Wife and I bought 04 Xa in July 04, we love the car. We payed way too much money for 18x7.5 Enkeis with 215 35 18 Pirellis.
To date, we have had THREE TIRE BLOWOUTS!!!

Dealership/Pirelli/Scion Corporate are willing at most to give us 15" standard rim and that's it.
Has anyone heard of this or has had same problem?
Thinking about taking them to court.

Also, tire rotations every 5k, check tire pressure at LEAST 5-6 times a week, pressure kept at 35.
Any thing would help, aside from pity.

Thanks!!!

______

 

Also, each blowout has been a rear tire 4-7 days after rotation, so had I have been a lil lazy or just forgot, blowout would have been in front. And I know that would have been a nightmare.

 

you could have some peice of plastic or metal jutting out from inside your fenderwell

 

that could very well be. Did you file down the little spur that rubs when you put on a rim that is 7.5" wide? I know that when we've put 17x7.5 on it rubs the rim. We've had to file that down. Now no problem. check it out.

 

Actually, these rims & tires were put on the car by the dealer. It was one of the options when we bought the car. Reason I bought through dealer is because I am not mod savvy.

 

Actually, the inside sidewall is where the puncture is. Pretty much right in the middle. Almost like the think stretched and then just popped open.

 

^^ you may have miss understood,
check to see if there is something sticking out of your fenderwell, just take the wheel off, and then check the tub thing beahind the fender.
that is the only reason i could think of for three blowouts in arow in the same general area

 

Yea I am kinda of confused. If its the wheel-well you're talking about then it doesnt make sense to me. Because again the punctures have been on the inside sidewall, not the outside that faces away from the car. And please, if you could word it different for me I would appreciate it. I always need explainations broken down "Barney-style" for me, I guess I'm just narrow-minded.

Mostly, I want to see if anyone else bought the same Enkeis & Pirellis straight from the dealer and is having similar problems.

 

ok, i understand, was new to this stuff too a one point
looking at ur xB, you see the outside of the wheel, the rim, outer side wall, etc.
then if you were to take the wheel off the hub, and turn it around, you would see the inside of the rim and the inner sidewall.
now if you were to look at the area now, you see the fender and under and inside of that is the fenderwell

now, it it the big black thing, inside the fender
you may have a piece of metal that is sticking out of the fender well, causing the blowouts
it may have fallen out by now or not, you should check to see if that is the case
or it could be the rim itself is a dud

 

I appreciate your help and the extensive work you're putting in to help me understand, call me dense, but I just don't get it. I don't see how something from the fenderwell would wrap around and hit the inside wall of tire. But I'll take off the wheel tomorrow and look. I'll letcha know what I find tomorrow man. Thanks again.

-Al

 

You still need to pull the back tire off, look at the arm that attaches to the bottom of the shock. Up near the body, if you look towards the front of the rear rim. There is a little metal drain tube that NEEDS to be filed. If you don't file it, it WILL wear thru the side wall like it is doing. Just because your dealer installed it, that doesn't mean anything. Most of the people putting the rims on the car are minimum wage workers and don't care to look for those things. Trust me. I'd almost put money on it.

It happens after the tires are rotated, because of weight distribution. You only need to loose 3-5 lbs of air pressure to make the side wall bow enough to hit this drain.

I am doing my new suspension this weekend and I'll post a picture of this drain for you.

 

I just came back in from looking at this ____ with my worklamp. Thing that's the closest is that arm you're talking about. Doesnt seem to be close enough, but again, I'll take the damn thing off tomorrow and have a look at it. I'll take pictures too. I'd appreciate that by the way if you could take a pic for me, just so that I know what you're talking about. This is an Xa that I'm talking bout by the way. Thanks dude!

 

almesh, where are you located, i would be willing to help you if you are close.

 

dude, that's really cool and stand up of you man and I appreciate that, I'm in NC though...but again I appreciate the offer. I'm gonna screw around with it tomorrow. I still have this better business bureau thing going cause the dealership has been so useless and so reluctant to offer any help, actually they said they'd gimme those rims and in the end i might take the rims off them just cause screw the dealership...really cool gesture and off though man...thanks

 

Almesh where in NC are you located. I am in Charlotte and if your close by I would be willing to look at it for you. I am going on my 5th set of wheels and never had issue like your having.

 

Almesh... can you tell us exactly which wheels you have on you xA? Exactly what model of wheel from Enkei? What are the specs? Diameter, width, offset? These could make a big difference. The reason I ask is that I wasn't aware that Scion offered Enkei wheels as an option. I did know that they offered both an 18" and a 19" option made by Racing Hart.

Also, are your tires directional? Could the tire shop be so stupid as to run your directional tires backward? How are you having them rotate the tires?

 

Couldnt tell you the Enkei model, but the dealer did sell them to us, they actually put the TRD's on first, which was a screw up, but we ordered the Enkeis from the get-go and they fixed it. Tires are not directional, and when I rotate I swap.

Back right to front left.
Back left to front right.

18x7.5 rubber is 215/35

Offset is funny lingo to me to be honest

 

Jacksonville, I'm actually a Marine from Camp Lejeune. Bout 5 hours away from what I understand. I'm going to take wheel off tomorrow and look for something that could be rubbing, 3 different peeps on these posts, have told me there is something in the wheelwell, one guy says it's a metal drain thing. After I do that I'm going to take pictures. Then go to dealer for inspection of the area, see what they say. I actually am working with the better business bureau because I don't like the way the dealership has been handling this for my wife and I. Again I bought the rims and tires as a package brand new with the car, so I think they should take some responsibility. I actually am thinking about gettin rid of the thing for a damn Prius.
I appreciate the offer brother.

 

Also if you could post a pic of the failed tire. I'd bet someone could tell you real quick whats going on. I am also with TA2DBOX if you bring it up to Charlotte, we can figure out whats going on......But thats a long ride on wheels that could blow out at anytime.

 

I have the same tire but no problems here