bent rim!!

[cobracommander]

Does anyone know of a rim repair shop anywhere in the RDU area. I bent my rim on the lovely streets of durham. I think I'm pretty lucky that it didn't crack. I have pictures if anyone needs to get a visual of the damage.

Rookie speed demon.

[boostfed]

i've heard rumors of sears repairing wheels for a round 80$.

[cobracommander]

I'll give them a looksie, thanks

[t2ae]

i've also heard rumors of that but i dont know just check around random places

[s4returns]

call brad at digital chassis or evan at absolute automotive. they use a guy (i think his name is glenn) who is a "mobile wheel fixer." i have personally seen his work and it is darn good.

[piso]

i saw a sign at sears saying they do repairs

[s4returns]

post up pics so i can see damage but it may not *tell* the whole story.

you need to determine if it is fixable. sometimes it does not look bad but it can be. while the outside damage may be obvious, testing the rim will allow you to determine how bad the damage is. you can go to a place that uses a roadforce machine. most have the capability to show rotational harmonics. this lets you know how bad the bend is. the only place in this area that i know of having a roadforce machine is digital chassis.

here is an example of a detailed analysis:



if you are on a budget then go with sears or others but if you want it to be *perfect*, then i recommend as i posted earlier. at the same time, my concern here is that you wrote "rookie speed demon" and an incompletely fixed wheel can lead to safety issues obviously at higher speeds.

if you are thinking of getting another set of wheels in the future or for another car, get ones that are forged. yes, they are more expensive but it saves the hassle of fixing wheels especially since we are in a pothole-infested area.

another thing to help with preventing rim damage is to increase the tire pressure and, when replacing tires, get ones with stiffer sidewalls.

finally, as you may know, once you get a wheel fixed, it will not be as strong as before. i recommend that you move that wheel to the rear driver's side or at least the rear, if it is not already. and of course, you probably should move the wheel currently on the opposite side to match.

gl with fixing it.

hth

[cobracommander]

Thanks S4, I'll post some pics today, by the way how do I post pics without going to We-todd-did-racing.com

I really appreciate all you guys help. You guys are life savers, I truly thought I was S.O.L on this.

[cobracommander]

here are the images of the bent rim.

they seem damn large, I truly can't figure this adding pics to posts. I'm not up to date with PC but I know my way around.

Sorry if its too large.

photos.yahoo.com/wycliffe919

[s4returns]

it looks like you have an outer and inner bend. the pics clearly show the outer bend and i think you have an inner bend based on img 1062.

outer bends tend to be trickier to fix and a lot of places cannot do it right.

again, the extent of repair is best revealed by the harmonics analysis, a sample of which i posted earlier.

inner bends of cast wheels tend to be not so bad since they can be heated then machined. i am not very familiar with your wheels but it looks like they are cast based upon the pattern of bend. forged wheels usually show a different pattern of bend. and they usually crack before they bend.

with an outer bend especially, the total cost will include unbending and repainting. and then they usually tack on cost of unmounting and remounting the tire.

the good thing with a bend in cast wheels is that it is cheaper to fix.

but i reiterate that it may be beyond fixing.

from my experience the repair on cast wheels with outer and inner bends (in 1 location) tends to be anywhere from $80-150 for a really good job.

if you do not find a local place that can do it, then you can send it to wheel collision center (www.wheelcollision.com). they did a great job on 1 of my wheels. making this decision of course depends on the comparing to cost of a new wheel and availability of a new wheel.

hth

[cobracommander]

Well negative on Sears and Digital chasis. Digital recommended a place in garner (Wheel Exchange) you can find them at WheelExchange.com. They gave me a quote of 90 - 150, and they would have to send it out for a week. It looks like I'm going to have to use them. The rim is no longer in stock from the people I ordered them from. That's what I get for not buying that 5th wheel when my girl suggested it

Anyway, you guys have been a great help- you guys are alright with me.

Now I have to search the web to see if I can find a centercap for my wheel, due to the original popping off and being ran over by another car. Damn life can suck at times. I guess I'll rock all the wheels without centercaps to keep things uniform.

Thanks again.