Bow-locks - curbed wheel !

[philr]

Last night I managed to avoid a major prang when somebody pulled out of a junction thinking they could squeeze betwen me and the car in front. There was only a car length between us as the line of traffic had only just got moving again. Anyway, the pratt can''t have looked and just went for a gap that wasn''t there. I hit the brakes hard (wish I''d hit the horn hard too, but I was a bit busy) and rather than T-bone him, I aimed for the left hoping to fit down the inside of his turning car as I doubted that I was gonna stop before I hit him. Anyway I managed to avaid his car but clipped the curb on my front left with a loud thump just before coming to a stop. The tyre is fine, but the alloy wheel has a 2 inch flat spot on the rim and the car now pulls to the left a bit. Can someone tell me how robust TVRs are to such knocks. Everything looks OK (apart from the alloy) so I''m hoping that the worst case is a new wheel and tracking or if I can live with the wheel as it is, that a balance + tracking will sort it. Will the Steering rack, wish bones etc take these knocks. Final impact would have been quite slow. Cheers Phil

[philr]

Also what is the going rate for a new wheel for a 500 ? Anybody got a spare one in good condition ?

[philr]

Has nobody got anything to say on this topic ? Am I just talking to myself ? Are Alloys safe to use after mishaps like this ? Someone suggested that since they don't buckle as such, they tend to crack internally and could "explode" as some inconvienient time. Not convinced by this statement but i'd rather be safe than very sorry.

[ATG]

(I think the site has been having technical probs?? Seems to have been very slow today)

[manek]

Phil I don't know about the wheel but if I were you I'd have the steering geometry looked at, esp since it pulls to the left. -Manek-

[AlexG]

Phil I would definitely be concerned as to the safety of the wheel and the tyre. If you hit the kerb hard enough to do that sort of damage to the wheel you may have pinched the tyre and weakened the construction. Worth having a good look at the tyre to check for any blisters in the sidewall. Does you Chim have the 7 spoke Griff wheels? If so I have an immaculate pair of Griff 500 front wheels with good tyres for sale - £190 for the pair if you are interested. Alex

[philshort]

Phil Wishbones are fairly fragile, anything hard enough to flat the wheel has possibly bent the wishbones. A lot depends on how acute the angle between wheel and kerb - the flatter the wheel/tyre to the kerb the more chance of damage, due to lateral forces the suspension cannot absorb. I suspect the wishbones are designed to flex on impact to save the chassis from damage. Apart from a delibarate (internally supported) kink in the lower wishbone towards the front (to clear the steering colummn), the upper and lower edges of the wishbones should be straight and true. If they are bowed at all then they are done for. Personally I wouldn't risk using a wheel that has been damaged in that way, not on a car this fast. I have just replaced my wheels and wishbones after a sideways impact (albeit slightly harder I suspect, my rear tyre was ripped off the rim, and a lump puncjed out of the front rim!). Edited by philshort on Saturday 25th August 00:11

[shpub]

Get the car checked ASAP. It is possible that you have done serious damage or at best put the alignment out. Either way the car needs some TLC to make sure that it is OK. I speak from past experience: a building site left a load of gravel on a roundabout and I curbed my Cerbera sakting on the stuff. Low speed impact but enough to need new rack/wishbones/shocks/joints/wheels and tyres. Regards Steve www.tvrbooks.co.uk

[philr]

Thanks guys for the comments. It's good to know that there is someone else out there after all. In the cold light of day the flat spot on the rim doesn't look as bad as I remembered it being. Luckily (?) it seems to have been a glancing blow as I had just started to steer away from the curb when the impact happened and it was low speed after all the ruber I had welded to the road. Mole Valley kindly took a look at things for me and reckon that everything is fine except that the geometry needs to be re-aligned. I'll book the car in this week. Mole Valley confirmed that the wish bones are designed to crumple on impact, so I guess that I've been pretty lucky this time. The wheel seems fine apart from the flat spot on the rim. Mole Valley suggested it may improve with a bit of wet/dry to smooth down the edge, though I my get the wheel reconditioned. Phil

[Paul V]

If I were you I’d keep a eye on the tyre, they can start to bulge some time after the knock, most will go straight away but it really depends on whether it broke the steel cords in the tyre and if so how badly. As an ex tyre fitter I have seen some pretty dodgy ones.

[xain]

Hi Phil, Interestingly I just found out I have a flatspot on the *inside* of my OSF wheel. Everything was just fine, I got my tyres changed on the front and the (trusted) guy pointed out the damage, a slightly flattened area of the rim. He mentioned that I might get some wobble with the new tyre, and that the previous one had probabably worn to match the dent. I noticed he'd attached a shed load of weights to counter the damage, on indeed there was a fairly mighty amount of wobble. However... it is fairly rapidly smoothing out as the tyre wears in (about 500 miles so far) You may be lucky, but I think you're right to get the geometry sorted if it pulls to the left. I'm not too worried because it was fine on the old tyres.

[philr]

Xain, the pull to the left is quite a gentle/gradual move rather than any sudden jerk or anything. It is noticable because the car has always been incredibly straight in the past - I always put it down to the wide tyres ! I don't notice any wobble on my wheels after the curbing so I guess that the ballance of the wheel is still OK. Did your tyres wear unevenly ? The car feels very safe still and I did use it quite a bit at the weekend. However it is not as it should be so Mole Valley are sorting things for me later this week.

[xain]

I never noticed any problems before I changed the tyres, the only visible uneveness in wear was that the inside edge wore quickly all the way round. There were no flat spots I noticed. Sounds like a sensible idea to get it checked, if only so that you're not forever wondering if it "did that before" Xain

[dbobrien]

I've kerbed my rear wheel, at about 35mph (forward, not sure about rotation speed !). The guy who checked out my car, reckoned that there wasn't a mark on the suspension etc. He said one adjustment bolt had moved slightly, but that was merely alignment. So they are quite robust. However I now need a new rear wheel. Anybody got a dished rear alloy for a Chim that they'd like to sell to me ?