tmoneyC450amg

Ran over a supposed large pothole 3 weeks ago and just developed a slow leak about a week ago (-8psi/day). When I had the tire checked, I noticed two cracks about 10inches away from each other on the circumference of the inner lip. Got it done from a reputable local wheel shop here in Philly for $275 to weld, repaint, and rebalance the bent wheel. So far, I'm happy with the results but in the end of the day, I know that pothole was not large enough to have caused this damage but instead, it believe it was the firmness of the runflat and its inability to absorb hits that caused the cracked wheel.

Just wanted to share. Be safe out there guys! Its pothole patching season!

Btw, i drove by the pothole on i95 south bound ramp entrance from GWB to i95S and saw that they had a road crew patching the hole.

Added some pics, I hope everything in my suspension looks alright. The car drives fine and it drove fine even before the wheel was fixed.

removedCFGaccount

Sorry this happened. I hate them.

larrypmyers

Likely the result would have been the same with a conventional tire.

Mike5215

I'm not sure about that. A buddy of mine runs a tire service center here in town. From his perspective the run flats, especially on fitments where the sidewalls are short, are prone to either sidewall ruptures or bent rims. That energy from the pothole impact has to go somewhere. If the sidewalls are stiff (and run flats by design have sidewalls tough enough to support the weight of the car on their own) the energy is going to expose the weakest component at the moment of impact.

Run flats can serve a useful purpose. If you stack them up in a corner of the garage you can store a lot of rakes and stuff in the middle.

ManiacGT

I changed to normal tyres on my Z4 (19") because I had so many cracked rims. Touch wood so far I've been fine since.

oldman&theC

Same thing happened to me a few months ago. I didn't hit any pothole hard enough to cause a cracked wheel.I have been driving for 60 years and I know the diff between a minor bump or pothole and a major pothole that will cause damage.I was losing about 3 psi/day.After examining the tire I found nothing,but a close exam of the wheel showed a minor crack on the inner lip.I took my car to my dealer,they said it was not covered under warranty.I said OK replace the wheel but I want the cracked wheel back.The dealer said after closer exam since the wheel was not bent & the tire was not damaged they would replace it "no charge",but they had to keep the cracked wheel to send back to Mercedes.It appears that Mercedes knows they have a problem.If your wheel isn't bent or the tire damaged and you question the quality of the wheels they may reconsider the no warranty decision.

kleinebin

Get rid of the runflats. It's been said many, many times on here.