Ford Fiesta Alloy Wheels - Have You Had Buckled Alloy Wheels, Or Know Somebody Who Has? Let's Get Something Done About It!

[Hjalle]

Here is the latest update to my little alloy story

I phoned the Ford Australia call centre where they sympathised with me and told me to take my car down to my local dealer and get them to have a look at it - So I took my car down today and had it looked at (with a stupid charge! I was told to take it to them and the car has been serviced there since new and they couldn't give me 10 minutes of them time! Ridiculous.) and they lifted the car up and spun the wheels by hand. The guy came out and got me took me out to my car and spun all 4 alloys for me and said 'to our eyes they look fine' where the apprentice piped in and said 'no I think this front one is a little off'.

So I asked them to write down on my invoice, front left alloy buckled' and what I got was. 'Car lifted, all 4 alloys ok. Slight buckle in L/F barely noticeable. I took my fistful of invoices/ quotes down to the local council ready to make my claim and finally get this stupid problem sorted where the lady behind the desk drops the lovely bombshell of 'the personal excess for claims is $1295AUD/ 760 pounds'. A new alloy costs $1000AUD/ 590pounds or a reroll costs me $150/ 90pounds neither of which I want to pay.

Cheers for your rubbish quality and rubbish service Ford. Im going to need to strongly consider buying another Ford product in the future, if this is the best you can do.

[cuke]

Hi, saying you won't buy another ford is tad OTT. I've had Fords since 1993 and not one of the has ever buckled a wheel despite the many potholes.

[Hjalle]

Hi, saying you won't buy another ford is tad OTT. I've had Fords since 1993 and not one of the has ever buckled a wheel despite the many potholes.

This is true cuke, I was being a bit harsh. I had just gotten home from the council and wasn't happy. Just goes to show you shouldn't type when you are in the heat of the moment!

[NotAFiestaAnymore]

Hi guys

So... I've had a slightly bigger problem than just a buckle...

I drive a Fiesta Titanium 1.6l (3 door).

The insurance refuses to pay out (although I have started the dispute process) and Ford (after being car-less for three months) just decided its not their problem - my current bill to fix the damage is sitting close to R40,000 (I'm from South Africa).

Ford Germany (after analyzing the wheel) came back with the standard response they're giving everyone: there must've been an impact. The problem is there wasn't - I was turning into a road at maximum 40km/h.

I'm open to different opinions on this, but for a rim to shatter like this means that either there's a manufacturing fault; or I had to be going at least 100km/h plus and hit something... Which would mean that I would be dead now - and I'm not.

I'm here to get some more opinions on this... My concern is: how many Fiesta-related accidents have happened where the owner/driver didn't walk away from to complain about it?

[b1g_dav3]

Well that seems more of a catastrophic failure, no way should all spokes have gone like that unless you went sideways into something that grabbed the wheels outer edge all the way round, in which case there'd be damage to the car too.

Feel free to reference this, but it does seem a different thing to me. I don't doubt the soft metal plays it's role here, but that's a whole lot more serious than a buckle >.<

[b1g_dav3]

Looking back on this topic it's really clear there's a problem, with so many votes for buckled wheels it really does show there's an issue.

I recommend people show this thread when trying to argue about buckled wheels to Ford, as it's obvious it's not an 'isolated case'.

[Early-1800]

Managed to have two weeks off work and bought this months "What Car" (February?, the publishing industry seem to operate in an alternative time continuum) to pass the time. There is an article on MOT fails. It lists the top 50 fails on the 1st MOT at 3 years.

The Fester comes out mid table, however the really interesting thing is that its lists the type of fail and the Fester is 13.8% for wheels.

The vast majority of others are less than 1%, for example the equivalent Vauxhall (Corsa) is 0.50%, 27 times less. Having a quick scan through I can only see a few other cars with more than 1-2% fail for wheels and all those well under 10%, Mini 5.5%, Clio, 4.9%, C1 5.41% for examples.

So pretty conclusive proof there is a big problem with Fester wheels.

The other striking thing is that almost without fail (pun intended), 30-40% of the failures are for tyres. Even though they are easy to check (you look at them every time you get in your car) and there are high police penalties if caught with bald tyres, more than a 1/3 of the cars on the road are dangerous.....

[b1g_dav3]

Well I've not gone through a single wheel yet with my 7.5 replacement, and I've hit a couple of decent holes in this bad weather and they're fine. So seems the Mk7.5 wheels have been tweaked, which can be quite seen looking at the 2 wheels carefully, the 7.5 wheels are slightly heavier and thicker with the tyre off, and the colour of the alloys is different despite the same colour being used.

[jackgl]

I've done one alloy and tyre on mk7.5 (17" upgrade)

[Willy]

Mk7.5 17" so there not immune to buckling :(

[Imagucci]

I have had my fiesta for around 18months and I have had six buckled wheels I have now changed them to Fox wheels (FX004) and it cost me £300 for all four, new valves and studs, balanced and with my original tyres fitted and they look much better than Ford wheels. That was done at Motorsport wheels in Stockport, Manchester.

http://www.alloywheelsmanchester.com/

[BryBake]

Yes I have a Fiesta (13 reg) with 16x6.5inch wheels. No (touch wood) they're not damaged, yet (so far as I know).

