In Edinburgh, in fact anywhere, I'm ultra-careful about avoiding these menaces. Around 4 weeks ago I came across a complete blinder on a dual carriageway just before a roundabout and gave the n/s front a sickening cracker. Never thought to check it out further until yesterday when creaking started Thanks to Dante Giacosa whose trusty headtorch came to the rescue we discovered this


compared with the other side





So one new tie-rod and a trackrod end later the offending articles are on display


The tracking is redone and the balancing too (thrown in, nice touch for new customer) but they discover front rim is too badly distorted to be able to balance so they swap front and rear.

So I also have to find a replacement for this



I'm claiming against the council for this.

Although I didn't take a photo at the time I see it listed on FixMyStreet.

I don't see these rims available at all - has anyone had wheels rebalanced or "trued"? Is it reliable?

Wheel Genie in Huntingdon have straightened several pot hole damaged wheels for me. I would say that a reputable company will do this reliably.

18 months ago I hit a small excavation in the middle of the A14 on the way to Cambridge. Bent the front strut, damaged the internal valving, turned the wheel into a rugby ball, and put a bulge in the tire!!!

That's quite a bit of damage. Good you sorted it.
I always thought that your wheels were blades. I need glasses.

If the pothole has now been fixed request a Freedom of Information from the council for the road repairs on the road it happened and in particular that pothole. You can then use the evidence which they provide towards your claim. I did a few years ago and won. There are guidelines from the Government regarding potholes but each council has different procedures which the majority of the time are different from the government because of budgets etc. If they haven't complied then you have a case. All will be revealed from the FOI

Crikey. Was that not pulling to one side?

Bloody hell, that's taken a knock. You could do with getting around the rest of the car as I doubt you'll have only bent the rack end.

Poor BB

Good shout Richie, I'll certainly arm myself with this.


Well they were supposed to give it an inspection and they come with a high recommendation from a forum member - but it's always worth a second ask.
What sort of other places would they look at?

I think it'll be a front end thing only

Ed- I used a place (that I used to use for work) in Eskbank to 'straighten' a wheel on my parent's mazda a few years back.
It was a similar story- I couldn't see anything wrong with the rim, but a local well known tyre fitting place had said it had gone oval.

Pentland Tech at Esbank made it circular again!

http://www.pentlandtech.com

It's the sort of thing you can preliminary inspect yourself.

You'd be looking for signs of movement in joints. So that'd be wishbone mountings, bottom ball joint, and the strut bottom mounting bolts. You'd also want to check that bolts are still tight with a spanner.

If that all checks out then look for bent wishbones, uprights, subframe, etc. There's no scientific method as such, you'd just reference the other side using a steel rule to exaggerate lines.

There is a web site that lists the procedures for claiming i used it and succesfully got the cost to replace a damaged tyre!

It involves reporting the hole to the council
Requesting info using FOI
Also best to get some pictures of it just for amo

This is one of the emails i sent

Dear Sir/Madam

Under the general requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would be grateful if you would provide the following information in relation to Rushton rd, Desborough, and in particular the section at grid ref n 52.43002 w 0.77857

Google map Link https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=n+52.43002+w+0.77857&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x487775f3e2625d25:0x3783e75e1ebe6ccc,n+52.43002+w+0.77857&gl=uk&ei=tsnvUuCsCo-V7Abli4CICA&ved=0CCwQ8gEwAA

Dates of all safety inspections undertaken on the carriageway in the two years preceding the date of your incident
Details of all carriageway defects identified during safety inspections in the two years preceding your incident
Details of how carriageway safety inspections are undertaken, including whether walked or driven, the speed of the inspection vehicle and the number of persons in the vehicle.
The intended frequency of carriageway safety inspections.
Details of all complaints and/or enquiries relating to the carriageway, received in the two years preceding your incident.
The hierarchy classification.
The road/section number.
The defect intervention criteria adopted in relation to the identification of all categories of carriageway potholes (in other words, this means how they define a pothole as requiring attention)
The time period(s) adopted between identification and repair (temporary and permanent) of all categories of carriageway defects.
Whether or not the authority has formally adopted all or part of the standards contained within the national code of practice for highways maintenance management.

Im certain this is the site i used http://www.potholes.co.uk/claims/how_to_claim

Dont forget to keep receipts

Good luck

Driving on roads these days for me in Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Dunbartonshire is like a video game of avoiding pot holes which gives your points ( Not having to spend money )

Bad luck Simon, hope you manage to make a successful claim & get things straightened out.

Not of any help to you but the roads in Inverness are some of the worst potholed in Scotland. I've went through numerous suspension parts on my daily hack over the years which should've lasted way longer.

Chin up old boy, think of the North of Scotland run....

Thanks very much chaps for all your bons mots

Things have moved remarkably quickly, on the rim repair front at least. On a whim an extra-early rise this morning found me at the recommended wheel specialist by 0815 where a lovely chap talked me through the issue and had the wheel whipped off and put on the balancer rightaway.

Luckily the wheel was not buckled which would have been curtains - it had a slight high slot and a wee kink on the back rim which usually gets the first damage being away from the spokes.

They heat it until a bit malleable then ease it back into shape.

No problem, just left it there and bussed into work, collected again at lunchtime

They even swapped the rear and front tyres back to where they were originally - best on the back (there you go Barnacle ) at no charge.

Got a photo of the repaired area of carriageway where the pothole had been on the way back - the new tarmac patch is about 3 square metres

Now for the paperwork.....

Good result. Did the paint get damaged at all?

There was a post by Nismo about a wheel refurb company. There are videos on there site which demonstrate such as what you have had done.

Not really although the wheel bolt holes tend to take a bit of scraping from the socket when removing

The new balance weights stuck on are a bit ugly though as they're silver.....on black.

I followed this up and have an acknowledgement from the cooncil of my request. Did you have to pay a fee for yours as they are saying this might happen in some circumstances.....

Hi Edinburgh! not 100% but im fairly certain i didn't!
In fact the more i think about it im 99.9% certain i didn't
I sent them a copy of the replacement tyre invoice and they paid for the cost of the tyre but not valve and balance
I had to fill in forms and they were council specific so possibly some councils use it to try and put people of claiming

Surely if/when you are successful you get the fee back!
From what you described earlier, and provided you follow through the claim forms ok, it should be a no-brainer!

Cheers, they have to reply within 20 days

It wouldn't surprise me if this cooncil started down the same route, though having said that I would have thought an insider might have leaked it by now.

I knew by the impact noise this was a deep one and the size of the repair - about 3 square metres - speaks for itself.