C7BlackOnBat

Had blowout the other night while driving home, and the damage is like nothing I've ever seen before. For reference, the tires only have about 14.7k miles on them.

So when it happened I pulled over safely, and took a peak at the tire (right rear). From what I could tell the tire was in good shape. Road was clear of debris and potholes. At this point i'm completely confused.

As the tires were run flats and I had less than 5 miles, I was able to drive it safely home. I attempted to air up the tire to see if i can find where the hole was, and air was coming out of the wheel/tire as fast as my air compressor could send it. As the lighting in my garage wasn't the best I didn't spend a lot of time looking around.

Next morning drive to my local discount tire (about 8 miles) to have them check out the tire, and replace it if needed. They don't have that size tire in stock, so won't touch the car until the new tire arrives. Okay, sure, tire ordered.

I get a call this morning hoping to hear that my vette was ready to hit the road. Instead I'm connected to one of the sales guys who seems to be amazed at what had happened. He described the issue as if "someone had shot the wheel with a gun". This left me scratching my head. He tells me that they can't mount a tire on this wheel and that I needed to come down and let them know what to do about this.

I get to discount and they walk me over to the car and show me what they meant. And i'll be damned, there are two holes in the rim facing the center of the wheel.

So, I'm posting this to see if anyone else has ever ran into this issue, just in general, or, if there is any history of these wheels being 'weak'?

Larry/car

I would have the whole wheel assembly inspected to determine cause. Maybe you were shot at?

Rave

I see the blow out in the top of the tire (1st photo), but your 2nd photo is a bit tough to recognize. Are those holes in the wheel or the tire?

Walt White Coupe

That is very unusual. Looks to me like you hit something that had two long "spikes" in it that went threw the tire and the wheel barrel. I have no idea what that might have been.

owc6

That was my first thought as well. Are there two holes in the tire itself?

C7BlackOnBat

That is inside the wheel.

I'm just as clueless.

Needless to say, the car is going to be getting some new shoes... yay...

ExRedRacer

Seems like had it been something you ran over in the road, it would have punctured your front tire as well. Have you checked wheel-well and the rest of the underside of the car for similar damage from a possible ricochet or whatever it was?

Keep us posted...

C7BlackOnBat

I haven't yet, but will tomorrow when the wheel/tire is removed. I'll also grab more pictures as I can.

Maxpowers

Wow... Based on the second pic something hit your tire/rim hard. I hope it wasn't a bullet. I'm no gun expert but I can't imagine what would create two breaches that close together while the car was in motion. You didn't hear something smashing up under the wheel well? Glad this situation didn't turn out worse.

C7BlackOnBat

There was an initial loud bang, then the flapping sound of the tire. wheel well looks mostly okay from what i can tell.

BobBass

Whatever you "encountered," be glad it was on the wheel/tire, not your WINDSHIELD.

BTW, the bullet theory seems a stretch to me. Even if it was an armor-piercing round, I can't imagine a bullet piercing a tire and continuing on with enough energy to do that kind of damage to a wheel.

There are probably ballistics experts out there who will opine on this.

Boucherman

Tire looks like a single bullet entry wound. Inner wheel shows twin exit wounds. Check inside if tire and wheel area for lead fragments. The steel cord in the tire could have split the bullet resulting in two exit wounds, OR a tumbling bullet could have dinged two spots close to each other.

Without the Zapruder film, we might never know. It's up to the Warren Commission to determine the real truth.

Make sure that you don't have any unpaid debts to any Big Hairy Italian guys.

My apologies to any Italians offended by this.


Good Luck.

tennblkc6

the tire didn't actually separate like a retread so this was more than likely coming from the object that caused the damage.

Scruff Vette

That is just ! Never seen anything like it.

Can not see how it would have been a gunshot. The bullet would have had to been shot at almost road level to enter the tire at that angle, (couldn't do it straight down) penetrate the tire carcass & steel belts and the bullet fragments would then have had to retain enough energy to exit through a cast or forged wheel barrel.

My guess would be something like a solid spike like object similar to the strips LEOs use to blowout a car's tires to stop it.

Dif

IMO you hit a metal Rod of some kind and long enough that when it went into the tire, it was long enough to break through the wheel at the same time.
And it broke through the barrel of the wheel twice before you stopped.

As Tennblkc6 mentioned, you're not going to hear a Run Flat flapping unless it was shredded and part of the tire was hanging off.
The flapping noise came from the object that punctured the tire and Wheel.

PS: was typing while Scruff Vette already posted

TEXHAWK0

You can see the edge of the opening in the wheel, and it looks very thin. Maybe just a defect in the wheel that failed when impacted by whatever penetrated the tire.

rmorin1249

I think you encountered the "Devil's Pitchfork". Glad you are OK and didn't lose control of the car.

Mister Big

That's my guess too. Here's what happened to my BMW last year when I hit an open-end wrench. It didn't cause any damage to the inner part of my rim but it's possible it could have if it was longer.

brooklync5

That's just crazy. Good thing your ok and the damage wasn't worse.

Walt White Coupe

I think you hit a broken portion of a lawn rake that fell off the back of a landscapers truck.