I managed to have a little incident at the weekend in the wifes furby and damaged the rim protector on Vredestein SporTrac3s (they have a lovely wide one that does indeed stick out past the rim slightly) by hitting a patch of black ice on the entrance to our cul-de-sac at around 5mph. The rim protector has had a piece gouged out (about the width of a 20p) but has not damaged to the side wall of the tyre. I am concerned that it does form part of the tyre side wall so will get them replaced.

However, the wife needs the car for the rest of the week for work. She does single carriage way to work at around 30mph. Will she be ok with this whilst I order up some new tyres for the front?

I have had a look at the suspension and it all looks ok (know noticable deflections or bent bits!) but probably will have smacked the tracking out.

I am annoyed with myself as I had a momentary lapse of concentration as I knew I was only 200yds from home The tyres do need doing anyway but probably had another 1000-1500miles usage on them before they got to the 2.5mm limit (That is what I set as the limit).

In all honesty tyres need 3mm minimum in this weather. I would have the tyres down now, and have the tyre folk advise on the rim protector. Hvae tracking checked at the same time

Earliest we can get an appointment with the local tyre place is tomorrow morning. Tracking will be checked and get them to advise on tyre.

I will be ordering some new Vreds over the next couple of days but just seeing if I can get her through without having to faff with the spare.

She got a lift into work today and only needs it for 2 more days as we will be using my car over the holiday period

Rim protectors are there for just that. If you look, all the rim protector is, is a large bead of rubber with nothing in it.

As long as you've not damaged the side walls themselves you will be just fine, IMHO.

If you take it to a tyre place without an appointment, they will be able to tell you safe or not safe, with just a look so should be able to fit it in.

Throw a big bag of spuds in the boot and you'll find much improved grip.

Throw a big bag of spuds in the boot and you'll find much improved grip.

Used to find in the bad old days of Badly Made Cars ( driving the rears) that putting the weight in the rear footwell helped a bit more .Only time I found over the rear axle was on RWD vans ( ones that had the handbrake on the front,as the rear was way too light ).

I took a tyre with rim protection damage to the local tyre place, they looked at it and said it was fine. The rim protector is there to be damaged and does not form part of the tyre structure. The damage I had was a large cut and a flappy bit of rubber, not nice cosmeticaly but structurally it was sound. Tyre went on to do another 25K miles before I changed it due to wear.