I'm getting to really hate Saturn Alloy rims. My '94 and '02 had slightly warped rims that had to be road-force balanced to keep the ride perfectly smooth, a driving need that I'm un-conditional about. Those rims were warped by the previous owners, I bought the cars used. Thought now that I have a brand new car, I wouldn't have that problem anymore...right.
The other day while off to work, I hit a spot in the road, a very narrow high-speed country road where the shoulder was missing and there was a foot long hole where the cement was missing. A very sharp point was jutting out and my inside part of my rim caught it, wasting my front rim and warping the rear rim. It felt like a I hit a bad train track. I slowed down, but saw nothing behind me, thought nothing of it, until a block from work, the front end started shaking.
My front tire started losing 1/2 it's air. Pulled the ION into the shop and they pulled the rims. Sure enough, front rim flanged out about 5 inches, rear warped and un-reparable. Called Progre**ive and they said it's not covered under comp as road holes aren't covered and it wasn't a collision, WTF? time for a new ins. co.
Called SC DOT, filed a repot, they said file a bunch of reports and I "may" be reimbursed. I went over and showed them many pics I took of the road damage and they patched the hole that day. I'll be sending the pics along with my report. The roads in upper SC s-u-c-k and I'm not too thrilled of the idea of having delicate girly-man rims again, bad combo.
My tech said that as the damage was to the side of the rims, the tires aren't damaged, yet there is over $570. (my discount cost) damage. I have to pay out of pocket as I need my car and then to wait 'till SC DOT "may" pay for it.
I really am regretting buying alloys again.