Serious pot hole damage.

[Joey spud]

I couldnt resist taking a shot of this wheel today.

 

 

This was off a 2007 Astra SRI who's driver had briefly wandered from the the 3rd lane of the M25 and towards the central barrier (just before the Orpington exit / j4) and found a big hole waiting for him.

Along with the wheel damage the front shock absorber and bottom arm were trashed too.

 

What suprised me the most is just how thin and light the centre of the wheel was,no wonder wheels bend so easily now days.

[vulgalour]

That's astonishingly worrying.

[beko1987]

Bet he shat his pants when that happened!

[KruJoe]

^ There speaks a man who knows.

 

Got the stains out yet, Beko?

[Hendry]

Holy shit!!!

 

Just how big was this pothole to rip the wheel apart like that?

[forddeliveryboy]

 If I "briefly wandered from" my local road, I'd be in the same state as that Vauxhall. It's a 400 feet drop, not a 10 inch pothole.

 

Motto - stay on the road.

[gordonbennet]

Bloody wheel doesn't stand a chance, its only got 2 elastic bands wrapped around the outside, might as well run on the soddin rims.

[Joey spud]

Thinking back i now can recall a week old 14 plate Golf hire car at the same spot earlier in the year with driverside front puncture/wheel damage.

 

When i got to it the 3 youngsters in it said they had also hit a pot hole,i had a right game jacking it up because the suspension seemed too low and my jack wouldn't go under the sill.

Anyhow when i got the busted rim off all became clear as the force of the impact had allowed the base of the shock absorber to push through the hub and tear the driveshaft gaiter off and was now resting on the outter driveshaft joint.

 

At the time i thought the hub/shock pinch bolt must have been left loose but i guess there's a real ''killer'' pot hole lurking just off the 3rd lane...

[lisbon_road]

Seems like the sort of damage that risks tripping the air bag system.

[beko1987]

^ There speaks a man who knows.

 

Got the stains out yet, Beko?

 

They've dried nicely now thanks, just about ready to pick off!

 

I still worry every now and again when the road makes the wheel wobble, or I fall into the tyre dips in L1!

[STUNO]

That is why I do not like low profile tyres, roads are not made for them, a tyre with a deeper

sidewall may have survived this.

[forddeliveryboy]

Seems like the sort of damage that risks tripping the air bag system.

 

Jeez, the thought of off-roading at 70+ totally blind. That could be dangerous, even without 50 cars in close proximity all driving at 70+. I'm ever suspicious of airbags for exactly this sort of reason, but aren't they engineered to avoid such a mistake, with sensors in the front bumper area too?

[lisbon_road]

There might be a newer generation that are that clever - I don't know.  But I think older ones would risk tripping.

 

They seem to have two levels.  There is an initial sort of prime where they get ready to go off then a second level where they actually go off.  But if they get to that first level, the light comes on and you can't switch them back.

 

That is my limited experience anyway.  I am sure there are people on here that know more.  But that must have been one big bang to damage that wheel, though I totally agree with the comment about low profile tyres.

[hairnet]

80 series tyres ftw

[twosmoke300]

Airbags need a very specific impact to set them off. On the older basic systems there are 2 impact sensors on the front chassis legs as well as a main one in the ecu which is normally bolted to the centre tunnel.

To trip the airbag it needs to sense an impact from one crash sensor and enough deceleration to trip the ecu sensor.

Inside the ecu is a sort of roller with a ribbon wire and contacts atached . With rapid deceleration this barrel rolls forward and makes electrical contact .

This is why after airbags have gone off the ecu has to be replaced.

Also inside the unit is a big capacitor which has enough capacity to deploy the bags if the battery were to get ripped out on impact. This is why you disconnect the battery for 3 mins before working on srs systems to allow the capacitor to discharge.

 

God I'm a boring bastard.

[forddeliveryboy]

Not at all. Now I want to know how the impact sensors work.

[twosmoke300]

Fuck , homework.

[forddeliveryboy]

Fuck , homework.

 

Soz.

 

Just heard they're closing the M25, from J5 clockwise to repair damage. Is this the spot, I wonder?

[Albert Ross]

900x16 Michelin Radials FTW. 34 inches tall....  for the future. (Or at the moment, 7.50x16 Goodyear 10 ply Military spec. 31.5 inches.....) Pothole? Fast lane? Nah... crawling along in lane 1.

[Richard]

My work Transit has 215/75x16 tyres, you don't even feel most potholes.

[twosmoke300]

Most impact sensors have a ball in a dampened tube. The impact knocks the ball off its seat onto a pair of contacts.

 

Can I go now sir ?😃

[forddeliveryboy]

I like information like this. I can now visualise said ball bearing and roller thingy. Goes to prove electronics need real things to work.

 

And yes, that's all for now. Thanks ts.

[twosmoke300]

I think that may be old info tho cos the more recent sensors seem too small / wrong shape to be a ball in a tube. Some sort of witchcraft I fear.

[steve_earwig]

Some sort of witchcraft I fear.

 

Took the words etc.

 

I'd go look it up but I suspect someone else is already scouring Wiki and I'll come back to find all that work wasted. Witchcraft will do for me anyway, I hate the damn things. I know they've been around for years and the only thing stopping them being fitted much sooner is all the gubbins to stop them going off, er, accidentally, but the thought of one going off in my moosh, two black eyes with maybe my specs ground into my face, thankyou but no.

[Richard]

Accelerometers would be my guess.

[Pillock]

Aye, accelerometers I believe. The can tell the ECU much more, such as levels of tilt and g-forces rather than just "I stopped quick, help".

[garbaldy]

but the thought of one going off in my moosh, two black eyes with maybe my specs ground into my face, thankyou but no.

I have never had an accident, I have had a couple of on purposes though and can safely say you only hear a loud pop and then the burning smell. No black eyes though.

I replaced a seat and curtain airbag in my nav and then reset ecu, I was a bit worried about conecting the battery back up though and fully expected a bang followed by an oops.

[steve_earwig]

I've believed what I've been told again haven't I

 

Accelerometers would be my guess.

 

Aye, accelerometers I believe.

Ahh, accelerometers, of course *nods knowingly, yet still hasn't got a clue*

[AnthonyG]

The inertia reel belt mechanism in my Hillman Avenger had a little pendulum, like a miniature grandfather clock. Apparently this is how it knew when to lock*.

 

*This may have bollocks, I was quite gullible at the age of 19!

[Pillock]

I think seatbelts still work on that very principle. One of the last known uses of the phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I bet BMW ones work with electronics and sensors and shit now I've said that.