Before retirement I worked for Ford After Sales service and have quite a lot of experience in dealing with service Concerns, we used to call them service Problems but legislation pressures changed that. The chain of interest goes:

Customer

Dealer

Service Rep (me)

Sales Operation

Engineering/Manufacturing/Purchase - depends on the component in question

Finance

Everybody seems to have a different axe to grind and, all too often, they all want to pass the responsibility onwards.

The difficulty in getting the 'concern' moved up the chain is in convincing the next step up that there is justifiable reason and to do that one has to gather enough evidence and enough incidence. In the case of wheel damage there are so many possible causes, but the fundamental is what was that wheel designed to withstand? And I doubt that anyone outside of the system will be able to establish those parameters. But it is obvious that there must be limits, no wheel/tyre combination is going to withstand everything that can be handed out to it.

But if anyone is going to stand a chance of pursuing a claim then all the evidence is going to have to be supplied and, you don't have to explain, that is so very difficult as to be near to impossible. In the case of a pothole caused damage:

How deep?

How sharp the edge?

How fast?

Tyre pressure?

Tyre condition before impact?

Vehicle load?

Then we need to know:

Wheel manufacturer

Date of manufacturer

Position on the car

Tyre make & condition

Were other wheels/tyres involved?

What is being established is whether or not the failure is due to a defect in manufacture or material. Fitness for purpose? That's another can of worms

As someone previously wrote in, there are so many vehicles involved. Does anyone have any idea of the incidence?

I remember once taking a Renault Scenic in for a new tyre and being quite astonished at the amount the inner edge of the wheel rim was out of round. The tyre fitter didn't bat an eye! And I had had no sign (vibration/ steering pull etc) that there had been anything wrong.

My feeling is that the increasing incidence of this complaint is the ever increasing amount of wheel offset coupled with the wheel rim width and increasing tyre width/height ratio.

Anyway there are some 'thought starters'. Perhaps I'll go out and whip my wheels off! It is quite a nice day.

Bryan

[Russ]

In my experience alloy wheels only buckle when you hit a pothole at speed or 'rattle' over speed humps

[BryBake]

I wouldn't argue, how could I, with your comment. The question seems to hinge around 'what is it reasonable to expect a wheel/tyre to be able to tolerate?' It does seem to be on the increase though, or is it that folk are getting more demanding?

I have a 1990 car with alloys and the wheel centre is positioned much more centrally in the rim. On the Fiesta (along with most these days) the wheel centre is almost at the outer edge of the rim. To my mind any shock loading on the rim is therefore more likely to bend the inner edge out of round because the inner edge is not supported. It would be interesting to examine some of these damaged rims to see just where the damage is.

More investigation needed!

Bryan

[jace1969]

This is what i can't get,i have hit some big holes and nothing at all,no wobble etc.

Mine are the ZS ones ( x-pack upgrade ones ) on my picture on the left.

[BryBake]

Well, Jason, when you've got the time and the inclination (they rarely co-incide in my experience) try taking the front wheels off and check the inside edges to see if they are in fact still true. If they are then lucky you.

Is anyone actually gathering specific information on this, with photographs, measurements etc?

Bryan.

[jace1969]

Well, Jason, when you've got the time and the inclination (they rarely co-incide in my experience) try taking the front wheels off and check the inside edges to see if they are in fact still true. If they are then lucky you.

Is anyone actually gathering specific information on this, with photographs, measurements etc?

Bryan.

Yes i hat the front wheels off not that long ago to do my locking nuts and all look clean and true.

It was tracked about 6 months ago on one of those laser things and he said nothing about them.

[MPX309]

My front left one is buckled, and the air goes out of that tire quicker. . . I'm not sure what to do about it. I have to put air in twice a week.
If I just replace the tire (as I think that's torn) will it resolve the issue, or do I need a new tire and wheel fixed?

[Cablelad]

Both, but depends on how bad the buckle is. Plus chances are your others will buckle eventually.

I'm not a huge fan of these 40 profile tyres as every hole and uneven surface rattles my teeth, plus I'm scared of knackering the alloys. Thinking of changing to 45 profile to lighten the impact a bit and fill the arches.

Either 215/40/17 or 205/45/17..

[pedro20001]

Had my 65 plate zetec s 140 for 2 weeks and noticed a slight vibration. Looked at the wheels and lo and behold the lh fr is buckled. I am careful and avoid potholes like the plague but this has really cheesed me off. Its a sept 2015 build with 17" alloys. My 15 year old bmw z3 on original17" alloys is spot on with no problems. Not happy

[Bobr]

My last Fiesta was an 09 plate and, when it went in for its first service a year after I bought it, it came back with a report saying that both rear wheels were slightly buckled but did not need replacing.   I've been driving 63 years and have never had a buckled wheel before so it's my opinion that Ford Fiesta wheels are not fit for purpose.

[DerekAitken]

I've buckled quite a few alloy wheels. Not sure what that says about my driving lol!