Wheel Up-grades

[Tel]

Excellent recent posts on how essential Quality Kit is to prevent prevent serious/fatal accidents.

A couple of years ago I was on the Autostrada just north of Modena,Italy when I had to slow-down to c.40mph to negotiate a contra-flow that had NOT been resurfaced in the central reservation between the N & S carriageways leaving a deep split that caused a tremendous bang to the near-side under carriage.I pulled into the nearest Autogrille & amazingly there were no obvious damage i.e. wheels/tyres/suspension etc. My 18" IS 300 was fine & 3000 high-speed miles later I returned to the U.K.& booked the car in for its 10k first service where the Technician found the inside rim of both o/side 18" wheels was slightly dented & advised replacement & full geometry check which I did on my insurance.Sorted & IMHO few if any other car would have escaped relatively unscathed.

However I naturally discussed this with my Lexus/Bmw contacts & found that top quality,large alloy wheels are very prone to damage & necessitate replacement more than you would expect during a car's life and modern quality tyres/suspensions are hardly ever damaged.i.e. the large wheel acts as a fuse when hitting a pot-hole etc.Finally I was shown a Bm with 5k. of damage after hitting a pothole:2 new wheels & new interior trim:all his airbags had activated!

Good quality kit costs but it is well worth it in the long-run.

TEL