Let's start at the beginning...

I was driving to Kentucky and was in Arkansas, between Hope and Arkadelphia on I-30 in the left lane going 72 in a 70, passing a semi. There was a huge chunk of debris in the middle of the lanes that I was able to go left around--right into the path of what looked like a driveshaft sideways across the left lane. Not enough shoulder on the left to go that way, semi on the right, so I hit the brakes and straddled it as best as I could. Heard a loud bang and could hear it scrape the underside of my car and then there was a loud rumbling. At first I thought it tore off part of my exhaust and then I noticed the steering felt sluggish and realized I had a flat. A rest area just happened to be right after where I hit the driveshaft, so I pulled in to look at my car. The left front tire was completely flat and I was about halfway between Texarkana and Little Rock (the only towns probably big enough for a Nissan dealer). Not popping for a 70 mile flat tow, so I put the donut spare on the rear, then pulled off the flat front tire to put the back tire up there and that is when I saw the damage to the wheel. Huge split in the barrel of the wheel, completely fubared. I got some pics on my camera that show the damage very clearly, but I don't have my cable to upload them to a computer here so I'll have to post them up when I get back next Wednesday.

Anyway, I roll into Little Rock around 3 AM. The hotel near the Nissan dealer (North Point Nissan) wanted $120 for a room. Screw that! Not paying that much for 4 hours (dealership opened at 7). Ended up parking on the side road by the dealer and trying (mostly failing) to get sleep.

Dealer doesn't have a wheel in stock and all the used 5th gen Maximas they had on the used car lot had the 16" 5 spoke wheels and I have the 17" 6 spoke wheels. Took them 4 hours to find one-but it was a really nice wheel that was recently refinished. Then they said the only tire in my size (225/50/17) they had were Bridgestones-W rated at that. The wheel was $224 and another $184 for the tire, plus labor and inspection of my suspension (luckily no damage, just a few scrapes) and I was out the door $500.14 lighter. Ugh. I'll get my money back on the tire since the Michelin that was on the car has the warranty from Discount Tire. Buy another warranty and they'll take off the Bridgestone and put another Michelin on and reimburse me for what the Bridgestone cost.

I find whoever dropped that drive shaft, it is going up their butt sideways, just like it was laying in the road.

After I paid my bill, the service manager said the list price on 1 new wheel was $1100. Was he lying or is that really want Nissan charges for them?

$1100...wtf...you can get better wheel+tire for that money.
I think 4 wheels+tires for $1100 is acceptable.

I agree, no way would I have paid that much for a single wheel.

thats a sucky situation that you had to choose the lesser of 2 evils... at least you're still alive, and your only choice wasn't the semi! 1100 is insane for a wheel.. thats why they call it the stealership

OEM wheels are expensive when you buy them through a dealership

Like this?







and they were 20th Anniversary rims too

sorry for the kinda bad pics, used my camera phone...

Hit a curb parallel with my rim @ 60mph :P so i bought Replica MM-Evo5 rims from Tirerack.com for like $1000, i think they're cheaper now..

Ouch! Sorry to hear that... Last time I hit some debris in the road it was in the higher-than-the-Max Quest and the culprit was a semi truck tire sidewall sticking straight up. Hit it doing 70. :-/ No damage, though. For all that, I'd see if I could file a claim with my insurance, unless your deductible is the standard-issue $500.

Used (but refinished) wheel, tire, mount, balance and inspection (to make sure my suspension wasn't damaged) was $500.14, so I guess I can file for the 14 cents on my insurance.

FlipCpt45 Not quite like that, punched a huge gouge into the barrel of the wheel and tore up the inside of the tire. I have pictures on my camera but I don't have my cable to transfer them to the computer I have access to here. I'll post pics of the wheel and tire damage when I get back to Dallas next week.

hey what part of kentucky were u at? they sell replicas that are way cheaper

Thats exactly why I refuse to go to the dealership unless its covered by warranty.

I was in Arkansas (on my way to Kentucky) when it happened. I was kind of at the mercy of the dealer because I had no idea where else to go in Little Rock.

I think they quoted me about 600 for a rim, from my dealership (Baytown Nissan) :P at which rate, i thought i would just get the lighter replica Evo5 Rims

yup, been there.

I hit a 10' long 6x6 piece of lumber at about 70mph on the highway...couldn't avoid it due totraffic.

Somehow my wheels and tires survived fine, but it did crack a wheel bearing, bend a strut, and a couple other things that I forget.....

road debris is FTL.

a friend of mine was quoted 1700 CDN per wheel for titanium edition wheels

Seriously, how do they expect anyone to pay that? You can get nicer aftermarket wheels AND tires for less than that. We have Maximas, not mid 60s Corvettes or numbers matching muscle cars so keeping stock wheels isn't that important.

time for a new set of shoes..............

Just how the dealerships are.

Ever priced a Nissan OEM axle? ~$500. 4 times the cost of an raxle, of all things.

Heh, I had both my CV axles replaced by an independent mechanic. My dealer quoted me $600-something a side.

the printing on the wheel is chinese saying "Quality Check Passed".
don't ask me how do I know that.

So much for quality... That curb did a number on it, im lucky to have made it to a wide open flat "Trailer home... dealership?" parking lot, where i could change it out to my spare without having to worrying about traffic..

wow, just reading some of those quotes from the dealership gives me a sick feeling.

glad your okay though.

They don't expect "anyone" to pay that. They expect your INSURANCE COMPANY to pay that. If they charged $300 for each, that would be under most peoples' deductible, so Nissan (and other car companies) knows they would get LESS claims than having them $1100 where people can't possibly pay that thmseves....

For cars that are leases, or that people want to keep "stock" for trade-in value, they'll pay that much for the wheels if their insurance covers it.

Scott, your insurance should cover that as well.

first 2 piece rotors, and now they even make 2 piece rims....

Theres no way the OEM maxima 17x7 is 1100. The list price on the Altima SER 18x8 forged wheel is 925$ each CAD. I think the list price on the OEM maxima rim is in the 4-500 each per rim.

I know you can get some nice nismo wheels list price for 4-500 thru the dealerships.

We had a customer with an altima SER, he took his own liberty to replace his wheel studs, then took it for a 1000 mile drive. Little did he know, new studs tend to stretch, and he didnt retorque them..end result is one toasted wheel, he was charged 925$ CAD for ONE wheel.

I felt bad for the guy, but oh well, not my money. 925$ can get you a pretty nice set of rims + tires.

The total bill for a used wheel (but refinished), new tire (Bridgestone Potenza 040) and labor was $500.14 and my deductible is $500. Probably not worth making a claim for 14 cents.

I could still buy 4 aftermarket 17 inch wheels for around $500 and avoid having to make a claim if it came to that. The tire has a road hazard warranty on it through Discount Tire so they will replace the tire and refund the cost of the one I had to buy because there was no Discount Tire within safe driving distance.

I understand what you are saying though. Same deal with hospitals. One pill is $50 because insurance covers it.