter laser wheel alignment done at Kwik Fit after my front suspension arms were replaced. It was pretty quick and you can watch the guy do it. As a bonus he done it for about £50 cash, doesn't bother me what he puts (or doesn't in this case) through the system :p
 
Firestar_3x said:
Something like 10p per kg, probably half that if getting rid of on the black market, makes a large manhole cover worth something like £5, must be a million things you can steal far easier which are worth far more!
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Ferrous frag feed is about £650 per metric ton (weighed some in last week) so at 65p a kilo and a flat bed truck, it can soon add up!
 
Are scrap trucks a common sight around the country? The north east is the home of the scrap truck IMO. If someone leaves an old washing machine or boiler out, you get a convoy of scrap vans circling it like Native Indians would a wagon on an old western.

An old guy I know, said one night he couldn't sleep, and he was looking out of his bedroom window, and he saw a scrap truck at 2am, with a guy stood upright in the back of the bed, behind the cab acting as a spotter to look over walls and hedges. Desperate men!
 
Yea I see them around sometimes.

Its an easy and free way to dispose of old fridges etc. Just leave it at the end of the garden and one will take it :D
 
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