Bent rim?

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Ws6

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So, I have never had a bent rim before because I am not a [censored] driver, however, I bought a used cop car, so I'm learning a thing...

That said, I had a vibration I didn't like in the steering, and I took my car to a dealer and they balanced it out and said I had a bent rim. Okay, fine, I EBAY a used P7B rim to myself, it's OEM FORD, I paint it, and I bring it to them to install. They do, and balance it up, and that's it...but the car is even WORSE now, and they used a STOOPID amount of weights for brand new Continental DWS06+ tires I just put on. Those aren't trash tires that should require 6" of wheel-clamp weights per tire to get trued, and it was EVERY rim.

So, I took it to my local Kia dealer. They just got a new building and they've cleaned house of their techs and long story short, are trying to be on their A game.

The rims magically shed 80% of the previous weight it looks like, but they say "You have a bent rim". It is the rim I replaced. The car drives fine, now (the previous bent rim AND this new bent rim are over the rear pass so no way they were causing the steering wheel nibbles I was getting).

Anyway, car drives fine on the way home 0-80, and I get out and now want to inspect these rims. I have the old one at home and the new one is on the car. I look really close. I run my finger around the edge. Sure enough, there is a tiny 1" section with a wee little "waver" to it on the outer lip.

Does this even literally matter? How/why? It's not even affecting the bead, nor is it over the contact patch. As long as the wheel is balanced, how could this POSSIBLY matter? It looks like someone took a small hammer and gave the very lip a "tap" and you can detect the waver running a finger quickly or looking very closely.

Is this me being ignorant or is this 1 shop excusing a trash balance machine and shop #2 hedging their bets with a picky customer? Or do I need to take the old rim (that I couldn't find anything worse on) and get it straightened and swap back?
 
I have a slightly bent rim on my Tesla. It’s only apparent on certain roads at certain speeds. The right combo of road and speed and it’s pretty bad. But most of the time not noticeable. So yes it’s a thing but how common it is I’m not sure.
 
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Ws6 said:
So, I have never had a bent rim before because I am not a [censored] driver, however, I bought a used cop car, so I'm learning a thing...

That said, I had a vibration I didn't like in the steering, and I took my car to a dealer and they balanced it out and said I had a bent rim. Okay, fine, I EBAY a used P7B rim to myself, it's OEM FORD, I paint it, and I bring it to them to install. They do, and balance it up, and that's it...but the car is even WORSE now, and they used a STOOPID amount of weights for brand new Continental DWS06+ tires I just put on. Those aren't trash tires that should require 6" of wheel-clamp weights per tire to get trued, and it was EVERY rim.

So, I took it to my local Kia dealer. They just got a new building and they've cleaned house of their techs and long story short, are trying to be on their A game.

The rims magically shed 80% of the previous weight it looks like, but they say "You have a bent rim". It is the rim I replaced. The car drives fine, now (the previous bent rim AND this new bent rim are over the rear pass so no way they were causing the steering wheel nibbles I was getting).

Anyway, car drives fine on the way home 0-80, and I get out and now want to inspect these rims. I have the old one at home and the new one is on the car. I look really close. I run my finger around the edge. Sure enough, there is a tiny 1" section with a wee little "waver" to it on the outer lip.

Does this even literally matter? How/why? It's not even affecting the bead, nor is it over the contact patch. As long as the wheel is balanced, how could this POSSIBLY matter? It looks like someone took a small hammer and gave the very lip a "tap" and you can detect the waver running a finger quickly or looking very closely.

Is this me being ignorant or is this 1 shop excusing a trash balance machine and shop #2 hedging their bets with a picky customer? Or do I need to take the old rim (that I couldn't find anything worse on) and get it straightened and swap back?
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If it ain't broke, anymore; Don't "fix it."
 
A bent rim happens a lot on cars with very low profile tires. Just hitting a pothole can bend it. I've had a couple of bent rims and it is obvious when you see it. Its not the sealing lip it's out of round on the inside part.
 
There are a lot of bent wheels out there. I have a balancer in my home garage and see them. If you have a concern see if you can go back with the tech and watch your tire on a balancer, or find a way to spin it up to 5 mph on your car (idling in drive?).

