Owner Review: Follow-up story of Proton Waja tyre burst out at 180km/h -Full story

** This article is the personal experience of a 2002 Proton Waja owner and does not necessarily reflect the views of WapCar.

Facebook: Sharviin Sasasey Manigam

Since everybody was asking about my busted tyre situation... here you go....a brief explanation about that incident. If you haven't read the previous story, here is the link.

Okay before that please bear in mind that all my mechanicals were stock. Brakes, engine, gearbox, no e-manage, no fuel regulators and etc etc....

So back then in 2012, I was forced to change the wheels because one was broken off due to the minor accident. So I got SSR TYPE-C 17", tyre profile was 215/45-R17.

After installing it, I thought it will be gempak la... big wheels can go faster and all. But then it turns out to be the opposite way. It was slow and sluggish and spun few times under low speeds (that was mystery tho, it was at under the bridge near kastam ss5 kelana jaya, whoever kena before should know one).

So the top speed was only 160 back then. And it was uncontrollable at the speed. So I guess that's why 17" wasn't a great idea for Waja. And the fuel consumption...whoaaaaaaa..... I needed to beg for fuel money.

Then I decided to change the wheels back to 15"... when I changed them, I couldn't afford new tyres so another option was to use 2nd hand tyres lorr... so at a glance, the tyres were looking good and no wall stretch mark can be seen... loong story short it was near perfect to naked eyes.

I got them installed, immediately felt a huge change on the ride and handling the fuel consumption was way better... and I manage to get 180km/h at ease...no stress, no sweat....

After a day of changing the wheels, I had to rush to Old Klang Road to send my sister to her hostel and I have to be at the office on time. So I sprinted, maxxed out the car to chase the time. (I know it was wrong but I had to), so I went like 180km/h and without warning.... the front right tyre burst out of nowhere. At that time I still remember there was no sign of losing control or skidding away.... after the tyre blew, the car was surprisingly stable, no body roll... all it does was I pointed the steering to the left of the road...and it stopped...no thrills no drama.... (shat bricks adalah) sorry for the words. But it was nerve wrecking situation, what if a car from behind couldn't brake on time??...

And I thought that's the end of it, but once I saw the damages, it was nothing... front fender was out a bit, and the rim was in bad condition. So I pushed back the fender and it went inside back..and it looked nothing happened.

Changed the spare wheel, and continued my journey. Then later i found a shop where they repair broken damaged wheels, at first i tought they gona cikai2 repair the rim. But noooo... they did proper argon welding and alloy repairs. After that repair, the wheel good as new. And m still running on those wheels. No problems at all.

I think i started to focus more on handling than performance department. Some says "anybody can drive on straight road, only drivers can handle the curves".... and then i replaced all 4 absorbers to sports one, and could find mint condition H&R coil springs for all 4 sides.

And i INJECTED those absorbers to mildly hard setting. And it corners like nobody business. Sticky as possible.... and added front and rear strut bars, anti roll bars and boot brace. And from since then i always go for better tyres, its okay to splurge some monayyy on good things.

I wish that time dashcam was available, if not definitely i will get those clips uploaded.

Be safe guys, always be vigilant on the road.