Snapped Spoke OEM 215s... Beware of Pothole!

dredre · #1 06-28-2011, 07:08 PM

Thought I'd share this pretty rare incident with everyone... driving home on Sunday and hit a pretty gnarly pothole on the highway. Was a pretty severe rattle but car seemed ok and drove the home safely. Started washing the car and got to the drivers side front... Check out what happened. Note these are the factory OEM wheels... My insurance is gonna cover the getting it replaced but the guy at the shop said "I have never seen this before... what the hell did you do?!?!" ha!

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sasquatch · #2 06-28-2011, 07:17 PM

Looks like it could be a material problem like air pockets or faulty alloy mix. It appears to have broken in a nice clean perpendicular line relative to the spoke direction, so it is a shearing type break. Very strange thing to happen on a round structure like that. Is the wheel itself still round in appearance?

My vote goes to faulty alloy and/or casting issues. Maybe even air pockets.

dredre · #3 06-28-2011, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sasquatch

Looks like it could be a material problem like air pockets or faulty alloy mix. It appears to have broken in a nice clean perpendicular line relative to the spoke direction, so it is a shearing type break. Very strange thing to happen on a round structure like that. Is the wheel itself still round in appearance?

My vote goes to faulty alloy and/or casting issues. Maybe even air pockets.

You are probably bang on but it is definately not normal. Wheels look round to my naked eye... I wish i bought these directly from a BMW dealer so I could go back and tear them a new one for putting my life in danger... maybe I should do that anyways.

BlackMamba · #4 06-28-2011, 07:30 PM

ouch. that hurt my pocket and it's not even mine!

PersonaNonGrata · #5 06-28-2011, 07:43 PM

Wow, that is freaky. It has got to be a defect. Take good photos, including the numbers on the back of the wheel and your tire as mounted. Contact BMWNA Customer Service. Be nice, not demanding, but firm and ask for a contact you can send the photos to and speak to about the issue. Maybe that wheel and/or the others are part of a defective lot.

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