My rim is bent - do i repair it or is that not safe?

Question

My designated driver crashed my car the other day. it's not horrible - i've got some minor body damage and i need a new door.

BUT when he ran over the curb, the rim got bent backwards an inch and a half and all of the air escaped. the tire's still good and if at all possible i'd much rather bend the rim back to round (think 2 lb sledge and a set of vice grips) and let the tire reseal itself than buy a new rim and have it not match the wear on the other 3.

i need to know if it's safe to bend a rim back or if it will cause a blowout or a slow leak if it's not completely round. i'd much rather look bad and drop like 200 on a new rim than have a blowout on a highway going 95 mph a week down the line..

is there a margin or error i can play with? will the soft, elastic rubber of the tire help seal any imperfections in the roundness of the rim? is this safe, or even common practice? experience is definitely welcome here.. thanks in advance

Answer 1

I disagree with the other posters to a point. repaired rims can be just as safe as an original rim. However, get it professionally done. Dont just bang the crap out of it with a sledgehammer. If you have an aluminum rim and you smash it with a sledgehammer, your gonna break the rim in half. I hit a pothole and bent an aluminum wheel. It still held air, but i wasnt going to trust it. It took me 6 months to find an aluminum rim repairer (i would have just bought a new wheel, but they were discontinued... #*$%#@&$@$ enkei!), and to have it repaired, and repowdercoated was $200 even.
So if its an aftermarket wheel and you cant find a replacement, it can be repaired, its probably going to cost you the same though.
If its an OEM aluminum or steel wheel, and the car is a very common car, you might want to look at junkyards or online owners groups for people parting out their cars.
Now not knowing what you have kinda limits the solutions though.
The only time you should ever use a sledgehammer to repair a wheel, is if your in a ralley race, and you have no other options. If you a full roll cage, arent worried about body damage, arent worried about personal injury, arent worried about other motorist, or their insurance companies, use a sledgehammer, otherwise, get a replacement or have it professionally repaired.

Answer 2

How much do you value your life is the question you need to ask yourself instead of weather or not you should try to fix your rim. you will never get it back round again and you will never get the tire to balance correctly. You will find that if it would actually hold air without a tube, you will have uneven wear patterns on that tire. Also you will experience a shimmy at speeds probably over 30mph. This kind of repair is ok if you don't plan to ever drive your car over 20 mph, but if you plan to go faster than that the vibration could get to the point that the tire could blow out. If it is on the front just consider yourself dead when that happens and you can then tell us all how St. Peter is doing.

Answer 3

If the rim is Aluminum - you need to replace it.
If the rim is steal - you can try to re-shape it but you are not looking at the BIG PICTURE.
If your driver hit hard enough to bend a wheel, blow a tire, damage a door - you need to have a body shop give it a once over. You may have frame damage and alignment troubles. If you do not have it checked, you may be wearing out tires and not realize you have big troubles. Frame damage and bent steering/ suspension parts can run into hundreds of dollars.
Turn it in on THE DRIVER"S INSURANCE.
In the case of the bent wheel, you may find a good deal at your local junkyards.

Answer 4

In order to repair a bent car rim, one will need to have several materials, including: screwdriver, blow torch, and a mallet. The first step is to remove the tire of the bent rim. The next step is deflate all of the air from the tire.

Answer 5

Get a new rim - yours would be questionable at best after you bent it back - not the kind of thing you'd want to stake your life on while tooling down the road doing 95 MPH (that's speeding, by the way)

Answer 6

you'll never bang it back into place to allow it to seal the tire as it will need to be precise. and since its 1.5"'s out, I doubt even a rim straightener can fix it.

if its a factory rim, hit up a junkyard or look on ebay, should be able to get one for like $50. if custom/aftermarket, email the company as ask if you can buy just 1.

Answer 7

If aluminium replace. If steel take it to your local flat fixer to get it fixed cheaply while you wait.Steel rims can take this kind of abuse while remaining perfectly safe. Rim runout and out of round must remain within factory limits and sidewall sealing must be smooth and continuious for a successfull restoration.

Answer 8

repairing a bent rim is dangerous and requires special equipment to do it. unless the rim is a one oif a kind, don't bother to even attempt a repair. you can never get it right. find another rim for your vehicle at a junk yard if you can, or if it's a special rim, get a new one.

Answer 9

I have had good sucess with having bent rims professional repaired on my Cadillac Seville. It take the correct equipment to do so.

Answer 10

The integrity is changed and so it will not reliable. It's worht more for your peace of mind to just get a new one.