It just came to my attention one of the 21 year old 15" aluminum OE Volvo rims on my car is bent. It's an offset design and the inner bead flange, being furthest from the hub, is the worst off.
Rookie metallurgist question, but does aluminum bend? I figure it shattered if it hit a pothole hard enough. And, in fact, I've seen this happen. Would this be a casting defect? Has this gone on for twenty odd years with noone noticing? It knocks the tire out of round by 1/8-1/4".
It spent a couple miles with a nearly flat tire, but it was caught before the rim flange was riding on pavement. Could have taken a bridge expansion joint or similar fairly hard. It's sat on the rear axle where not much is going on; I put a new tire on and now have a spin balancer so I can now see how dreadful my gear is.
Rookie metallurgist question, but does aluminum bend? I figure it shattered if it hit a pothole hard enough. And, in fact, I've seen this happen. Would this be a casting defect? Has this gone on for twenty odd years with noone noticing? It knocks the tire out of round by 1/8-1/4".
It spent a couple miles with a nearly flat tire, but it was caught before the rim flange was riding on pavement. Could have taken a bridge expansion joint or similar fairly hard. It's sat on the rear axle where not much is going on; I put a new tire on and now have a spin balancer so I can now see how dreadful my gear is.