So I hit what might be the largest pothole of my life a few weeks ago. Blew out my front driver side tire. Created a large gaping hole in it. Decided to get all 4 tires replaced with pirelli cinturato p7 all seasons. Tire rack was running a sale on them for black Friday. I got the tires installed and alignment and balance was done. Now I have vibration that occurs around 60mph. I had the balance re done and same result. I took it to anther shop and they re did the balance again. Same issue. What do you guys think is the problem here?

 

I have an 18 RLX sport hybrid with 19 inch low profile tires. I hit two pothole in the last 5 years that resulted in a pinch flat only and a bent rim only the second time. I felt the vibration of the bent rim immediately after hitting the second pothole. Replacing the rim was the only fix.

 

Agreed; although the wheel bend may be minimal, it may be out-of-round now. One way to test this theory is, rotate your wheels/tires and put the front ones in the back and vise versa. If the vibration goes away at the front, definitely look into getting your wheels checked.

 

I would say bent wheel but I would imagine any reputable tire shop would have brought that to your attention... are these shops doing a road force balance on the wheels

 

Same deal with my AV6 last week; made me wish I had an EX-L instead of a Touring. Might have stood a better chance of not flat spotting my wheels.

 

Pep Boys installed the tires and did the balance and alignment. I took it back to them after I noticed the vibration, they re did the balancing. Then I took it to Mavis to do the balance again. From what I understand pep boys does road force balancing.

Is it possible those shops are just focused on getting you in and out and would miss a slight bend in the wheel?

 

Likely not exactly relevant but I had a similar occurance with a vibration that balancing did not fix. Turned out the front hub/axle had gotten bent and everything else looked fine and the new tire balanced out fine. Only took a couple of hours to remove and replace the hub. I identified it by spinning the tire with the car up on blocks. It wobbled.

 

I hit a huge pothole that I struggled to fully fix for months. Only after taking it to a repair shop (after a few trips to tire shops) did they point out that I had two bent rims.

 

Did they fix it or did you have to get new rims?

 

I got new rims.

 

Update : i took it to a wheel shop that has a road force balancer. They said one of my front wheels is bent and needs to be fixed. I opted to have it repaired. Thanks guys for the insight!

 

Owned a TON of vehicles. Road Force balancing is normally not necessary IF no issues are known, and just getting new tires, etc. But, after what happened to you, yes, RFBal. is amazing at finding
issues with tires and rims. If of course, the person doing the work is a "pro" and knows what they are doing. I just had a set of tires/wheels that had been stored for 3.5 yrs, with low miles and 8 to 9/32 of tread.
Taken out of "proper storage" and Road Force Balanced before installing on my wife's new RDX. They were first visually inspected, then RFBal. All were in specs, but, 2 needed to have the tires turned on the
rims to find the sweet spot. Tech doing it is an Acura Master Tech, and also is one of the few fully certified NSX Master Techs. He gave me all the weights before and after and noted with chalk info on each tire.
I did have him put in new TPMS sensors. They have tiny batteries that are not replaceable, so, I wanted to start with fresh sensors on her new RDX.

Not everyone knows this, but, Acura's TPMS systems "self sync" with the computer by driving around the block a time or two. Honda's don't do that. My best friend is a Honda Master Tech. He told me he wished
Honda's TPMS systems worked that way.

 

Update: I had the wheel repaired. The vibration is much than before but it’s still there. I’m thinking to take it back. But, can you fully fix a bent wheel back to the original condition? Or will it never be perfect?

 

Save yourself a continuing headache and just buy a new rim.

 

Did you have all suspension components inspected? Anything bent or compromised? Sounds like you could have done so much more than just a bent wheel.

 

With a slight bend, road force balancing can be done to minimize the vibration so it's almost gone. I had this issue on an rental A3; the rims were bent and pep boys could not balance it to save their life (free through rental agency). I ended up going to discount tire who was able to road force it back to make it decent to drive at highway speeds, otherwise it was vibrating heavily over 50 MPH. Cost $40 and was very happy!