tire,wheel

stevenriz · #1 (**permalink**) 09-09-09, 11:26 AM

Hi everyone. Well our lovely Mass Highway construction crew left a raised manhole cover exposed last night when they stopped their construction shift and wham, I slammed into it at 70mph this morning along with about 20 other vehicles. I only managed to blow out my front left tire. The car has just over 30k miles on it and was planning on replacing the tires before winter anyway but am wondering your opinion.

should I just replace the one or do both fronts at the same time? Any reasonably priced tires out there I should look for? At this point I need something quick. Also I am hearing and feeling a vibration in the front. I imagine the bearing is junk and need to have that looked at along with an alignment. any other thoughts out there I should have done?

The worst part about this is I have to go after the state, then they put me in touch with the contractor then we have to battle it out. Hopefully it will be easy. There were some poor people with two flats out there. Luckily I only had one.

thanks!
Steve

MacMuse · #2 (**permalink**) 09-09-09, 12:11 PM

With 30K usage, you'll want to do them in pairs at least. Check your wheels closely too as they may be damaged as well and definitely an alignment check is a good idea.

next2pool · #3 (**permalink**) 09-09-09, 01:19 PM

Definitely replace in pairs front or rear. Lots of good threads on here regarding tires. Choices will vary depending on what kind of driving and where you live. In AZ I'm very happy with Kumho ASX.

D&Ds_STS · #4 (**permalink**) 09-09-09, 03:00 PM

Ditto on replacing tires in pairs, and checking the wheels for damage. You can fight with the contractor if you enjoy long drawn out processes. When we had a similar problem with our CTS, we filed a claim with our auto insurance. They paid for the repairs and rental car, then went after the responsible party to recover the costs.

KARL DAHLEN · #5 (**permalink**) 09-09-09, 05:56 PM

Hope you don't need a wheel. Expect to pay around $200 for a decent one on ebay unless your lucky and fast. If insurance is paying, get one from the dealer. You'll have to pay the deductible anyway. BTW it is considered collision damage under your insurance and they will probably want to refurbish the wheel.
Insist on a new one.

C&C · #6 (**permalink**) 09-09-09, 06:53 PM

With 30 thousand miles on the tires, I think I would shoot for replacing all four. I would like to start fresh (money permitting of course). But by all means, at minimum, replace in pairs. Good luck with the contractor.

stevenriz · #7 (**permalink**) 09-15-09, 01:22 PM

thanks for the feedback. I replaced the front two tires with Sunny brand. Apparently they are a generic Bridgestone tire from what the tire dealer told me. they were the only one in my size and since I needed them right away, I grabbed them. Now I hear what sounds like a turbine coming from the front end. I assumed a bad wheel bearing assembly but the dealer just called me and told me the noise seems to be coming from the transfer case and that it wasn't accident related. Well I begged to differ. The vibration comes through the pedals. Once you hit 15mph, the car vibrates. Why would they think this isn't accident related? I hit this hole pretty hard... and I exagerated at going 70... I was just freaking out about the car. Was going probably 45-55 or so with the flow of traffic. Check this out. If you use Internet Explorer you will see a picture of the hole. It was actually a raised manhole and all the ground around it sunk... http://wbztv.com/local/route.2.concord.2.1172102.html finally after all these cars drove into the hole, they put a barrel around it...

stevenriz · #8 (**permalink**) 09-15-09, 01:29 PM

Anyway, I meant to say I think the tires are ok although with all the vibration and noise I cannot be sure right now. Once we quiet the car down I will give you my imperssion. The sales pitch was a 55k warranty and damage replacement no matter what happens to the tire. no questions asked. we'll see about that.....

stevenriz · #9 (**permalink**) 09-17-09, 10:12 AM

Turns out the vibration and tubine sounding noise is coming from the wheel hub assembly. Can I safely assume the bearing is within this assembly? It's about a week lead time unless some dealer somewhere in the country has one. If you are a dealer that might have this part, do you all have a system of notification? Anyway, Baker Cadillac in Leominster MA seems to be nice enough and very competent here. Hopefully all noises go away after this repair. Lord, I can't wait to turn in thie Chevy Cobolt rental. Not even power locks in this heap.

stevenriz · #10 (**permalink**) 09-22-09, 08:11 AM

I am picking up the STS from the dealer today. They tell me everything is fine now, except there is a noise coming from the new tires. Here is what I got for tires... The Sunny SY1801 W rated tires. http://www.sunnytire.com in the Ultra High Performance section of the website. They actually look cool and I got a recommendation from a friend because he has them on his older CTS and are fine. I have yet to drive it. If these turn out to be a loud tire what do you recommend I replace them with? As I read around people like the Michelin Sport I think...

MacMuse · #11 (**permalink**) 09-22-09, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevenriz

...If these turn out to be a loud tire what do you recommend I replace them with? As I read around people like the Michelin Sport I think...

Michelin Sport A/S Plus are probably the tires you're referencing.

If you like to waste a lot of time learning lots of great information about tires - check out http://tirerack.com/

They have fantastic selector tools that let you quickly identify a variety of tires for your specific car. They also have both editorial reviews based on tests they conduct at their northern Indiana facility and tons of reader supplied comments and ratings.

stevenriz · #12 (**permalink**) 09-23-09, 08:28 AM

Thanks MacMuse, I picked up the car last night and yes these tires are loouudd... I can actually feel a vibration in the steering wheel! When they rotated the tires to the back to check on the noise, the vibration went away. Maybe the tires are just bad.

I have looked at that site in the past but will check it out. Yes that is the one I was thinking of. The Sport A/S Plus. I just can't be wasting all this time trying tires out so I will go with what I know. The dealer actually recommended Michelins as well but didn't specify the model. Probably the OEM model which are sort of expensive if you ask me.

I'll report back when the new tires are installed...

What do you all run on your cars?