tires slipping on the rim?

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Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
And just so everyone who is following this thread understands:

What I am describing is NOT the tire slipping on the rim. What I am describing is the tire wearing the rim flange away and creating small shards of metal that create a kind of crunching sound as the vehicle rolls.


We have observed this in our service vans at very near maximum GVWR. The bead may have been manufactured wrong or worn down, but the noise was bizarre, sort of like a brush on the sheet metal.
 
My ATS awd is in with this exact issue right now. What was the resolution you got from your dealer? I have a 1,000 mile road trip in 2 weeks so this is making me nervous.
 
Originally Posted By: Alicat
My ATS awd is in with this exact issue right now. What was the resolution you got from your dealer? I have a 1,000 mile road trip in 2 weeks so this is making me nervous.


First, the issue is merely an esthetic one - noise. I have never heard of any other issue associated with this.

Second, I have not heard of a true resolution. That is why I suspect the problem is related to the heat treatment of the wheels. I have heard that switching to some other brand of tire works, but that doesn't seem to be a coherent fix as this makes no sense in the big scheme of things - that is, only certain brands of tires ought to be problem children, and the problem seems to be more a case of a specific vehicle being involved rather than a particular brand of tire.

And lastly, I strongly suspect the reason why Cadillac seems to be involved more is partially because of the old GM philosophy - To use the shotgun approach to these types of problems, instead of being methodical (which is odd because at the corporate level, methodical is their middle name.) I suspect if they were to go after wheels (which are very expensive), they would quickly discover which wheels don't have this problem, and they could trace this back to certain suppliers/plants/heat treatments.

An aside note: I have noted that Americans tend to use the shotgun approach quite frequently - a simple straight to the heart of the problem. While this approach is efficient, it sometimes misses the after affects. In this case, the approach is towards getting the customer out the door - and when he returns with the problem unresolved, another quick fix is applied, and out the door the customer goes again. Usually the customer gets angry when the second fix doesn't work and never returns - and the problem solvers think they have fixed the problem - and they would be oh so wrong!
 
OP Update: No resolution was ever reached with this issue. Cadillac corporate gave me the proverbial finger by offering me a "complimentary" tire warranty package IF I paid the $1000+ to have the dealer put new tires on.

Given the problems that I'd had with the vehicle, this was the last straw. My local BMW dealer offered me an aggressive trade-in value and worked a deal that got me into a low-mileage 2013 335i xDrive.
 
Originally Posted By: barlowc
My local BMW dealer offered me an aggressive trade-in value and worked a deal that got me into a low-mileage 2013 335i xDrive.


Excellent move! You'll never look back.
 
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