smart wheels

[rickeieio]

I've been battling a slow leak in a rear tire on the smart for some time.  Nothing major, perhaps 4 days for it to lose 3 psi. I've been poking around, looking to get another pair of rears, so I can buy a full set of tires and rotate them.  Plus, many of you have said it improves handling and stability.

My search for wheels has been fruitless, so today I took the car in for new rear tires, and figured I had until winter to find two wheels, or buy new stock size front tires.  Not so.  While dismounting the tire on the "slow leaker" a chunk of the rim broke away, revealing the source of my leak.  I now have 1 new rim coming from the local smart dealer.

So, my question to y'all is, is failure of wheels common on these cars?  I've never heard it mentioned, but the failed rim is awfully thin.  Likely even thinner than cast motorcycle rims.

[sclord2002]

My wife bent  both right side wheels when she hit a bad pothole. They bent but didn't break or leak.    Charlie

[HERO Maker]

Rick, we keep telling you to use those ramps when unloading the car!!!!

I've heard of bent rims, but not broken!  Somebody needs to look at that rim to measure if it was a bad one or not.

[rickeieio]

This one had no visible signs of damage until it failed while dismounting the tire.  I suspect a lack of lubricant on the bead contributed to the failure, but it was a leaker anyway.  I'd coated the whole tire and wheel with bubble solution and couldn't find the leak.  Better to find it in the shop than on the road!

[Nuke-E]

Not sure why you'd have trouble finding wheels.  My dad picked up a pair with tires for about $50 each a while back.

It may be too late, but look here: http://car-part.com

[rickeieio]

Apparently, the wheels on our car are not common.  A search on the site above came up empty.  But the dealer had the wheel next day for $271.

Someone here had a full set of the same wheels (6 flat spoke for 2013) and I passed on them as I only wanted the rears.

[LivnCoast2Coast]

We picked up a 2008 fortwo cabriolet in 2013 for our Toad.  We tow it 4 down and have dragged it from coast to coast numerous times, up and down mountains, through cities, across deserts, not to mention the actual driving while in camp, and have never had a rim failure.  So I don't think the rims are inherently weak.  We did replace the tires themselves last year, had it done at Big O' Tires.  

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

Here is thought to think about. The wheels start out as a casting. The bad spot could have been an inclusion in the casting causing a crack to start at some time and continue to grow over time. Someone that knows failure analysis could look at the crack and failed piece showing were the part started to fail at.

Al

[HERO Maker]

Al, that's what I was thinking.  That rim had a manufacturing problem.  Unless of course Rick just launched his car off the truck without the ramps!  He's a smart guy, so don't think that happened.  But he does ride fast bikes, so you never know!

[rickeieio]

Don't tempt me with that launch talk.  You might put ideas into this youngster's head.

I believe the crack had been there for a while, as the leak was noticed a long time ago.  I had looked for it, but in spite of coating the tire and wheel with bubble juice, found nothing.  Interestingly, when the shop owner called me back to see what had happened, I noticed that his employee had not used any lubricant on the bead.  If he had, I would likely still have a cracked rim, waiting to fail somewhere at a very inconvenient time, and possibly in a dangerous place.

Two tires- about $240  One new wheel- $271 When I picked the car up with the new tires, I mentioned to the shop owner how lucky we were that the employee hadn't used lubricant.  The look on his face was priceless.