Wheel experts, how bad is this damage?

[targatuesday]

Had a blowout yesterday. Managed to get the car of the road quickly. A few minor scuffs on the wheel face rim. Some road rash on the backside of the rim.

Is this damage serious enough to have a professional wheel repair shop deal with it? Or is this something I can safely file & sand smooth?

Wheels are TUBE TYPE Fuchs 15x6 dated 1168 which is consistent with the paperwork for my car stating the dealer installed a set of Fuchs they had on-hand on the car before the first owner took delivery. COA says car was built with steel wheels .

Scheduled to drive the car to Monterey in a few weeks. If I need a pro repair who is trusted to work on these Fuchs? Someone recommended Pete the Fuchs Guy. Anyone know how to get ahold of him?

I'm thinking about going with Pirelli CN36 185/70 as replacement tires. Anyone had good luck with these on the older TUBE TYPE Fuchs wheels?

[blucille]

Contact Ed at fuchs restoration. He’ll check it out for you and get the wheel back to you quickly.

[Tom F.]

Any idea what caused the blowout?

[Noah]

Looks like he hit a curb. I would dismount the tire, deburr the chewed up parts, make sure the bead surface is smooth, and spin it on a wheel balancer to make sure the rim isn't bent. If it spins true, and the tire seals to the bead, you're fine.

[Haasman]

Maybe the technical answer is Xray it, since hidden fissures dont always appear. Short of that, our member Harvey Weidman has worked on many of these wheels. I would trust what Harvey says and drive on it.

Weidman's Wheels (530) 534-7903 weidmanwheel@sbcglobal.net

[targatuesday]

Any idea what caused the blowout?

No clue. The car was acting a bit tail happy about 10 mins leading up to the loss of pressure. Kept thinking something wasn’t quite right then POW!

Looked over the tire tread area for a puncture but didn’t see anything obvious.

[targatuesday]

Thanks for all the comments and recommendations. Wheels are in the hands of “Pete the Fuchs guy” being repaired and refurbished. Will be trying the Pirelli CN 36 tires when the wheels come back. Fingers crossed.

[Chris Romney]

If your "car was acting a bit tail happy about 10 mins leading up to the loss of pressure" I'd bet your tire pressure was already low. The heat caused by the friction of the low pressure when combined with the 90 plus degree temps in Phoenix this time of year could have easily caused your tire to blow. It's not unlike the situation with Ford Explorers in the 90's where they recommended a tire pressure in the mid 20's which led to blowouts, rollovers and lawsuits.