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VW Jetta and low profile tires - WARNING

15K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  TimmayGLI 
#1 ·
I just wanted to warn some of you about low profile tires. I recently acquired a 2000 Jetta with Volusion rims and low profile 205 tires. This car also has an Eibach spring and strut kit. On friday night, i was on my way home from dropping a friend off when my car drove straight off the road at a 45* corner and slamming into 3 trees. My car was totalled, and I was going app. 45-50 mph. This car should have been able to handle this corner at 60-70 mph. Upon further investigation, I had found that i had a flat tire from the time I dropped my friend off until the time i crashed. Due to the short sidewall, i didnt feel the flat, and when I went to turn into the corner, it pushed straight forward. In most cases, the rear would have snapped around. The next morning i went to the scene to confirm my suspicions and found them to be true, for about 20 feet there were cuts and ridges in the asphalt from where the rim was digging in, getting wider where i cut the wheel harder and harder.

I know most of you may run aftermarket rims, but just be safe and check your tires and rims often to make sure there are no problems. Good luck, hope this helps

J.P.
 
#2 ·
Stock 16s 8) Just be glad you're ok.
 
#7 ·
yeah dude if you cant tell you have a flat something is up....it has nothing to do with it being a jetta or a low pro tire, i mean i would think with a low pro you would be able to tell even sooner that u have a flat...with a 16 it shouldnt really be that much a low profile, and are u sure the flat happened before u crashed
 
#9 ·
flat

Yes, the tire was going down before the crash. Whether it was totally flat or not, im not sure, and i dont think so. From the time i left my friends driveway to the time of the crash, I think that it had a constant leak, and it got down to the point where the bead popped off. The car felt fine in a straight line, but as soon as i went to apply brake for the corner, i could feel the car twist to the right and push straight on.

Ive been racing cars for about 6 years now (not saying im a good driver, im not here to do that) but I know the difference between poopey doopey up a corner and a mechanical problem.You can call bullstinky if you want, im just here looking to see if anyone else has any insight on this situation to help me out. It was just a little bit harder to pick up the feeling with this car, and with all the shock of a crash, its not your first instinct to think the car broke. If you notice, when you fill up a low sidewall tire with air, it takes about 5 seconds or so to get up to 30-40 pds. There is no volume to the tire. Just as if the tire went flat that quickly, you would hardly feel the difference.
 
#10 ·
i iwork in a tire shop and have never heard any problems with people not knowing they have a flat. as for low pro being bad, the other day i put some Pilot Sport A/S 285/35rz18 on a 1996 porsche Carerra 4S. i asked my manager if that low pro was bad because i am still new, and he said that its stock. if it wasnt safe, or you were not able to tell if you had a flat or something, they would either not be sold, or they would have to be runflat. DOT is anal about stupid shit. i am not trying to dis on anyone or tell them they are retarded. what could have happened is you had a slow leak, got the tires too hot and caused the sidewall to go out rapildy with the belts and everything seperating. that would destroy the integrety of the sidewall and if it was around a 45 or lower series tire, cause the wheel to cut in and cause all this to happen. sorry for the spelling errors. Vocabulary wasnt a strong point in school.

Edit: the amount of force it takes to break the bead i dont believe can be optained by driving. even with no air. i have had BMW wheels and tires come in where the sidewall was seperrated from the tread, but never, never the bead broken. with a 40 series tire, i could break half on the ouside bead, put all my 150 lbs on it and the rest still wouldnt go. well, if you had a crappy Les Schwab tire, maybe but still i doubt it. usually it takes anywhere from 40 up to 120 PSI just to seat the bead for a 40-50 series. i have had one seat at 120. can be scary shit if not done right. its a bastered to break low pro beads like that. once again, not trying to tell you that you are retarded or anything. just giving my 2 cents
 
#11 ·
tures

Thank you, that was some kind of explanation i was looking for. So your saying that if the sidewall integrity was compromised, this could cause the rim to cut thorugh and go into the asphalt? Im not 100 percent sure the reason ym crash was because a bead became unseated, but because of a tire malfunction of some sort. Thanks again

J.P.
 
#13 ·
205/40/17? Maybe next time get the right size tires for your car, 225/45/17 or 215/50/17. 205/40/17 is for MKIIIs and the like and on top of your accident the performance of your car was changed because the car was geared for a bigger tire diameter. Your speedometer also read wrong before the accident. And unless you were slammed to the ground, that tire size probably looked like poop on your car.
 
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