Hi All, I recently purchased a 2010 California. The tires were 5 years old, so I replaced them. (Michelin Pilot Sport 4S now on the car.) The tire installer told me that the front driver side wheel was bent on the inner rim. I asked the installer what technical issues that might bring, and he said that there might be a bit of a wobble at high speeds, but that it was not a safety issue. On the old tires, I have had the car up to 140 mph, and it was rock solid. I thought I should get the advice of actual experts: Is "bent" a problem? If so, how big a problem? Is it a safety issue? Thanks for your insights!! K
My opinion...not a safety issue. Owner's decision to fix or replace or do nothing. Small dent may or may not be felt at the steering wheel, guess it depends on driver. Fix is okay for inner lip...yes, remove tire, use hydraulic straightening machine, then rebalance tire. FWIW I would not DIY this repair without proper tools. Good luck.
I would wait and see if it bothers you. Its hard to believe, but wheels will slightly change shape as we drive on them because of all the various impacts they take. Metal is malleable. So on just about any set of wheels, over time, just driving on them will take them more and more and more out of round. If there is a bend the tire installer could see, it was likely when he had it on the wheel balance machine. From a safety stand point the odds are you are fine- that this is just a little bend in the wheel that happens from driving. One of the problems we have with wheels is we can only easily see ½ of the wheel. Odds are there was a pothole or other impact that caused this bend. I am hoping you had the wheels and tires road force balanced- its just a more advanced method of balancing wheels- but its not exotic and has been around for a while. This would give an indication if you would feel anything. I've found there is a fairly wide variance between people and their sensitivity to wheel balance. I am someone that is really bothered by wheel balance issues. The thing that happens when wheels are out of round (and no wheel is perfectly round to begin with and neither is a tire)- is you will get a harmonic vibration- at a specific MPH (really the RPM of the wheel) and then at multiples of that. You might find you don't feel anything ever- and that would be great. But you might find that you don't feel anything but then all of a sudden you do feel it at 80, or 85, or pick a number. I have that right now where I know there is a slight bend in a wheel but I don't feel it until about 90 MPH. I don't drive that fast that often so I am waiting. I will then have my mechanic take it to a specialist who can straighten wheels- and they can do a great job.
Hmmmm. To my knowledge, I did not have the wheels/tires road forced balanced. I don't know that Discount Tire has such capability. On my first AMG car, I asked the dealer to replace the tires, and they told me to go to Discount Tire. I had done that with other cars, and was really impressed with the care they took with my AMG cars. I never thought of going any place else when I wanted to replace the tires on the California. That said, I don't think road force balanced is an option there. Something else to look in to... Thanks!!
When I had the bend on the inner edge, I could see the bend when the wheel is rotated on the balance machine. I had them remove the wheel, put it on the ground, and they gave me a large sledge hammer and asked me to do the pounding. I did, it straighten out a lot, and it went back on the balancer to be finished. No issues after that.
For my high performance cars I always take my tires and rims to a shop that does straightening when it is time for a tire change. It is surprising how much the rims get deformed through daily use. For my pickup I don't care much.
I have done this lots on our heavy truck steel wheels but not on a sports car. I am sure it will work but for me I am too unskilled with a sledge and I would likely bend it somewhere else.
All depends on what you mean by "bent"? Bent steel/alu/magnesium are all very different things, due to their properties and thus how they fail and how they need to be repaired. Steel has a much longer fatigue life than aluminium, and thus can be subject to a high level of repeated deformation without fatigue. I.e. you can hit it with a hammer and bend it back into shape without damaging it. Aluminium/magnesium, I'd be very cautions about taking that type of approach. I'd be looking to see if there are any signs of cracking in the rim. If in doubt take it to somebody who specialises in rim repair and get them to look at it. The reason fitters are giving you the "hammer" so to speak is to avoid any liability if the rim subsequently fails. Whilst high street tire companies are great on price, something dealers cant not get close to, and the good ones will take car of your car; but do they know anything about rims; I doubt it?
A friend I grew up with has a business that does mobile rim repair, painting, refinishing, whatever else. He does work for a lot of dealerships in the NY, NJ area. He's fixed rims from porsche, mini etc for me personally and I've always been satisfied with the results. I know he works on a lot of exotics for both personal people and dealerships. If you're interested, just shoot me a message and I can put you in touch. Edit just to clarify, I am not affiliated with his business and have nothing to gain from this. I pay full price when he does any work on my rims.
Depending on the severity of the bend, we would probably recommend trashing it and getting a replacement. Though you have the option, we don't recommend bending wheels back as they'll never retain the same structural rigidity or elongation that it once had when it was initially produced. Once it's bent back into place, it's easier to bend in the same place again, and though you could probably get away with it and drive around town without issues, there's always that "what if" moment that worries us.
I would recommend repair or replace as soon as practical. I try not to "let minor issues go" because you will eventually have a long list of discrepancies that need attention. Just my opinion.
Monitor the tire pressure and vibration first and foremost. Bends happen. There are wheel repair services if severe enough. If the new tires were balanced properly, it takes the bend into account in the balancing. Assuming your rims are painted, I would not take a hammer to straighten it.
Some metals do have memory-shape capabilities but they typically involve Ni, Co, sometimes Zn and Cu in combination with Al. Aluminum does have good elongation which means when it's impacted it'll bend the metal rather than split and crack which is extremely important for Automotive wheels as a cracked wheel loses air, sometimes very rapidly leaving you stranded, or worst case could cause the tire to lose air very rapidly causing the vehicle to lose control.
