Hi everyone....I own a 2004 Mazda 6 3.0L V6....I was driving on the Staten Island Expressway (absolute junk) and hit a huge pothole....tire ended up with a bubble in it, and my mechanic says the rim is bent....problem is this...when driving, the car isnt so bad...but when I accelerate the car between 30 and 60 mph, the car starts to have a very bumpy ride...and it does not do this all the time...mechanic says its the rim...but the car did this when the rim was off the car and i was driving with the spare tire....all started the morning after I hit the pothole....mechanic saw no other damage...any suggestions? Because it is very strange it ONLY happens when I accelerate the car between 30 and 60...thanks..any help would do ( I am getting a new rim in 2 days)

 

Get an alignment check - something was knocked out of whack by the pothole...

 

An arm on the suspension could have been bent.

 

+1 to what Sheldon said.

 

I just had the same problem with my Miata. Hit a pothole and blew the tire, rim turned up bent too. Got that repaired (new tire, alloy rim straigtened) and still had the bump and vibration at accel and speed. Found that when you hit a pothole, both wheels go through it. The other tire and rim where also damaged. Another new tire and repair on the rim. (I'm just lucky that way I guess). Likely you've broken a belt on the other tire on that side.

 

hmm....I dunno....I got a new rim, and another tire....still is causing it....i decided to take it to a collision place, he will most likely open the car up...he said it could be the control arm that is bent....but i never thought about the other rim and tire...hawker...I hit the pothole with my driver side tire and front rim....so u are saying it is possible the rear tire and rim on the driver side could also be damaged? mechanic said he couldnt see any damage...hmm...i'll find out soon because its been 2 weeks and its so annoying

 

If you hit it with enough to damage the front tire and rim, I'd doubt you stopped before hitting it with the rear too. That's what happened to me. The R rear tire blew a hole in the side and the damaged rim was obvious. But the front hit the same hole and did damage the lip of the rim, and belt on the tire, but it did not lose air, so I concentrated on the blown one. Outside it wasn't obvious, but when I got the vibration I pulled the tire to swap positions and it was obvious, but on the inside of the wheel and tire. Did the exercise all over again of new tire and repair of rim and problem solved.

To make the story sadder. These where four new tires with about 300 miles on them. Tire Rack must wonder what I'm up to buying six new tires for the same vehicle.