Every year a group of my friends meet in a cabin in Wisconsin for a guys weekend away from the wives and girlfriends. I moved from Illinois to Minnesota last April and ended up buying a truck to get me through the winter. Well, Thursday night, I packed up my truck for an early departure on Friday, but when I got up on Friday, it was a beautiful day so I decided to take the Crossfire instead. I headed down I-94 and everything was going great until the last two turns to get to the cabin, which was the last half mile of the trip. As I made the last couple of turns, my TPMS light came on, but I didn't notice the car handling any different so I just figured that my tire pressure was a little low. When I pulled into the driveway, I started unloading my car and smelled a little burnt rubber, so I checked my tires. I checked the rear tires first and they were fine, but when I got to the front tires, BOTH were flat!

Knowing what a pain it is to find tires for the Crossfire (especially in rural WI), I immediately started calling different tire shops looking for tires and guess what, I found a Farm & Fleet that could have 2 Cooper tires ready for me first thing Saturday morning. I told them I would take the tires and the called AAA to arrange a tow on Saturday morning to get them installed. After talking with AAA, I got a call back from Farm & Fleet saying that they had made a mistake and wouldn't be able to get the tires until Tuesday morning, and being that I HAVE TO be at work on Monday morning, that just wouldn't work. I ended up calling a buddy that works at a shop in Chicago and he was able to find a couple Goodyear Eagle F1s and buy them for me at cost. Luckily, there were a couple of guys coming up from Chicago this morning that lived close, so he bought the tires and threw them in the back of their truck.

So, the guys arrived this morning, with my tires and my car was towed to Farm & Fleet, and all was good. They took my car back to put the tires on and after about 15 minutes, I hear them page me and I figured that they didn't realize the Crossfire had the larger, low profile tires and that they weren't going to be able to install them, but I was wrong. Instead, they walked me back into the shop and showed me my wheels...both of them had inch long cracks on the back side of the rim with a 1/8" gap. I was and am still amazed because I didn't remember hitting anything that would have cracked my rims, especially in that last half mile of my trip when the TPMS light came on. Well, after talking through my options, I was told that I likely wouldn't be able to get the new rims until Wednesday morning, so I got on the phone and called AAA again. Knowing that the Crossfire doesn't have a spare and that finding the right tires can be a pain, earlier this year, I had signed up for the Premiere Plus AAA plan which includes one free 200 mile tow a year and I ended up using that today. I had my crossfire towed 233 miles from Wisconsin to Minnesota and it's now sitting in my driveway with two flat tires and two cracked rims.

This is now my second and third cracked rim! The first one came a couple of years ago after hitting a pothole and I knew as soon as I hit it that I was going to have damage to the rim, but this time, I really don't know what I hit or what caused it. I'm wondering if the rims just aren't very durable...

Needless to say, the past two days have been very trying days for myself and my Crossfire. This is the first time in 5 1/2 years I've considered selling the Crossfire and getting something that I feel comfortable taking on road trip.

I apologize for the long post, but I had to vent!

 

I feel your pain, brother. But so far as I know, these rims are as good as most. For the replacement cost they should be!

 

This is not normal wear and tear. Call your insurance company. They should chip in if they determine something was hit and caused it.

 

Sorry to hear about your less-than-stellar getaway!

BUT, Oneforty, you are overreacting !

I put on about 70K miles between the 2 cars collectively & have had to replace but one wheel (on the Coupe, about a 1/4 crack) so your issue is not normal.
And that was after hitting one giant-***'d pothole!

For future reference, if you ever get into a bind with tires and your cabin is somewhere around Central WI. I'd be more than willing to get you in touch with one of our company's tire Advisors & get you the tires you need & help them figure out someway they could get them to you or you to them.
We own 7 Tire & Service Centers scattered around between Medford on the north, Wi. Rapids on the south & Point in the east.
BTW, we'll beat anyone's price on any tire, period (shameless plug intended!).
PM me, if you'd like a contact number for future reference.

That goes for any other member stuck in this part of the state!

Beyond that, if you're fed up with the OEM wheels there are plenty of alternatives available out there.

IMO, you just had one lousy coincidence occur!

 

You are not over-reacting, but I can feel your pain and frustration. Any of driving in the Midwest have to face the fact that the roads are in terrible shape from mid-winter to late spring, when the road crews finally patch them. I94 is especially crappy due to all the truck traffic. I spend most of my driving swerving across my lane avoiding chewed up pavement and pot holes. At least it keeps me awake on long drives.

I have 17" on my Audi and have replaced two tires after hitting pot holes -- fortunately the rims were not damaged. This is my winter driver, so it sees the worst roads.

My two XFs are only out in the summer and therefore are spared the worst of the roads. As far as I can tell, both have good rims and surprisingly, good rubber. I think I have enough rear tread on my roadster (currently 32k miles) to get through this summer and the fronts are maybe 1/2 worn.

I doubt it was a manufacturing defect -- just bad luck in hitting a pothole or bad expansion joint the wrong way at high speed. Good luck.

 

There is one thing that would be interesting - are the tires that were on there ruined? It would be interesting to know if they still hold air. Here's what I'm thinking.

If they are not ruined but do not hold air, the rims may have been cracked after the flats while you were driving on them.

But I'm guessing the tires were ruined by driving on them flat. And because of that don't hold air. Still, I would look for evidence of a puncture in the tires. It's hard to imagine getting cracks in two wheels.

I wonder if the tire shop broke them trying to dismount the tires? If they don't have experience with the very low profile tires and wide rims they could very well damage the wheel trying to mount/dismount a tire....

 

Actually, one of the tires has a pretty good gash in it and won't hold any air and the other one holds air, but has a bubble the size of a raquetball on the sidewall. It's still sitting in my driveway with my two new tires in the seats while I decide what to do.

 

Wow, I feel your pain! Another reason why I don't miss driving around up there after living in Minnesota for 14 years.... Good luck with everything!

 

If your sidewall has a bubble in it than you must have hit something. I guess that is good news, since it helps confirm the fact that the wheels aren't defective. But Just a heads up, Many members have problems with these wheels... here's a thread.

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ght=bent+wheel

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles 140.6

I once hit a deer in my beater going 80mph on I-94 in Wisconsin. I vaporized the deer, tore up my radiator, and had to get my car towed 170 miles from Oakdale to my doorstep. Towing cost was $350 - I feel your pain!!

Not sure what to say about the cracked rims, but this may be a good time to consider changing out for some new wheels

 

You should turn this potential negative situation into a positive. Consider a set of quality aftermarket wheels. That would REALLY annoy me if my wheels cracked, so no you definitely aren't acting unusual. I will say that I;ve heard to this happening to crossfires. I suppose the wheels may be a bit too brittle.

 

Thanks for all the responses! I think I've come up with a solution and I think someone else on this forum might have done the same thing or was at least talking about it. While I love the look of the wheels, I'm thinking of going with smaller rims (17s & 18s) and getting a little more sidewall. I'm not looking for a drastic change, just a little more cushion. My only concern is how it will look. I know I should be more concerned with function over fashion, but I fell in love with the looks of the stock crossfire and want to keep it as close to stock as possible.

With that being said, has anyone gone to smaller rims with bigger sidewalls? If so, do you have any pictures to share? Thanks!