Problems with 2006 Ford F-350 WHEELS

Cracked polished forged alum 20" wheel. original ford equipment. did not hit pot hole. did not hit anything! wheel is cracked/split open spoke to spoke parallel with tire bead. tire is fine. wheel is obviously unsafe!

While towing my large camper, on the freeway, i hit a bump. the front end of the truck started shaking violently. it was all i could do to stop the truck without wrecking. i had to stop in the traffic lane. this was an extremely dangerous situation. after resuming travel, the front end would shimmy at about 45 mph. i had to drive home at 40 mph...roughly another 75 miles. i think i have seen an advisory letter from ford, to owners, concerning this. there are many, many instances of this happening. one can find dozens of examples of this happening if one looks on line. neither ford nor the local ford dealer seems to be aware of the problem. we were traveling at about 60 mph at the time of the incident.

While parked, a crack in the circumference of the drivers side aluminum wheel was noticed. the crack extends from spoke to spoke on the 20" factory ford rim. after some research on the internet, i am not tho only one experiencing this situation. in most cases such as mine the rims are cracking in the same place and in most cases there was no damage noted to the wheel from potholes or impacts, the rim is defective and cracking. i have contacted ford and there is no recall at this point and the truck is not under warranty. however this appears to big a huge safety issue, as if the wheel would continue to crack, it would not hold air an the tire could go flat immediately. i would like to send a picture of this to show the issue. there are several pictures on the internet of the same wheel (5 spoke 20" aluminum wheel 2006 f-350 trucks). *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2006 ford f-350. the contact stated that while driving at 50 mph on april 10, 2008, the left driver side wheel vibrated violently. the contact had to apply the brakes to slow the vehicle down. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealership where he was informed that the rims were defective. the rims and tires were replaced and a front end alignment was performed. the failure continued to occur. the contact called the manufacturer who stated that the vehicle was no longer under warranty. the failure mileage was approximately 33,000. the current mileage was approximately 92,000.

I recently had a flat tire on my f-350 pickup. i needed a sledge hammer to remove the tire! i called the dealership where i purchased the truck, still under warranty, and asked them about the problem. they said, we normally beat it off the truck ourselves. so i contacted 2nd dealership to see how they handled it, they said they had to beat the rim off the truck as well. i contacted ford motor company and asked them if i could bring it in and have them beat the tires and rims off and put some kind of anticease on the rims so they won't rust and freeze on the truck. i explained to her that when i was beating the rim off of my truck i had crawled out from under the truck, it fell off the jack, it cracked my driveway, and i could have been killed. i told ford this sounded like a pretty dangerous problem, what would they do about the complaint. they referred me to the maintenance guide,to rotate the tires every 5000 miles. it doesn't mention it being dangerous if you don't rotate your tires, just to reduce tire wear rotate the tires every 5000 miles. i think this type of problem should be covered by the warranty. not the customers expense. i was told to take the truck in and maybe i could work something out with the dealership. i shouldn't have to work it out, bumper to bumper should mean bumper to bumper. not just what they think should be covered. apparently a lot of people have been having this problem. if your on the road and have a flat it could cost 2-300 dollars to be towed in,have the tires removed to change the flat. since the rim has to be beat off the truck. a wheel puller might work, something you don't carry with you when traveling. this puts the consumer in a very hazardous condition. all ford was interested in was the tire might not wear properly if tires are not rotated. it doesn't mention the rims being froze up because i did not rotate them. there is only 29,000 miles on my vehicle. what do you think? concerned consumer. *tr