Data
Established Member
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2025
- Messages
- 390
- Reaction score
- 309
- Points
- 106
- Location (town/city + country)
- Essex, UK - Mk2 MG ZS Long Range Connect
- Driving
- ZS EV
An interesting one this & a heads up. Last week I was returning home on a busy main road in torrential rain. That same road earlier was coping well with the rain, no flooding. However, after several hours of rain there were several areas along the way where there was some minor flooding. Not very deep but it was coming up to near the bottom of the rims. It stretched for about 25-30metres & looked to be very muddy water having drained off of adjoining farmland.
I have to say drivers were being very responsible & going through in the middle of the road in turns & very slowly so as not to cause a bow wave. I did the same. No issues. The water level was far from the cars HV battery so like some other electric cars I very slowly went through.
Next day I was London bound on the A12 doing a steady 65mph. I noticed a steady & slight vibration coming through the steering. Not bad but noticeable. I thought this was the road surface to start with but it became apparent this was not the case. At journey end I had a quick look around the car & noticed the front nearside wheel trim was not seated correctly. It was slightly sticking out from the wheel as was some debris which was hanging out between rim & trim. This debris turned out to be clumps of grass with stones in. This debris had gotten in at the back of the wheel & settled behind the wheel trim in a groove where centrifugal force was throwing it outwards, forcing the wheel trim away from the wheel. This was compounded by the airflow hitting the trim while driving.
The overall effect was to alter the balance of the wheel causing the vibration I could feel. I checked all the wheels & found the rear near side wheel also to be the same. A quick & careful removal of the debris allowed the trims to reseat & of course the vibration went away. Had to pull the wheel trim out quite a bit to get the stones out.
There is no doubt the debris came from the flood water. So keep an eye on those wheels if you have to go through surface water.
I have to say drivers were being very responsible & going through in the middle of the road in turns & very slowly so as not to cause a bow wave. I did the same. No issues. The water level was far from the cars HV battery so like some other electric cars I very slowly went through.
Next day I was London bound on the A12 doing a steady 65mph. I noticed a steady & slight vibration coming through the steering. Not bad but noticeable. I thought this was the road surface to start with but it became apparent this was not the case. At journey end I had a quick look around the car & noticed the front nearside wheel trim was not seated correctly. It was slightly sticking out from the wheel as was some debris which was hanging out between rim & trim. This debris turned out to be clumps of grass with stones in. This debris had gotten in at the back of the wheel & settled behind the wheel trim in a groove where centrifugal force was throwing it outwards, forcing the wheel trim away from the wheel. This was compounded by the airflow hitting the trim while driving.
The overall effect was to alter the balance of the wheel causing the vibration I could feel. I checked all the wheels & found the rear near side wheel also to be the same. A quick & careful removal of the debris allowed the trims to reseat & of course the vibration went away. Had to pull the wheel trim out quite a bit to get the stones out.
There is no doubt the debris came from the flood water. So keep an eye on those wheels if you have to go through surface water.
