I was out for a spirited drive in the NC mountains last weekend. A rock at the apex of a corner reached out and re-arranged my rim. I got the car slowed down and parked on a level spot. Time to see how that 30 year old spare was feeling. Much to my amazement it inflated properly and didn’t blow out when I put the car weight on it. Fortunately I only had to go about 2 miles back to the hotel, which I did slowly but successfully. A friend gave me a ride back to New Hill, where I picked up my truck and trailer to go rescue the car later this week.
Researching my car’s receipts, I determined that these wheels were purchased out of Germany. They are 3-piece “P-Rad” or “RH 3.6” wheels. I already have a quote in hand from the vendor to sell me a replacement rim for about $300 including shipping. Could be much worse! I’ll break the wheel down this weekend and confirm there is no hidden damage.
Update- I found the invoice for the original purchase of the wheels, out of Germany. I contacted the originally supplier of the wheels. They still had the purchase info. I was able to buy just the outer rim. It was a used rim but I found it to be in excellent condition, as they had polished it up so that no blems were visible. I also chose to buy a new set of nuts and bolts and the sealant that they use to seal the wheels. Shipping was by DHL and took about 2 weeks. I recently reassembled the wheels after consulting a few how-to articles. One by Pablo (via Flussig.com) and a youtube by Black Forest Industries. The only hard part was torquing the nuts. I had to have a friend help with that by holding the bolt heads steady while I torqued from the other side. The wheel is reassembled, sealed, and ready to mount a new tire.
New Hill Garage 
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