Bent lip from curb damage, OK to drive? Pics

[stranger706]

Wife was turning into work parking lot, someone swung wide or something so she swerved and knicked the curb to avoid the other vehicle. Tire is ok, no bulge in the sidewall. Nice little dent in the lip of the rim. These are aluminum wheels. Is this ok to drive on? The cheapest I found one online was $350 shipped. Hoping to avoid that route. Going to get the alignment checked over the weekend.

 

[rshunter]

Doesn't look like enough damage to make it a blowout issue. I'd still take it by a wheel & rim repair shop and have them look at it. Just to make sure there aren't any cracks that don't show up clearly in a photo, considering that it's a cast wheel. You should be able to find a local shop in your Yellow Pages. At worst, a repair should be a shed-load cheaper than a replacement.

 

[nwjones18]

Originally Posted By: rshunter
Doesn't look like enough damage to make it a blowout issue. I'd still take it by a wheel & rim repair shop and have them look at it. Just to make sure there aren't any cracks that don't show up clearly in a photo, considering that it's a cast wheel. You should be able to find a local shop in your Yellow Pages.


+1

 

[daves87rs]

Not sure..but from that angle I'd have it looked at with the tire off...

 

[addyguy]

Maybe an unprofessional opinion, but if it holds air, and the tire doesn't shake or is unbalanced, I'd leave it.

 

[willix]

To say she "nicked" the curb is being very generous. "Slammed hard" would be more accurate.

 

[eljefino]

Absolutely ok. Lucky it bent. If I get motivated I have an aluminum rim in my scrap pile that shattered; I'll get pictures.

 

[casperfun]

hardly noticeable.

 

[HTSS_TR]

From picture# 4 the damage seems to be severe, it may be okay on slow city speed but it can be dangerous on highway speed for a prolong drive. Few hundreds to fix it is money well spent, you don't want your wife drive it on highway and get the tire blow out.

 

[PandaBear]

You can easily repair this. I'd not leave it like that as it might be lots of vibration at highway speed or during cornering.

 

[HWEaton]

http://woodyswheelworks.com/index.shtml

I know this dude. He actually had to stop in at my shop in WYO for some tire work. Ship it to him.

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
From picture# 4 the damage seems to be severe, it may be okay on slow city speed but it can be dangerous on highway speed for a prolong drive. Few hundreds to fix it is money well spent, you don't want your wife drive it on highway and get the tire blow out.


I agree that photo #4 is the key photo - and what I get is that the flange has been bent outward and the only way that could happen is if the tire had bottomed out against itself. That means the tire has been damaged, but not yet enough to be visible. Since this is your wife's car, I would suggest replacing the tire, rather than wait for a problem to exhibit itself. Peace of mind is a small price to pay.

 

[Papa Bear]

I bet it hit so hard that it knocked the cell phone right out of her hand ...j/k

 

[stranger706]

Wow thanks for all the response and information. The saga continues...

I went out this morning to install the spare tire until I figure out what to do. As I'm walking around the garage and gathering tools I notice the rear rim on the same side has the exact same curb damage, a bent lip and scuffed tire. So BOTH wheels on the passenger side have curb damage.

So now, 4 new wheels are on the way. After talking with the wife I went with the machined aluminum wheels instead of the chrome-painted aluminum wheels since they were half the price.

I'm going to have the tires inspected and alignment checked when I get the new wheels installed.

Thanks for the help/advice.

 

[old farmer]

I have the same damage on my Aviator cast aluminum rims. I bought them as take offs through Ebay to use for winter tires. They came that way in the box. I tried to straighten out the worst one, but it cracked away from the wheel. I took the rims to the tire shop where I bought my winter tires and they said it would be alright because the bead where the seal is is way down in the wheel not up at the edge.
I filled the crack (it was a very short and slight crack) with Metalset and sanded and painted it and 5 years later it still is good. But it probably is best to repair or replace them. I think I'll do that next year.