Tire and wheel mishap....

Mike H. · 08-27-2004, 09:22 PM

I had a bit of a mishap last Friday. I made a u-turn and straightened out (now running about 40), but then drifted over slowly and scrubbed the curb. All fine and dandy until the truck lurched up in the air and all hell broke loose. Turns out there was an in-curb storm drain. It stuck out just a little from the curb face, was completely vertical, and had about a 3/8" thick steel face with jagged edge from being cut out with a torch. It shredded both passenger-side tires (loud boom-boom) and messed up both wheels. The front wheel also has a small flat spot like it was hit with a sledge hammer on the very edge next to the bead seat.

Needless to say I was quite pleased with myself for letting this happen.

The Titan looked just great sitting there on both rims leaning to one side. Two flats - one spare. I called AAA - 90 minute wait. Put on my spare, called my coworkers who came and took me and one flat to the nearest tire store, hoping to luck into a BFG Rugged Trail on the shelf. Fat chance. They claimed they are on national backorder. They did say they had a set of non-offroad Titan 18" wheels with tires in like-new condition, that they took in partial trade from somebody who bought new wheels and tires. They offered them to me for $400 for the set.

After several calls around town and to the dealer, I find the Rugged Trail is hard to get. And the dealer wants $577 EACH for their gold-plated wheels. So I had the truck carried home, rented a car, and called my insurance company to make a claim. I only have a $100 deductable. The next day I also went back and picked up the four 18"x8" 5-spoke wheels with tires. They are in like new-condition. Lucked-out and got the truck back on the road.

I thought I was going to get the money for 2 new wheels and tires (about $1600) from insurance. Turns out they want me to have them "fixed and refinished" by some local company that does that. I don't feel real good about that, considering the hard shot the front one took. So, time to figure out some other options. Insurance is only giving me $800 ($900-deductable) to get the wheels "fixed", replace the tires, and get the front end aligned. Hmmm, BFG will have a 285/65R18 available in a couple weeks (according to 4-Wheel Parts).

I can tell you, having just gone from the 285/70R17 BFG Rugged Trail to the non-offroad 265/70R18 Goodyear SR-A, there is no comparison. The BFG rocks, and excels compared to the SR-A in heavy rain. IMHO, the SR-A is dangerous in heavy rain.

bestitan · 08-27-2004, 09:32 PM

one word for you: OMG cr*p sh*t f**k damn BUMMER!!!!!!!!!

i know, thats 1.2.3.4.......18 words.

titanwild · 08-27-2004, 09:38 PM

Mike, Sorry 'bout the bad luck with tires. I agree with your SR-A in the rain comments, my Titan is scary when roads are wet, I slow down to limit or below, sure don't tailgate anyone. About the only thing going for them is the soft ride. As soon as I can find a good excuse, I'm going to the BFG's if I can find the 18" version. Don't want to change rims.

Tom Roper · 08-27-2004, 09:47 PM

One thing you could do is take the fixed and refinished wheels and tires offered by the insurance company, and have them run-out for true-ness on the Hunter GSP9700 Road Force balancer. If there is anything wrong with them, it will find it. I've seen even new rims and tires flunk. If it passes, you should be okay. If it doesn't, you go back to the insurance company, and say you followed the spirit of their recommendation in good faith, but your vehicle's safety and value have been compromised by the fix, and that you must now insist that the repair be done properly.

Then you ask them to reimburse you for the expense of the Hunter Road Force test.

You can go to the Hunter website, and do a search for tire shops that have the machine in your area.

You do not have to be satisfied with the insurance company's offer if it harms the book value of your vehicle. They can play hardball at times, but they cannot tell you how a repair is to be made, or who must do it. Don't construe that to mean they owe you new wheels necessarily either. That's why you play along with them, until it proves out that new wheels are the only way.

Tom Roper · 08-27-2004, 09:57 PM

Something else...the insurance company WILL get payback on this from you in the form of higher insurance premiums into the future. If the repairs were less than about $2,000 I'd pay them out of pocket and drop the claim. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but will save you money in the long run. It's probably gone too far already, especially if you were required to submit a police report.

Accidents suck. Several years ago I made a U-turn on ice to avoid a clogged intersection ahead. I made the U-turn successfully but a lady coming the other way rear ended me. She could have avoided it, she was going too fast, but it was my fault nonetheless. I ended up paying off the damage to her car, about $800 rather than go through the hassle of an insurance claim that would have cost me later.

Another thing to consider, if you have more than one vehicle, a motorcycle policy, motorhome etc., your premiums can go up on ALL of them.

Mike H. · 08-27-2004, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Roper

Something else...the insurance company WILL get payback on this from you in the form of higher insurance premiums into the future.

I check this with them. I've not had a claim in about 15 years. This first one is a freebie. The next one, if soon, may raise my rate.

cali-titan · 08-27-2004, 11:42 PM

I would change the deductible to $1,000 and save a lot of money, or years to come. Good luck.

buzz11 · 08-28-2004, 06:43 AM

I would be taking pictures of that storm drain that was cut with the welder, giving those to the insurance company and have them take it up with the DOT that seems to have done a poor job and typical lazy job.

WP

pciley · 08-28-2004, 11:05 AM

Mike H, I work with some guys who referbish the wheels... IF THE RIM IS BENT badly enough to effect proper seating of the tire/bead they won't touch it. You can probably go back to your claims adjuster and tell them the rim is truely BENT and FUBAR'd and needs to be replaced.. to up your claim reimbursement.

Maybe faxing a statement to this effect from the wheel guys who are going to fix yours will help... Ask them if the wheel will be absolutely 100% perfect when they are done, they will tell you "NO." If they say it will be, they are FOS.

Insurance companies understandably take a cheap stand at first. Its like a swapmeet or a garage sale. You are kind of expected to come back asking for a different deal, although they will put up some amount of resistance. Keep trying. You should be able to get things fixed PERFECTLY, not refurbished to look "almost new"