Pot hole = Rim damage.

[sfr rob]

Hey fellas, I hit a hole in the road while driving my ute this morning.
For those of you playing at home: the pot hole is located on Ferntree gully road city bound right after Blackburn road in the left lane, infront of a bus stop.
Looks like a sewage pipe has been put there and they have replaced the asphalt around it but some of it has come away with the wet weather we have had recently. Any way, I now have a nice dent/scratch on my Dark Argent F6 rear wheel. :

Has anyone else had this happen, and what did you do?
Do you reckon i can get the council to cough up for repair costs, as one of these wheels cost close to $900 from ford IIRC!
I know it aint the end of the world, but it just gives me the ....!!
Here is a crappy phone pic of the damage.

[jcxr]

Go take photo's of offending pot hole and submit to council along with quote for repair/replacement of wheel. Should see some sort of response, good or bad. lol

[sfr rob]

yeah, thats what i might do.... it's going to be fun dodging peak hour traffic on FTG rd to take a few pics. :

[tex]

If you can demostrate that the road has been in a poor state of repair for some time, or that the council has been negligent - ie not reacted to motorists prior complaints, or their own internal reporting of the pot hole requiring repair, you may have a chance at getting reasonable compenstation.

This scenario has occured lots of times, so I'm sure there are prior examples to reference.

Good luck mate.

[SVTVNM]

A few years back I hit a pot hole in the Hepburn Shire area of Victoria and I split both left Rims 18's, clean in half around the circumfrence and damaged a caliper. I claimed it on insuranace so I could get the rims replaced and the car back on the road and I believe that my insurance company got the money back from the Shire, I was not the only car to have this happen at the same spot. In wish I had photos to post because the pot hole was more like a mine shaft! lol.

[sfr rob]

: God that would have to suck!
I only saw this hole, pipe poking out of the road at the last second hence why the front missed, damn school girls waiting for the bus!!!!

[Fev]

Theres a been a few potholes like the one SVT mentioned around sydney lately, the comenara parkway(main link between NW sydney and Northshore has got to be the worst road for them. every time it rains in the usual spots there is atleast 1 big hole(1ft circ) and about 2-6inches deep+.. just last week i saw a p-plater pulled over in a e30 beemer replacing his front left wheel because he hit a pothole about 6inch wide, about 1.5ft long and about 6inches deep parralell to the road(hard to miss in traffic yeh?) poor guy, its like defensive driving goin down there sometimes...

[Abacus]

Originally Posted by Fev

Theres a been a few potholes like the one SVT mentioned around sydney lately, the comenara parkway(main link between NW sydney and Northshore has got to be the worst road for them. every time it rains in the usual spots there is atleast 1 big hole(1ft circ) and about 2-6inches deep+.. just last week i saw a p-plater pulled over in a e30 beemer replacing his front left wheel because he hit a pothole about 6inch wide, about 1.5ft long and about 6inches deep parralell to the road(hard to miss in traffic yeh?) poor guy, its like defensive driving goin down there sometimes...

There's bloody big pot holes like that in Sydney every day, everywhere!!

I always try to dodge them, but sometimes you just can't.

There's absolutely no way I'd get rims bigger than 17 inch in this place.

[LOCO XP]

May be difficult to prove that the council is at fault, and that the damage caused is a direct result of said pothole. If their was physical damage of any sort, or an accident directly attributed to by the pothole, you may have a case. I'm no lawyer, but I'd imagine that the legal representation, if any, that would be reequired to be reimbursed for your damages, plus the headaches involved would be likely to exceed your damages. It totally sucks in any case.

[Fev]

ive heard of quite a few people on here getting a reimbursement for the damages made to peoples wheels by potholes and bad roads.

[sfr rob]

Yeah, Loco.. I think i might just bite the bullet and replace it with my other 19 inch spare :
Still... it sucks!

[Fev]

give it a go anyway mate, ya never know!

[Ladiesman217]

Rob, I did this a couple weeks ago on a damn huge pot hole that just couldnt be missed..




Argued with the council for a few days and the outcome was they're not liable for any damage under $1080. The end.

[Riksta]

Originally Posted by mastrflexx

Argued with the council for a few days and the outcome was they're not liable for any damage under $1080. The end.

See that would irritate me so badly I'd go back for seconds, make it a different wheel the second time round so that combined damage gets over their $1080 threshold and make them pay.

[atec77]

Originally Posted by mastrflexx

Rob, I did this a couple weeks ago on a damn huge pot hole that just couldnt be missed..




Argued with the council for a few days and the outcome was they're not liable for any damage under $1080. The end.

Sounds like you were bluffed . I dropped a bike a while back with around $800 worth of damage , they tried that crap and the brother inlaw ripped em a new one , had his fees and mu $ in two weeks , they have a legal obligation for repair and maintenance with public liability , which has around a grand from the council pockets on claims

[ltd]

Originally Posted by mastrflexx

Rob, I did this a couple weeks ago on a damn huge pot hole that just couldnt be missed..


Argued with the council for a few days and the outcome was they're not liable for any damage under $1080. The end.

