The trend over the past several years has been for wheel sizes to increase and tires to become lower and lower profile. One of the downsides to this is that with less tire to flex and absorb impacts from potholes and curbs, wheel damage is more likely. Some low profile tires have an extra section of rubber sticking out designed to try to protect the wheel from damage.

Sometimes that extra rubber just isn’t enough. I’ve seen wheels get damaged despite the protection of the tire, and sometimes I see situations like this. The car must have hit a pothole or curb so hard that the “rim protector” section of the tire got ripped off, leaving the wheel exposed to get gouged up as well. I’ll stick to my 15 inch steel wheels, where I don’t have to worry about this.

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-Dan