Shortly after leaving home on the morning of 8/1/04 I became aware that my front left tire was flat. After replacing the wheel with its spare I went to the tire dealership where I purchased the tires so that they could repair the leak. They informed me that the leak was caused by a bent wheel rim. Two of my wheel rims were bent. I was aware of this problem but until that day neither rim was bad enough to cause an air leak. One of the rims had become bent since soon after I purchased the car in March of 2000. These are the '10 spoke' 17" aluminum alloy rims that come with the 2000 Eclipse GT. As far as I know, no single event caused the various bends to occur. Over a period of many months I believe the bends became progressively worse until this failure occured. As a result of the incident that occured on 8/1/04, I purchased two rims to replace the two bent rims. I have kept the old bent rims in storage.

- Columbia, MD, USA

2000 mitsbubishi Eclipse. Factory rims bent repeatedly and for no obvious apparent reason causing tires to rapidly depressurize. This occurred on several occasions to multiple rims. Most notable occurence was on interstate 95 when tire depressurized and came off rim - highly dangerous as I was travelling approximately 55 mph. Forced to repair rim and replace tire.

- Philadelphia, PA, USA

Driving my 2000 mitsubushi Eclipse GT with stock 17" rims and tires, I hit a relatively mild pothole which bent the rim. The rim was so badly damaged that it required replacement at my expense. The pothole was located in san juan capistrano, ca on the northbound I5 onramp from camino las ramblas. I have a picture of the rim in electronic format.

- San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA

The rims on my 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse were starting to bend. Particularly the front drivers side rim which on one side became almost flat in one area. After one occasion of driving my vehicle I notice that I had a slight bump in the tire of that rim. It was large enough to cause the tire to peel off from the rim. My father and I then removed the wheel and let some air out of the tire to try and push into place. However that wasnt working so we got out a hammer and forcably bent the rim back into place. The tire was still bulging so the next day we took it to a tire shop and an employee identified it as an impact bluge in the tire. He said it occurs when ever the tire is subject to large potholes and other things that would cause the tire to be hit hard. I told me how I never hit a pothole large enough for me to notice on my trip that had caused the pothole. He said that of course any potholes damage would be intensified by poor rim protection which of course I had since the bulge occur rite above where the bend in the rim had formed. So I had to have the tire replaced which cost me around $125.

- Crest Hill, IL, USA

Consumer stated that all four rims were bent, and front two tires leaked. The dealer in consumer's area closed down, and there was no contact with the manufacturer.

- Sudbury, MA, USA

While driving 35 mph, the vehicle hit a pot hole and the rear and passenger side rims bent. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection and the mechanic claimed that there was nothing that they could do. The tire blew out on two occasions. Once on the driver's side. Three bent rims. (the alluminum wheels were soft)

- Wellsburg, WV, USA

Two of my wheels on my 2000 mitusbishi Eclipse have significant bends on them from normal driving conditions. As a result of the wheels being bent it created uneven ware in my tires and brake rotors. I have had the two wheels straightened by a wheel shop on two occasions and paid $75 for each one.

- Baldwin, NY, USA

The design of the manual transmission, the transmission synchros and the clutch mechanism has been faulty which causes the following parts to fail a lot earlier than any normal vehicle. - the clutch plate gets worn before time - the throw out bearing (tob) has a rattle - the clutch has a rattle - there is very hard gear shift into the 1st and 2nd gear. The 2nd gear is very hard, especially when its cold start.(that is not particularly cold at the end of the month of March in houston, Texas) - it is also due to the "poor" synchronizers in the transmission box - this has been reported by a lot of Mitsubishi Eclipse GT V6 users for the 3rd generation I.e. 2000+ Mitsubishi Eclipse cars with a manual shift - this is due to substandard transmission and clutch quality from Mitsubishi

- Houston, TX, USA

Consumer states that three of the rims were bent.

- Amityville, NY, USA

Rims bend easily. Had four occurances of bent rims that cause tires to go flat. Most recently hit a pot hole and bent rim and caused tire to go flat.

- Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Bent wheel rims on a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse which were caused by typical driving over normal roads. One wheel now fails to hold air pressure and needs to be replaced at a cost of approximately. $250 for a reconditioned unit. I am filing this claim because the damage was not caused by large potholes or serious impacts, and no tire damage occurred.

- Edison, NJ, USA

Rims bend for no apparent reason causing tires to blow out, fall off rims, lose air pressure and create unsafe and dangerous driving condition.

- Plainview, NY, USA

Mitsubishi Eclipse 2000gt- I have gone through 5 rims and tires in less then one year. Doing research, I have found out that I am not the only person with this issuse. My first incident was at the end of March and then I have had another in Dec 2003. The rims on this car are weak and they bend, crack and break tires. This vehicle is unsafe to have on the road. Younever know when your rim will break.

- Cherry Hill, NJ, USA

Easily bent rims on the 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT, all my 4 rims have some sore of damage with a normal driving habits, my car shakes and feels unsafe above 60mph.

- Madison Heights, MI, USA

Driver side tire rims are bent causing air to escape from tire. The vehicle had several blow outs without warning causing the driver to take the vehicle to the dealership to replace tires. Mechanic told her that the problem couldn't be repeated.

- Garnerville, NY, USA

The rims bent, which caused the tires to become flat.

- Hoboken, NJ, USA

When the vehicle went over a bump in the road, all four rims bent.

- Huntingdon Valley, PA, USA

The rims on my 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse have become dented under what would be considered less than normal wear and tear. I have taken exceptional care to protect this car from damage. As an example, after three years of ownership, there is still not a single door dent or chip, due to the fact that I exercise the extra effort to park far away from other vehicles and walk the extra distance to my destination. Therefore it's reasonable to assume that I would also steer clear of potholes, etc., and I have the paper work to prove that I have maintained my car according to standards set by Mitsubishi. Yet despite this level of care, the rims have become damaged. Ironically, as this is my first new car, I take better care of it than any car I have ever owned, and yet it is the first car I have had this issue with. When I brought it to the dealership, the factory rep said it was because the air pressure must have been low and I hit a pothole. But yet he won't tell me how he came to that determination. At the same time I brought the car I for the rims, I had brought the car in for the clutch noise issue, and nowhere on the repair order is it mentioned that I requested to have the rims replaced and that my request was denied. Nor can I get it from Mitsubishi in writing. Also, it is my understanding from the dealership that the tires were never removed from my car during the "inspection", so I question its sincerity. I have left two messages with the factory rep to explain to me how he arrived at his determination, and he has still not returned my call. I don't understand why Mitsubishi has spent the time and money making a one-piece rim to replace the two-piece rim if they don't recognize that the rims aren't an issue, and why they are replacing some people's rims and not others. Hopefully the class action lawsuit currently underway will help me out, because Mitsubishi is not being very responsive.

- Suwanee, GA, USA

The left rear and right front rims of the vehicle bent under normal driving conditions. The consumer believed the rims were defective. The dealer at Mitsubishi stated that they knew there was a problem with the rims, and they are now changed.

- Valley Stream, NY, USA

2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse. Already replaced one rim 17" factory. In the process of replacing an additional two. Have also had related tire problems, needing replacement.

- Philadelphia, PA, USA