I got a bent front rim and was going to get it fixed one place said they could do it then i called another place and said i shouldnt repair it just replace it but i've already bought another rims because the original rim was bent then i ended up buying another bent rim. so right now im pretty pissed and i dont really feel like going threw the hassle of buying another one and getting ripped off. so can it be fixed?????

 

Hey, from experience most wheel repair shops can straighten wheels -- both the inner and outer lips of the wheel and some wheels that have been slightly bent from center.

Unfortunately, this process sometimes can cost as much as $200 per at a good machine shop . . . cheaper just to buy another rim . .

 

so it can be fixed with no problems other tahn price?

 

can you post a pic of the rim ?

as long as the rim isn't bent too bad, then yeah, it can be straightened -- but it all depends on how bad its bent, and where.
some wheels cannot be repaired. . .

 

I hit a massive rock in the road (long story)... bent the hell out of both wheels on the driver's side. No pics.... but I got them straightened by a local place in town. ...it was a year or two ago.. don't remember the price... but the place that did them actually spray painted the outer rim silver ( ). Looked like ****, but it was straight. I've been 120 or so in the car since and it rides perfectly fine. *shrug*

Needless to say the paint came off and it was polished again.

...and yea I'm sure it depends on how bad they are bent too..


-Bud

 

Its a pretty small bend in the outer lip but its big enough that air leaks out of the tire slowly so i think im gunna buy anothter one i just found on ebay at a good price.

 

Hey Raffi, I'm the one that sold you the rim and it didn't appear to be bent. if the lip was bent, it was very very minor. I worked at a tire shop previously. If the only problem is that it's leaking air, it may just need to be cleaned up on the area where the tire seals. Oxidation can make that area a little rough and bumpy. What can be done before you give up on it is to clean the area well with a wire brush and/or use a wire wheel attachment for a drill to make it smooth again. Then when the tire is put back on, tell the shop to use a sealant. It's a black substance thats applied over the area that the tire contacts. Then spray it with some soapy water and see how it worked. At work, I did this quite often when an aluminum wheel had an air leak around the rim and it almost always did the trick. It seems to be a common occurence with aluminum wheels. Let me know how it turns out. I can recommend the place i used to work which isn't too far from you. I still know a guy that works there that'll know how to do it right.

 

a bad charactoristic of aluminum though is that once its bent it gets weaker and will just bend again, but easier. Its the oposite for steel, as steel is bend and contracts it gets stronger.




Shane

 

Ok i give that a try. everytime i refill the tire with the bend in the rim pointed up like closer to the fender than the ground it holds air but if the bend is closer to the ground then the top of the fender the tire will be flat by the next morning. the area is clean theres no surface damage i didnt evenm notice it at first but after running my hand around the rims i found it. the tire that was on there held what little air was left in there i never inflated it more then recently i put the matching tire on and i started having the air leak out if the rim was pointed in a certain direction. I want to try that green slime stuff that fixes flats that came with my air compressor but should i do that or not? if not i'm going to go to the tire place up the street from me where i got the tire mounted and see what they can do with it.

 

is this a new tire that you mounted or the same one that you had a leak with before? As far as the green slime stuff goes, try everything else first! once that stuff is in there, it's a real mess and noone will want to work on it. The buildup that I was talking about won't be visible when the tire is mounted... it'd be behind the lip that you see.

 

I would just make sure they heat treat the metal after.Frame shops do that after they bend it back in place. [ or should] The one we had in school was this tiny light bulb that would heat any metal up to the right temp n hold it there to heat treat it back to original strength. It was neat but very bright.

 

The original tire that was on there i took off and put a new tire on the rim so all the tires had matching treads then the leak started but it doesnt always leak depending which direction the bend is pointing. so i guess ill have to go to the tire shop and see what they can seal it.

 

aluminum rims are hard to seal. Grandpa's caddy was bad for that. Don't know how many times he tried getting places to seal them. Nothing works forever. They just don't seal like steel.

I also heard of to many people having aluminum walk off the lugs.

Not a big fan of aluminum.

 

Way to step up to the plate! :hail:

Nice to see. Raffi, he is right on. Dismount the tire and clean the mating lip. Aluminum oxidizes fairly easy, and as Jeremy mentioned creates a rough surface that is hard to seal. It would have to be a fairly severe bend in the lip for the lip to leak due to damage. Also, are you using tap in wheel weights? One of my tbird's SC wheels leaked like a pig with those, went to sticky weights and have not had any further issues. Might be worth a shot.

 

i sent my rim to a wheel shop to get straightend out and they did an awsome job, they even repainted and polished it and it only cost $136.37 w/shipping.

The only problem i had was i couldn't get my other 3 rims to look that good and sent them and the guy said it would have only cost me $350 for all four.

 

Thanks I definately don't want to cheat anyone on parts that I sell (i've been selling extra parts that came with my Trans Am and some other parts I've come across to make some money on the side and to help finance my little project). Even moreso, I'm glad to see that you agree with my advice. I know from experience that sometimes it can take a lot of work to make an aluminum rim seal well and it's something that'll naturally happen again over time. that's why I would recommend the place I used to work. I know a guy there that is honest and patient enough to get it done right the first time. I also agree with trying stick-on weights if it's leaking near one of the clip-on weights. Raffi, be sure to update on how it goes at the shop

 

well right now its holding air perfectly with the bend pointing up but i'm going to turn the rim and if its flat tommorow i'll be taking a trip to the tire shop. btw thank for all the help.

Raffi

 

ES87iroc
U were right it was the wieghts both of them were leaking on each side but a very little because when i put water on the bend to see if it was leaking air their were no bubbles then i checked again today nd i got nothing then i decided to test the wieghts and yep their were bubbles so the shop should fix that for free. so thanks everyone.

 

cool, glad to hear it's going to work out for you. And my reputation is intact

 

Sweet! I bet it looks better with sticky weights anyway. :] Mine pretty much did the same thing, sometimes they would leak and sometimes would be okay. Glad to hear it's all square!

 

I know that there is a guy in Bath Pa ( 20 minutes from Allentown) who does an amazing job with fixing bent wheels. He fixed one of my dad's friend's ZR-1 wheel. I dont have any other info about the guy but i will post info if i find any.