The world is made up of "what if's" I completely agree' date=' however this problem was bound to happen, it was just a matter of time so it's not really a case of "what if" but "when", and on that logic it could of been very very costly...

[/quote']

Think you may have missed my point - I actually said the world *didn't* work on "what-ifs" rather than that it did...so yes, this problem has happened, so could have happened at a worse time. But the fact that it could have been worse does not automatically mean one can expect the reparations from the worse situation...

Rob.

If you need car setting back to standard daz give me a call

ill keep you informed.

ill keep you informed.

Big brother have probably read this on here allready..lol

bad news on the failure and i hope skoda put it right asao but giving a new car to keep it hush hush gimme a break.

when i had my 106 the door hinges on the drivers side came away from the body which resulted in the door dropping, in the most extreme circumstance i suppose this have caused me to be beheaded but it didn't so it got fixed and not worried about.

if you buy something from the shops that is past its display by date do you sue the manufacturere for potentially killing you by food poisoning??

Though other people seem to have other agenda's, I'm just sorry about this rather strange failure. Just glad your alright as the wheel could have failed at a different time with worse consequences.

Never seen anything like that before :eek: but very glad to hear that it didn't cause any injury to anyone,

I would think Skoda or VAG will want to investigate this quite quickly......I din't think there was join or mold mark on the wheels but that failure is so straight it could have been cut with a saw.

i wouldnt be a cust cotting idea would it, of a new way to creat an alloy wheel...and it didnt go to plan? hope your alright mate- lets hope it doenst happen again

it looks like a stress fracture or metal fatigue

I din't think there was join or mold mark on the wheels but that failure is so straight it could have been cut with a saw.

AFAIK the wheels are cast as one solid lump and then machined.

Demand the lot be changed over, It could be a bad batch of castings from the factory. If there interested I reckon they will want to do some NDT (Non distructive testing) on the other 3.

Not good, ask for some 19" RS4 Wheels as comp

Think they are centrifugaly cast, this shouldnt have happened

You dont happen to have speed bumps on the way to work etc!!

:eek:

:eek: How peculiar...

Hope it gets sorted for you mate.

I have every confidence in VAG to fully investigate the reason behind the failure.

bit scary! Glad your ok, cant see there being a problem getting he wheel replaced and any damaged repaired.

Before you go in guns'a'blazing with Skoda UK best that you let them find out what happen and ask for the report.

Be their friend and they will be yours

Until i saw your images, I never thought a failure such as that was possible. It's incredible, looks just like someone has taken a saw to the wheel, such a clean cut. A serious failure which I imagine will be addressed with some urgency. I'm glad to hear that you got through your experence unharmed.

Glad your ok mate that could have been very nasty, with such a safety issue

when dealing with any big company it is best I find to go in "polite but firm" regarding any problems.

Give them the opertunity to investigate. Always keep notes of who, when, date

and time you speak to anyone, keep copies of any correspondence you send and recieve.

Insist on the three remaining wheels being checked, thus ruling out the bad batch theory.

I also find that the CAB (Citizens Advice...) are very helpful with free legal advice.

In saying all that I don't think Skoda will give you any trouble here as it is clearly not in their best interest.

I think they will bend over backwards to get to the route of the problem because bad publicity from a potentially lethal fault is the last thing they will want.

Best of luck!

I think the main thing is you're ok

I should imagine as previously stated you'll get the repairs sorted regardless of whether you've invalidated your warranty.

I'd try to get a couple of free services out of them too, but then I am a tight northerner

AFAIK the wheels are cast as one solid lump and then machined.

Correct.

Think they are centrifugaly cast, this shouldnt have happened

Some are, but there are so many different techniques to cast a wheel, it would be very hard to tell without knowing the manufacturing process.

FWIW, that has failed in a very unusal way, I'd be very surprised if that is down to a manufacturing fault. Casting porosity, cracks etc will not have caused a failure as straight as that.

My personal opinion is it has been affected by an external object, my first suspect would be a stone trapped between the brakes and wheel, which has slowly machined it's way through the wheel until it reached a point where it was no longer strong enough to support the loads on it.

I'd be interested to see so close up shots of the failure face.

BTW, I am typing this as a qualified engineer, with an automotive component manufacture background.

My personal opinion is it has been affected by an external object' date=' my first suspect would be a stone trapped between the brakes and wheel, which has slowly machined it's way through the wheel until it reached a point where it was no longer strong enough to support the loads on it..[/quote']

That'd be the ARB then, he said that the mountings had failed IIRC. Therefore not a wheel fault but a piece of consequential damage.

Did your car have standard ARBs or were they uprated?

You could file a lawsuit against them or maybe even get a new vRS FOC. Would work out much cheaper for Skoda if your car is standard?

are you an american :P

ill keep you informed.

Many interested viewers, methinks. What is the current situation? I guess the wheel/car is in the garage for tests of one sort or another at the moment?

Mo

Thats nasty. doesnt sound like a pleasant thing to have happen. Its put me off buying used ones just incase.

I think you'll find they'll change all your alloys without you having to ask.

That's nuts!!!:eek:

For the first couple of pages i read i was waiting on a "had you going, what did you think of my photoshop" sort of gag. It really is unbelievable.

Skoda will be very interested in this. I wonder if it has happened to any other vRS rim anywhere. Maybe yours is the first. This may prompt a recall if a batch of wheels is found to be defective.

I have to agree with the member who said that they would need to replace all four wheels, as you would never have the confidence in the others since this has happened.

Best of luck with it.

Ps. don't let them have any reason to try and make you a contributory factor in this.

JD

Glad you are ok, look a bit mental does that.

As said I'm sure skoda will take all 4 wheels and test the others just incase, and they will fix it all up.

Regarding sueing, give it up thats crazy. Sure claim damages for actual loss or injury, but claiming for a 'what if' is crazy.

My personal opinion is it has been affected by an external object' date=' my first suspect would be a stone trapped between the brakes and wheel, which has slowly machined it's way through the wheel until it reached a point where it was no longer strong enough to support the loads on it.

I'd be interested to see so close up shots of the failure face.

BTW, I am typing this as a qualified engineer, with an automotive component manufacture background.[/quote']

Hi Martin

This was my first impression also. Maybe a stone or maybe a component failing and stickling a bit of steel out toutching the inside of the rim.

I cannot see an obvious way for such a problem to be manufacturing specific.

Chris

Ok' date=' so this is now a forum where we can never say negative things about Skoda incase we offend them? I thought this was supposed to be a discussion forum where people could air there opinions on the car/manufacturer? I do however see your point.

[/quote']

It will be interesting to see how this pans out if Skoda UK do ever take a more active interest in the site. Nothing on earth is going to make people keep their opinions to themselves just because we're "trying to be friends with Skoda". Alternatively, if the site becomes Skoda sponsored, or even owned, its usefulness as an independent indicator of owner feeling will be lost, and I believe with it, most of the long term membership.

JM2PW.

Daz - apologies for the off-topic post - glad to hear you're OK and only a damaged car to worry about.