Another one bites the dust

[Jody]

if I hit a large hole sure, but if I can put larger tyres on then maybe less chance of damage, also a steel is easier to repair, cheaper to replace.

The most you will go is 14" due to caliper clearance so there isn't going to be a massive gain in tyre depth if you want to keep the speedo accurate. Modern fiestas also have little travel in the suspension and ride quite firmly. Yes, you can bend a steel back and a steel maybe slightly cheaper but you aren't going to get round the design of that chassis.

My car runs 17" wheels with a 45 profile and haven't yet damaged a tyre in the last 30k. It's through nothing more than luck given the state of the roads round Sheffield. Your car has had a good old whack if the sidewalls have gone. Nothing you can do about that other than not hitting the hole.

 

[gbb]

Photo 1 shows (to me at least) the rim has distorted, its not round. Could that cause the tyre to fail prematurely ?
Photo 2 , the bubbles look like damage caused by impact, possibly going up kerbs..or equally into deep potholes

TBF, we havnt seen the roads/potholes Johnno is talking about, they may be considerably worse and deeper than we realise and may indeed be wrecking the tyres.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

FYI: That tyre bulge is on a new tyre on an offside wheel that hasn't taken many if any pothole damage, but sure that's all me.

LOL sorry but that tyre/rim has hit something very hard & I suspect very quickly, tyres do not deform like that without getting a big knock. We're not having a go, but I remember a conversation with my father when I was 16, I was commenting on that no matter how slow I used to go round this corner on the bike I ended up on the wrong side of the road, his reply was "You are going too fast" I argued the fact I was travelling less than 20mph, he rely this time was "Well if you ended up on the wrong side of the road you are going too fast. I continued to argue for a while, until he walked away. He of course was right & years later I realised it.

 

[Jody]

But yea whatever everyone is painting me as some lunatic boy racer, whatever, sorry for farkin making a comment.

FYI: That tyre bulge is on a new tyre on an offside wheel that hasn't taken many if any pothole damage, but sure that's all me.

Tyres dont bulge other than impact damage. One hit is enough.

I don't think anyone has you down as a boy racer. It's a heavy, small car, with short, firm suspension on skinny tyres. Nothing you can do to get round that. The roads are in a right state which you can do nothing about.

 

[screenman]

Sorry to piss on your parade but I'm siding with the issue being the driving style not the alloys fault, in 40 years I've only ever damaged an alloy, well two, it was in an MR2 Turbo, I was half-way off a roundabout & floored it, it was slightly damp & I was driving inappropriately for a mid-engined 260BHP car. It snapped out on me did a complete 360 but used the nearside footpath to do so. It took out both rear alloys & a driveshaft.

So the solution is to slow down & be more attentive in your driving, putting larger profile tyres on whether alloys or steel 'may' help but not hitting a pothole in the first pace is the logical answer.

Come and have a drive around with me for a day, even more so in the wet and dark.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

if I drive slower I may as well walk...
sure being attentive helps, I'm not saying I'm totally blameless, but the roads are in a sorry state, and everytime it rains more damage seems to crop up.

I'm not some idiot boy racer, where I live there are cyclists, and many horse riders.

But yea whatever everyone is painting me as some lunatic boy racer, whatever, sorry for farkin making a comment.

FYI: That tyre bulge is on a new tyre on an offside wheel that hasn't taken many if any pothole damage, but sure that's all me.

OK, I'll back off and apologise. You sound sensible. There is also some good, sensible advice here, take it on and see if you can improve your luck.

 

[vickster]

Presume you’re using fillthathole to report potholes that are damaging your tyres and wheels. Not just for bikes. Also the highways England or local council websites
Councils won’t even attempt to fix unreported holes or those not aware of.
Doing so might save another car from damage, or even a life!

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Come and have a drive around with me for a day, even more so in the wet and dark.

How many alloys have you bent in your stellar mileage you must have done?

 

[Johnno260]

OK, I'll back off and apologise. You sound sensible. There is also some good, sensible advice here, take it on and see if you can improve your luck.

No I'm sorry I responded with a stupid flippant comment.

 

[screenman]

How many alloys have you bent in your stellar mileage you must have done?

On the Mazda almost weekly, they were made from cheese, the Skoda not as bad but I expect all 4 wheels are bent a bit. To avoid hitting potholes on these rural roads you would have be walking pace and wobbling about like a drunk man. You cannot take evasive action all the time. Mileage for me now is only about 400 a week on rural roads.

 

[Profpointy]

YellosSaddle Said "OK, I'll back off and apologise. You sound sensible. There is also some good, sensible advice here, take it on and see if you can improve your luck."

No I'm sorry I responded with a stupid flippant comment.

Oi - you two !
You can't be apologising and coming over all reasonable.
This is the internet - there are rules. The correct etiquette is to rudely make some kind of comparison to Hitler and trade some insults

 

[Deleted member 26715]

On the Mazda almost weekly, they were made from cheese, the Skoda not as bad but I expect all 4 wheels are bent a bit. To avoid hitting potholes on these rural roads you would have be walking pace and wobbling about like a drunk man. You cannot take evasive action all the time. Mileage for me now is only about 400 a week on rural roads.

This must be my special power, never had an issue

 

[screenman]

This must be my special power, never had an issue

Have you checked them, we have pot holes all the way across the road on blind bends in these parts, I do however feel the roads are better in other parts of the country, around Barnsley and Sheffield last week and they were certainly better condition, the council are not fixing many of the smaller roads in these parts.

 

[I like Skol]

Ok, school time for anyone that doesn't know.

The side wall ratio is a percentage of tyre width. This means that not all 50 ratio tyres are the same side wall height, a 245/50 will have a 24.5mm taller sidewall than a 245/40 (the difference being 10% of a 245mm tyre width). A 195/50 is not as tall as a 245/50, the 195 will have a sidewall height of 98mm while the 245 will be 123mm tall, nearly an inch in difference.
You may be able to get slightly larger tyres on your Fiesta without causing any clearance issues but is not without drawbacks.

1. It will affect your speedo reading, meaning that for an indicated speed by the speedo you are now travelling faster than you were before. This means you may break the law unintentionally.
2. It will affect your braking by making the brakes less effective due to a reduction in the 'leverage' or effective torque that the brakes can generate.
3. You need to make sure the tyre load and speed rating are still suitable for your car.
4. The additional height places more force on the wheel bearings and wheel studs, but in cases of an increase of only 5% this should be well inside the safety margins of good quality OEM standard components.
5. It is a modification that must be declared to your insurance.

Alternatively, as has already been said, if a smaller rim will fit without interfering with the brakes and suspension components you might be able to add wall height that way. Reduce the wheel diameter by 1" and this allows another 1/2"(13mm) of wall height without affecting the overall tyre diameter if you make a corresponding increase in tyre side ratio.

Combine the two approaches and you could easily add a full inch to the tyre sidewall. Going from a 195/50R15 to a 195/60R14 will increase sidewall by 20mm while a 195/65R14 will give a sidewall increase of nearly 30mm, but the overall increase in tyre size makes this a bit of a step too far maybe.
Horses for courses, you may need a car more suitable for the roads you are driving but these changes will of course make the car look less sporty or cool or modern in many peoples eyes.

 

[Johnno260]

Gonna buy a cheap Range Rover