Can a rim be bent (with nothing visible)? During lunch took the car to Discount Tire. Had them do a tire inspection, pressure, tread, balance, etc. (hey, it's free with from my warranty on the Yokahomas from my Infiniti). Anyway, the guys called me out to the bay to tell me that my front passenger side rim was bent. I immediately looked at the rim and told them that I've never hit a curb or pothole. They asked if the car was driving differently or shimming....to which my reply is the car doesn't drive any differently from the day it was driven off the lot.

My question: is this possible? can a rim be "bent" w/o any visible damage? And do you guys think maybe it came this way from the factory? I seriously don't even have a scratch on the wheels (that I've caused). I do have fine scratches from road debris and brake dust...but nothing from an impact.

Any ideas??????

 

I am by no means a wheels and tires expert but like any alloy or aluminum or whatever metal, they can bend. When I had 17 inch OZ Monte Carlos on my Integra, I was warned of rim bending. I have not personally seen it but I guess it could happen. Did you ask the guy to show you why he thinks the rim is bent?

 

Hey Phantom,

Yes, since there were no visible scars or proof of the rim being bent, the guy showed me why he thought what he did. When the tire was on the balancing machine, they claimed to see some bobbing up and down of the tire (I could not see it but am not trained to spot it either).

Funny thing is that the steering wheel or ride doesn't exhibit any misalignment or symptoms of a shimmey. I guess I'll just have to make sure to tell the dealer and have them check the tire on their machine and go from there.

Don't know if I will be able to get it replaced under warranty (probably not)...so if I don't do you know where I can find a replacement rim.....aside from the dealership? I don't have an "arm and a leg" to pay right now

 

I bent a rim on my wife's Audi S4 going over train tracks at 45 mph, a good tire shop should be able to straighten it no problem for about $100

 

Cooter,

When you did this to the Audi, could you SEE that the rim was bent?

I'll take it to the dealer tomorrow, see how much they might charge to straighten it out and/or find a good tire shop.

Thanks for the input!

 

I was completely unaware the rim was bent, tire shop here in Boston told me low profile tires in conjunction with a lite weight composite wheel will undoubtly lead to some bending of the rim over time. Again I couldn't feel a thing, I just did fixed it because it drove me crazy knowing that the wheel was tweeked. It took tire place 3 hours to straighten wheel and put on a new tire, saved me $350+ on a new S4 rim. Good Luck!

 

Thanks Cooter!

Called a recommended tire shop and spoke to the manager. Mgr. said it is quite possible the wheel came warped from the factory. Wants me to bring the car down as they have high-tech equipment and he says they can tell if this wheel is repairable or not. At least I do know that I am not crazy in first bringing this up to the dealership and having them check it out and possibly (???) replace it themselves.

Cost to straighten? $125.00

 

If the bend doesn't show and the car drives perfect, why fix it?

A bent rim that doesn't look bent sounds a bit hoaky to me.

 

I know, sounds mysterious to me too. On the other hand, talking to some industry folk has shown that it is possible but just maybe not necessary to repair. Either way, I don't want to take a chance and would like to first at least have the dealership investigate. One guy told me that I should just monitor it and when getting my 6k mile rotation to see if there is any abnormal treadwear. Wouldn't that be alittle late at that point. Those Pilots are $245/ea., I want to get the most out of them until I change out wheels/tires.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, I'll post anything the dealership responds with

Thanks!

 

If it's bent, it's bent and you probably should get it checked/fixed.

Myself, I never went to a tire place in the last ten years that didn't try to sell me stuff I did't ask for.

Just my 2c.

 

Most bent wheels I've seen on a balancing machine were pretty easy to see. When you say tire, were you looking at the tire or the actuall rim? I'm presuming the inner side of the rim. If you were not able to see it, it must have be a very small bend. Or is the rim bent in a large arc sort of speak way which could be less noticeable but still visible, again depending on how much it's bent.
I'm sure if it's bent bad, you would have seen it.

 

Hey Cooter,

Where in Boston are you located? I would love to do a little run with your S4... a friendly duel. What do you say?

 

I was looking at the wheel itself. I looked both on the inside and outside of it and there was nothing obvious....even to the tech at Discount Tire.

Anyway, either today or tomorrow I'm taking her to the dealer and have them check it for any warping.

Thanks guys!

 

I also bent a rim on my old Audi 4000S many years ago by just hitting a pothole on a "lovely" Pennsylvania road. The rim didn't look bent but the front end shook and had to be aligned. The car manufactures should use Pennsylvania highways for their test tracks and they would find all the problems and rattles in their cars before the customers!! Needless to say the rim had to go. Sounds like they want to sell you something. You should see or feel something if it's bent.

 

When I had my GS400, some idiot (in a BMW) backed out of a parking space into my r/f bumper and fender. There was no visible damage to the wheel, but the dealer could not balance it and said it was tweaked a bit. There was no way to tell by looking. These wheels are quite soft and it doesn't take much of a blow to damage them.