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OP, I am sorry that happened to you. If it's any consolation I hit a pothole while accelerating in my C6 when it was very new, bent the rim, big deductible on insurance etc etc.
Once fixed it is (nearly) forgotten. Drove that car 90,000 miles after that.
This too, shall pass. You'll be back having fun soon.
Originally called Botts Dots.. Developed by a Cal Trans Engineer , Dr Ebert Dysart Botts. Soon they were just called Botts Dots.
Spaced out on the white lines to alert drivers if their cars drifted out of the proper lane. Originally made of glass and were nailed to the asphalt. The nails soon went away and glue was used.
CA. mandated the use of Botts through the entire state in 1966.
There are now many variations and sizes used through the US and other countries.
Go Figure.
The OP's complaint should be with poor planning/design by the agency who used those marker devices. MANY vehicles use very low profile tires today and road design that results in readily foreseeable damage which easily could add to the seriousness of an accident (i.e. loss of control) is simply poor design.
There is certainly no reason for manufacturer's warranty coverage of road hazards.
If you want to see a more interesting insurance vs warranty case do some research on water in fuel damage to Ford's current diesel engines. Ford won't cover it because they state it is a fuel fault while insurance companies are refusing coverage because they state the Ford system isn't sufficient for normally expected fuel conditions. Of course the customer is stuck in the middle of a repair that costs many thousands of dollars by the time the high pressure pump, fuel rails, and injectors are replaced.
They're called ceramic road studs and come in different sizes, the tallest are 4" tall and can do some damage at speed. Normally you see them dividing lanes close to traffic lights where they don't want you changing lanes. They are hell on motorcycles also.
I see plenty of these Bott Dots around DFW. They are a huge pain in the a** and you actually have to either get into the turn lane before they start, or try to carefully drive between them to enter the lane. I've never understood why they are so aggressively designed, with some of them being a good 4 inches tall.
I can also say, that no wheel would be warranted for hitting one at the speed the OP was driving. Same applies to a 4 inch pothole, the curb, etc. This would take the equivalent of an off-road vehicle to happily absorb that hit, of which the Corvette is not.
My 80yr+ aunt buys two rims and tires a year for her Mercedes C class. The low profile tires do not protect. Look good but put'em in a pot hole and bingo.....I'm on ebay sending her another rim!!!
Holy crap! Seems to be some level of a law suit here. Sounds like pure tire/wheel destruction being install by the city/state DOT.
Elmer
It is truly absurd. The intent is to keep people from moving into the turn lane (only place they are) after the dots begin. But if you hit one on accident.... well, ask the OP.
My wife ran over one of those white dots like that just days before I sold my C6 in February. It did not damage the rim, but ruined a brand new tire. It ended up being almost $400 for a new tire on a car I sold 3 days later.
I don't understand why these new traffic dots are so tall. The old ones that were a little lower still alerted you to the hazard, but did not ruin tires and rims.
The devices shown by aienranch are interesting. It looks like they are protecting a bike lane except a distracted/drunk/texting driver could still go through them so it would only protect against the unlikely case where someone decided it would be fun to drive in the bike lane if it didn't ruin their wheels/tires on the way.
I don't have a problem with a hard barrier protecting a bike lane but 4" tall "wheel killers" for the turn lane seems stupid. More than once I have had to do an immediate lane change to avoid someone who changed lanes while driving "head up a**" and it is nice to have that option for those of us who pay attention. Hitting a 4" dot at speed could easily cause a loss of control even if it didn't cause wheel damage.
The inventor of these should be forced to go for a long ride in a 1970s 1 ton pickup with one set of wheels on these dots right after he had a vasectomy
To those of you referring to these as "Bott's Dots"...the OP'S obstacle was NOT the invention of Elbert Botts. Botts' lane dividers are nearly flush with the road surface and are used for their reflective character...not a barrier. Elbert was a very good friend of my brother in law in L.A.
The thing the OP ran over is about the size of Dolly Parton's breasts, only more rigid and non- compressible. Being from North Carolina, I had never encountered them before and I ran over one many years ago, while riding my motorcycle in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area, thinking they were deformable and compressible. I immediately learned that they are not. Neither was my wheel. Buying a new cast wheel for a BMW motorcycle is almost as painful as buying a new one for a Corvette.
I see plenty of these Bott Dots around DFW. They are a huge pain in the a** and you actually have to either get into the turn lane before they start, or try to carefully drive between them to enter the lane. I've never understood why they are so aggressively designed, with some of them being a good 4 inches tall.
I can also say, that no wheel would be warranted for hitting one at the speed the OP was driving. Same applies to a 4 inch pothole, the curb, etc. This would take the equivalent of an off-road vehicle to happily absorb that hit, of which the Corvette is not.
Warranty claim no, insurance claim yes.
Its just a cheaper substitute for a concrete curb.
""Guess what? The Chevy dealer called me today and said NOTHING will be covered under warranty. Surprise surprise. I was pissed to say the least.""
You need to get a Ford Taurus with high profile tires. Driving a high performance sport car costs far more then a Honda Civic. You can't deliver the performance we crave in a sports car and tank like construction you seem to crave. You have insurance, use it!
Several years ago, I was driving my Porsche 996 Twin Turbo at about 65 MPH on a recently completed and fully opened freeway around our city. I flew across an overpass after exiting a curve at speed. There was a sharp lip at the leading edge of the overpass, impossible to see soon enough, across both lanes, shoulder to shoulder, that was nearly 4" high...UNMARKED! No sign, no warning...nothing. My car literally felt like it left the ground. Result: 4 bent rims, 4 flat tires. Everything else was ok.
I pulled to the shoulder behind THREE other vehicles with similar problems. The state bought me 4 new rims and 4 new tires.
It never occurred to me that it was Porsche's fault.
04-23-2015, 07:36 AM
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