bent a rim last night...

[sKunkman]

So i was drivin home around 10:00pm and I took a turn with too much gas. I had my ACS on, since I wasn't trying to do much crazy driving, but my car slid practically sideways. I didn't hit anything, but when I corrected it, the car felt funny. Immediately I got out and checked my left rear tire, which was flat. I drove home (i was about 100 feet from my street) and changed my tire.

This morning I went to the shop and they said the rim was bent - keeping the tire from holding any pressure for more than 30 seconds or so.

My question is, should I buy new rims (im short on cash, I also wanted to get new suspension and possibly a new head unit) and tires, or should I just buy this one rim (stock steel rim) and save my money for the other stuff?

My tires still have a good amount of tread on them, but after this with not giving my car hardly any gas and me sliding the amount I did, i'm thinkin I should get new tires. This also may haev something to do with my old bouncy suspension, but I'm not sure. Best advice?

[96cali]

How did you bend a 15" steel rim w/o hitting anything? Sounds fishy- do you trust this shop? More likely you damaged the tire by driving on it flat.

If you're short on cash, just buy another steel rim from the tire shop. I'm guessing $40 for a new one. Tire rack is the best deal if you plab to buy a tire mounted already or a whole set of alloys+tires for that matter.

[aceyx]

if you bend a steel rim, it can be bent back (living in boston for a few years teaches you these things). if you have an NTB near you, they'll charge about $15 for the wheel repair and flat fix. some dealers will do it, some won't.

however, it takes a healthy pothole to bend a steel rim.


like 96cali said, it's possible you've damaged the sidewall of the tire driving on it flat, and the leak is actually in the casing.

whatever the case, you'd be better off getting a second opinion, maybe even a third. if the casing is cracked you can probably use SLIME for a short time (2 mo. max) until you upgrade your stuff.

[sKunkman]

Well I watched the guy look at the tire, it was clearly bent and I could feel the air coming out the side lip of the rim... the weird thing is that the rim was bent on the INSIDE so maybe the tire wasn't mounted correctly. Maybe I hit that drift too hard and I hit the inside of my suspension or something.

[madfronter]

You can totally bend a steel wheel back to almost true. Ive had to do this on 2 of my steel winter wheels. I used a sledge hammer and a 6" long piece of 2"x4" to bend them back. PA roads really suck, there are pothoples everywhere.

[sKunkman]

Id do that if I didnt already have shaking. I think im gonna get my tires fixed properly and balanced. Save some money for later perhaps....

[aceyx]

it's kind of not worth putting a 15" steel wheel back into complete true.
1, a new rim costs $70 from the dealer, truing it costs about $90. 2, as long as it holds air, you won't feel that much shake (there's enough sidewall to absorb slight variations at most speeds).
3, you can probably find a steel at the junkyard for $30 if you look around.

i've had my steels beat the crap back into shape at least three times, and have no more shudder than with my alloys (even at 90mph+). it takes an hour, costs $15 and works. all of the above options are a significant higher time and money investment, with similar results.


if you've still got shaking with that tire off, it's likely you bumped it out of alignment, which having a straight wheel won't fix. i'd save your money for that.

[sKunkman]

Well it doesnt hold any air really. I just want to get it to a safe, driveable state without paying too much money.

[aceyx]

do you have NTB around you?

like i said, i've done this three times (each a different pothole). i still use the same rims for my snow tires, and they hold air fine. the rims were pretty badly bent up--enough to know why the tire was flat, and i don't get any more shake than i do with my alloys.

give it a shot; they'll know if they can bend it back or not.

[sKunkman]

Ahh well it turns out the rim was fine.

What happened was when I drifted my car, the tire was underinflated
a) caused the drift
b) popped off the rim
after it popped off I proceeded to drive on it for a very short distance (1/4 mile or so) until I stopped to look at it. At that point it was flat. I was maybe 1/8 mile from my house so I went home and put my spare on. This mistake cost me my tire - it was shredded probably from me driving on it. So i bought new tires in the rear (goodyear touring LS) which are decent. Much better grip than my front (and old rear) tires.

[96cali]

So I was right!

Sorry, I don't get much chance to gloat these days. At least you're up and motoring again.

[97Hellrot318ti]

Originally Posted by aceyx

if you've still got shaking with that tire off, it's likely you bumped it out of alignment, which having a straight wheel won't fix. i'd save your money for that.

How much does an alignment run? I didn't think they were all that expensive

[96cali]

I've been quoted $60 - $90. Surprisingly the dealer was not the most expensive. Supposedly to do it right BMW's need to under load (driver + passenger weight) to do it but I've also read there is a cheat setting that can be done w/o load. I have a coupon for Firestone for $49.99 too.

[GDB]

For around $200 firestone will give you a lifetime of alignments. Which is definately worth if you plan on keeping the car very long.