I'm tickled when I find a wheel that spins smooth as glass. Many/ most have 1/8" of "bend." 1/4 inch I can feel. Tires also come out-of-round, eg "egg shaped", with about the same amount of runout and the same results.

It's not just the bead surface that bends; the entire structure of the wheel can between the lug holes and the "rim" eg bead seating surface.

It's eye-opening to see how awful a tire&wheel assembly can look but have it still ride okay. Techs "know" which are the worst and put them on the rear axle, typically RR for the worst-worst. When I worked at a tire store it was unstated policy to NOT tell the customer about a bent rim unless it was egregious, and sell them some tires and send them on their way. If they had a balance concern we had a good ride-quality warranty and would take care of them after the sale. But we had to make the tires hit the road to get on (off?) the books and finalize the sale. If we sent a customer to a junkyard to go find a rim that would interrupt (confuse) them and they wouldn't return, when they had otherwise walked in the door ready to buy tires.
 
I had 2 rims fixed that were bent from potholes. Crap happens. Rainy night, craters between lanes, felt like I ran over a concrete block. Multiple people with lower profile tires on the shoulder after it. I "lucked out" with just a bent rim, bubbled tire and messed up alignment. Tire was a week old and replaced under road hazard. NYS claimed no knowledge of the issues even though they had road crews out 24 hour per day filling holes in that area. This is I-495 Long Island Expressway.

1777470126880.webp
 
Arc said:
Myself the first thing I would do with an old cop car is pull the rear seat and see how many things where hidden there 😂
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My kids went to Street Survival class. One of the kids their had a recent purchase older cop car, it still had the plexiglass barriers and a full 1 piece plastic bench in the back. No where to hide stuff and easy to hose out and spray with cleaning and anti-bacteria stuff.
 
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My niece bent an alloy rim about two weeks ago . I took it to a shop that repairs wheels and they said it was a no go . I stopped at a salvage yard and pulled one off of a wrecked car. It even had a good tire on it . 75 bucks OTD .
 
I’ve got one as well on my original rogue midnight rims and have driven myself mad trying to figure it out. I bought a new set of rims and had a second set of tires installed to rule out any other issues. All suspension parts and mounts are tight. Now my replacement tires are worn, so installed my old set and the vibration is back. There’s no curb rash and I scraped off any existing residue from previous sticky weights and had them road forced and it’s still there. It’s only prevalent on new roads and any speed over 65. The tires are new pro contacts but any tire before those did the same thing. It’s maddening!
 
CapriRacer said:
Did I read that right - that previous tires did the same thing? If so, that points to the road, not tires/wheels.
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These were the factory rims. After the oem hankooks wore out I put on primacy’s and the vibration was there, next came a set of cc2s and the vibration was still there. I ordered the exact same rims and put on continental lx25s and no vibration. I hated the cc2s so gave them to a co worker in need and had pro contacts installed and road forced. Vibration is still there. The rims have no scuffs or defects that I can see and have been road forced and spun balanced twice with the pro contacts. The lx25s are pretty worn so I was hoping to salvage these for a bit without having to switch the tires over to newer rims. The vibration starts around 70mph and is way more noticeable on newer paved road.
 
Let's see if I have this right: This is a Nissan Rogue. Vibration starts at 70 mph, but only on newly paved highways. You are in Ohio.

OEM wheels/Hankook tires = No Vibration
OEM wheels/Michelin Primacy = Vibration
OEM wheels/Michelin Cross Country 2 = Vibration
OEM wheels/ Conti ProContact = Vibration
Replacement wheels/Conti LX25's = No Vibration

The common denominator seems to be the OEM wheel. But the speed is a little high for tire/wheel issues. Plus, newly paved roads seems to be important here. I am aware that in the north, where the roads freeze and thaw, the roads do a bit of heaving due to that freeze/thaw cycle and the only time you don't encounter this is on newly paved roads. By the next summer, the road has become bumpy, so the vibration gets disguised in all the bumps.

You said the tires/wheels have been road forced, but in your neck of the woods, the normal acceptance level would be based on those bumpy roads - meaning that newly paved roads might reveal a vibration to a sensitive vehicle/driver. That makes getting the actual RoadForce values important.

Are you feeling the vibration in the steering wheel or the seatback? That would reveal if it was front or rear.
 
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