Well, if they want it to cost more I would suggest taking your car to Ford and having the suspension on that side checked; you'd be amazed as to what kind of damage can be caused by a huge impact like that - think of it as getting a 600kg mallet dropped on your suspension.
Furthermore, I would inspect the shock tower for any deformations or cracks, as metal to hard surface contact can bend thin wall steel such as that found in your shock tower. I guarantee you, you will find a fault and the cost of rim, tyre and the diagnosis alone should exceed the $1080 limit. Furthermore, write a letter of demand to the council as they can't shirk responsibility predicated on a dollar amount.

[ebxr8240]

Change the rim and tyre !!
Claim on insurance..
Let them sort it out...
They have there ways...

[Auslandau]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

Change the rim and tyre !!
Claim on insurance..
Let them sort it out...
They have there ways...

Yeah well and good but there is the excess, then the increase in premium .... Its crap Rob when than happens! Happened to me, and many others who wouldnt relise at the time or just dont give a hoot about scratching their hubcap! The councils are a waste of space so give em a hard time and get them to cough up something!!!!



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[xbgs351]

I lie the blame on Ford and the other car manufacturers who sell cars which such big diameter wheels. What do people expect when running 18" or larger rims with licorice strips for tyres?

[SVTVNM]

Other cars that were damaged on the pot hole that I hit were running factory steel rims with hub caps, yet they still suffered significant damage. Roads should not be in such bad condition, we pay tates plus councils get money for roads from state governments so there is no excuse if roads are left in such s!%thouse condition. Especially for prolonged periods of time, in my case the road was like this for ages but in the same time Daylesford which is in the same Shire as the town I had the accident was getting $1,000,000 worth of new footpaths.

[Sonik]

Originally Posted by xbgs351

I lie the blame on Ford and the other car manufacturers who sell cars which such big diameter wheels. What do people expect when running 18" or larger rims with licorice strips for tyres?

Better handling cars, better looking cars? old people having a about everything? dunno.

[Zed7fiddy]

Originally Posted by xbgs351

I lie the blame on Ford and the other car manufacturers who sell cars which such big diameter wheels. What do people expect when running 18" or larger rims with licorice strips for tyres?

Youve gotta be kidding mate! the council has a responsibilty to upkeep the road!

Lets not talk about my mates GF with a 16 Inch steel rim that was buckled yeserday hubcap snapped and a tyre blew out in a similar sitiation!

Harp onto the council Rob, its utter BS and they get away with it way too much! keep the damaged wheel on so as they dont think its so easily replacable, make em pay!

[xbgs351]

A smaller diameter wheel won't save you from damaging your wheels on all pot holes, but they will sure cop a lot more hiding than 18"+ wheels will. I would feel pretty nervous driving on those hoola-hoop diameter wheels on the typical NSW rural bitumen and gravel roads.

As for looks, that is subjective. Cars are now styled so that they look better with bigger rather than smaller wheels. Even so, in my and many others opinion anything bigger than 18" wheels look ridiculous.

The better handling always gives me a wry smile. When it comes to handling as the primary goal I will stick with 13" wheels thankyou very much. What was that you said?.... your car is carrying as much pork as a smallgoods manufacturer and you still want to be able to stop? Well in that case you will need bigger wheels to fit in bigger brake calipers. Since the V8Supertaxis manage to fit humungus discs & brake calipers capable of pulling up a car from 300 km/h under 17" rims, there doesn't appear to be any reason to run wheels larger in diameter than 17".

[Assassinbm]

I had the same with rather large pothole (about 5 inches deep) in a 100k zone in me wifes PT(cough) outcome was 2 dented alloys, one leaked all air within about 5 minutes, contacted council without any luck & many hours of useless discusion, just claimed on insurance.
Bloody Mexican built Chrysler........$1583 per rim plus wheel alignment, no other obvious damage

[Fev]

PER RIM!!! WTF!!!! they arnt god damn boyd codington billets!! jeebus!

[Bobman]

That section of FTG road, between Blackburn and Clayton Roads (inbound) is notoriously bumpy. Awful section of roadway.

Should have been fixed years ago.

[290v]

done the same to mine the other day last saturday with the tyre big blister but lucky the rim is still in good shape still cost me a tyre

[seduced_xr]

i was out with my dad last weekend in the bf doing about 105kmh. when a huge pot hole came out of nowhere the best way to save your rims (if no traffic behind) is the hit the brakes. saved our rims

[sfr rob]

Holy Moses Assassinbm, $1500 a rim!?!


Damn mastrflexx, that looks horrible!!


xbgs351: I would run some beefy cushy tyres on my f6 if i had polyps too, but I wouldn't want to look like a moron with 15's under it, besides they wont fit around the brembos.
As you can see in the pic i posted, the damage was sustained more from scraping the pipe in the hole than actually running over the pipe & hole.
If I did that, I am sure my rim would now be in 2 pieces.

[Assassinbm]

Yes believe it, sure company is one of the bigwigs, makes you wonder how much profit may be involved, with the car manufactured in a 3rd world country an all, could have bought a full set of aftermarket wheels AND tyres for that price