Flat Spot On Alloy

[freeman3030]

Hi,

I don't know if this is a common problem or not...

My steering wheel trembles when travelling at 40 mph and becomes more of a shudder when travelling 70 mph, so much so that the whole car shudders. Scary!

Anyway, i to a local garage (not a Ford garage) as I thought it was just the wheel balancing. After a good 2 hours, they phone me and said that the alloy itself has a flat spot on it. Possibly from hitting a speed bump or pot hole. Does this happen? And also where do I stand?

I bought my car from a Ford Dealer about 7 months ago, but unfortunately it's 150 miles away... a bit too far to travel.

Would my local Ford dealer be able to help as not only have I not had the car for 1 year yet, but it's still under warrantee as its 58 plate. I don't want to go in claiming that they should fix it under warrantee if I'm not entitled to it.

Is the wheel made of a soft metal? And have other people have been having problems with their wheels or has been a re-call or something? I find this bizarre as this has never happened to me before with any previous cars.

I don't really know where I stand, any advise?

[orcomma]

Hi,

I don't know if this is a common problem or not...

My steering wheel trembles when travelling at 40 mph and becomes more of a shudder when travelling 70 mph, so much so that the whole car shudders. Scary!

Anyway, i to a local garage (not a Ford garage) as I thought it was just the wheel balancing. After a good 2 hours, they phone me and said that the alloy itself has a flat spot on it. Possibly from hitting a speed bump or pot hole. Does this happen? And also where do I stand?

I bought my car from a Ford Dealer about 7 months ago, but unfortunately it's 150 miles away... a bit too far to travel.

Would my local Ford dealer be able to help as not only have I not had the car for 1 year yet, but it's still under warrantee as its 58 plate. I don't want to go in claiming that they should fix it under warrantee if I'm not entitled to it.

Is the wheel made of a soft metal? And have other people have been having problems with their wheels or has been a re-call or something? I find this bizarre as this has never happened to me before with any previous cars.

I don't really know where I stand, any advise?

A quick search of this forum would yield the answer to most of your questions. The Titanium alloys (i suspect you have a titanium?) are notoriously easy to buckle aka "develop a flat spot".

Taking it back to the ford dealer won't help, unless you intend to buy a new alloy from their parts department, as it's not covered under warranty. Ford classify it as damage caused through improper driving. Make of that what you will. I personally have had to pay for a new wheel because of buckling on my Titanium, but I'm just glad the wheel buckled and not the struts.

If you don't want to pay £150-ish for a new wheel, there are many companies (a google will help you here) that offer repair of buckled wheels for around the £50 mark. I can't recommend this method though as it usually weakens the wheel.

Hope this helps. Do a search of the forum to find out more about buckled wheels on the fiestas

[freeman3030]

Is it a danger to drive with a buckled wheel?

[Stewie316]

I would think the alloy would only get worse and not the safest route with the condition of our roads. Your best bet is sadly to replace it unless you know exactly where you did it and force the council to pay for it.

Drive safe and dodge those pot holes! :)

[orcomma]

Is it a danger to drive with a buckled wheel?

Totally depends on the level of damage, without seeing it I can't give my opinion. What I would say is if the tyre is losing air, i'd avoid driving on it for defo.

[Viperzs]

Ford won't replace a wheel under warranty as it was not their fault it was damaged. Think of it as claiming for a paint defect after having the car keyed :)

It's unfortunate and I know exactly how you feel as 3 of my 17" Street pack allows are buckled on my ZS and I experienced similar to you with regards to the wheel wobble etc.

[freeman3030]

I understand, but I do find it odd that in all the past cars I have, my families cars etc. We have never had this problem. We drive on the same roads every day and never has a wheel buckled, so I find it odd that quite a few people with fiestas have been getting buckled wheels. I took my car to my local dealer yesterday, they stuck it in the garage a 3 out of my 4 wheels are buckled. Now, I can understand one wheel... But three? This is clearly a manufacturing default and (in my opinion) ford should rectify this issue. I rang the place where I got it from and after about 10/15 minutes of being grilled, he's sending out a man to have a look at them. It's actually made me quite dislike fords, won't be buying another!