65 replies to this topic

[charlie866]

Hello Everyone..

After owning my ford fiesta zetec with titanium 16" alloy wheels, I have had two buckled front passenger wheels in the space of 2 months, which they are blaming on poor road conditions. I can understand one buckeed wheel due to road conditions, but not two in the space of 2 months..

Has anyone else had a bad experience with these particular alloys, if so how are ford dealing with it? Are they under warranty?


Thankss

Charlotte

3 Buckled alloys reported on my 2nd service on 12 feb 2011. Same conditions as last year nothings changed same old routes every day car done 20000 miles they blamed it on the potholes and road conditions just sat there while he waffled on car is 1.4 titanium with 16" wheels. First car ive ever owned with problem alloy wheels in 26 yrs of driving. Ive emailed watchdog it returns this week or next week on tv.

[PumpkinSteve]

Is it both styles of alloy (the 7-spoke and the 15-spoke) that people are having trouble with?

[Charlotte Dale]

Not sure how.many spokes nine have got.. Is these alloy complaints actually gonna be on watchdog coz i got an email yesterday saying they didnt have enough people come forward.

[lesleyg]

Hi I joined today.
I have a fiesta titanium on 09 plate, had a buckled wheel in February, today hit a pothole and the new wheel is buckled.
2 wheels in 2 months!
Have written to watchdog to add my complaint to others , will write to the council and fords, but am not holding out much hope. Feel like I just want to get rid of the car.

[Jedilard]

Hi I joined today.
I have a fiesta titanium on 09 plate, had a buckled wheel in February, today hit a pothole and the new wheel is buckled.
2 wheels in 2 months!
Have written to watchdog to add my complaint to others , will write to the council and fords, but am not holding out much hope. Feel like I just want to get rid of the car.

As mentioned earlier measure & take a picture of the pot hole and send the bill to the council.

[PumpkinSteve]

What about the other models: Focus, Mondeo, KA etc. have there been complaints from those owners too? I would assume that all of the wheels are made in the same place so maybe you will have a better chance of Watchdog taking notice if the problem is found to be across the whole range of cars.

[Charlotte Dale]

No, by the sounds of things its only the fieata 16" and 17" wheels. Its like theres a fault in design and that theinside of the alloy hasnt got enough give.. And thata why theyre breaking. My bfs got 19" alloys and drives on the same roads as me abd has bever had a buckled alloy and there even more low profile than mine. And ford is putting my buckles.down to the low profile???.

[Peejay]

We have titanium with 16" 15 spoke alloys. Noticed vibration through steering, long story short 3 buckled alloys. 500 quid insurance claim. No signs of damage externaly, no major pothole incidents. Just over 20k miles 09 plate. I've been driving 28 years, owned 15 or so cars, many with alloys. Never had a problem before. Previous car was micra with 16" and low profiles. Hit a BIG pothole which tore out the sidewall. No damage to wheel. Clearly ford alloys not fit for purpose. Will be going back to Nissan or whatever next time. No more fords for us, mainly due to the dismissive main dealer. When I asked if there was a problem with ford alloys, rep said 'oh no they're fine, but we do sell a lot of replacements'. Work it out yourself dude.

[bryfly]

What about the other models: Focus, Mondeo, KA etc. have there been complaints from those owners too? I would assume that all of the wheels are made in the same place so maybe you will have a better chance of Watchdog taking notice if the problem is found to be across the whole range of cars.

Not sure about Mondeo or KA, but a fitter did tell me that they change a lot of alloys on the Focus as well, Due to the spread coming up in the survey it could also be problems with a particular batch when Ford have these wheels manufactured or they could be using more than one manufacturer and one of them has a problem with their process, bit difficult to prove when not all seem to fail.....Need to give a failed one to an engineering department at a University as a project for the students to do a study on.Im one of the lucky ones not had a buckled wheel as yet, fingers crossed...

[Charlotte Dale]

We have titanium with 16" 15 spoke alloys. Noticed vibration through steering, long story short 3 buckled alloys. 500 quid insurance claim. No signs of damage externaly, no major pothole incidents. Just over 20k miles 09 plate. I've been driving 28 years, owned 15 or so cars, many with alloys. Never had a problem before. Previous car was micra with 16" and low profiles. Hit a BIG pothole which tore out the sidewall. No damage to wheel. Clearly ford alloys not fit for purpose. Will be going back to Nissan or whatever next time. No more fords for us, mainly due to the dismissive main dealer. When I asked if there was a problem with ford alloys, rep said 'oh no they're fine, but we do sell a lot of replacements'. Work it out yourself dude.

[Charlotte Dale]

Re above... Send an email to farin.roberts@bbc.co.uk. If they get enough ppl to notify them of this problem they can look into it further. I have sent a strong complaint letter to ford today so hopefully get a response soon.. Also when i cleaned my alloys yesterday.. Paint is flaking off?? Anyone had this??

[PumpkinSteve]

I haven't even got my Fiesta yet but I'm worried about the alloys buckling as I live out in the country and the roads are absolutely terrible. If the worst does happen I've picked out replacements:



I don't think there's much point in buying more Ford alloys for the same to happen again.

[iNath]

I haven't even got my Fiesta yet but I'm worried about the alloys buckling as I live out in the country and the roads are absolutely terrible. If the worst does happen I've picked out replacements:



I don't think there's much point in buying more Ford alloys for the same to happen again.

Do they do them in 4 stud?

[PumpkinSteve]

Yeah, that's just a stock pic. The website to buy them is called Rimstyle, you select your car model and year and they send you the correct offset and PCD.

BTW, they are Borbet wheels, one of the best wheel manufacturers IMO.

[Charlotte Dale]

You should be ok as long as you dont get the fiesta titanium16" wheels. Ive wrote to ford and they sent me a response yesterday so fingers crossed...!!