99 Acura Integra 95k
One of the OEM wheel is bent - the rest 3 are fine.
What is the best way to take care of it? Or just don’t do anything - it is not noticeable while you drive.
You may not notice it but a bent wheel can scrub a tire off over time.
A wheel that is hit hard enough to bend it may also bend the flange of the wheel hub so the hub should be inspected also.
The best way to take care of it is to replace wheel and/or hub as required.
You might google ‘alloy wheel repair yourcity’, there are lots of shops that can repair moderate damage.
replace or repair the rim.
you may not notice it but your tire will.
In addition to OK4450’s points, the bent rim might also be causing oscillations that are being absorbed by your suspension, causing unnecessary wear on the components.
I’m with Texases on this. Wheel repair has become commonplace. Those that have had wheels repaired seem happy with the results.
Had someone measuring the run out - he measured it to be 55,000 - ie just over 1mm
The Hub or the flange is not damaged at all.
We do not feel any vibration when driving
Given it is alloy, should I still try to fix it? Costs about $120 or so
Did he measure both lateral runout and radial runout?
If he did, and both are hovering at or below the 1mm mark, the wheel is technically acceptable. If he did not, you need to know that both should be checked.
Bottom line in my book is that there’s something “out” on that wheel that’s led you to know it’s bent. Some symptom. If the wheel were truely okay, we wouldn;t be having this conversation. You have to ask yourself what that “something” is. If I have a bad wheel, I repair or replace it…and I just replaced one a few months ago (darned potholes). It’s your car, your tires, and your money. If you choose to live with that symptom and accept the consequences, it’s your choice. But if you want the car to be right again you have to take care of the wheel…repair or replace.
- The device was mounted perpendicular to the rim rotation - is it lateral? How do you measure the other?
They guy is very mechanical and his work is of precision. He said 40,000 = 1mm & limit is 20,000
- During the routine wheel balancing, the mechanic showed me that it was bent - we had no knowledge
Lateral runout is the amount the rim moves back and forth as it rotates. Radial runout is the amount the distanace from the rotating axis to the rim. Generall 1mm+/- is considered about the maximum variation acceptable in either measuerment.
It doesn;t sound like the problem is serious, and the variation may not even be due to damage.
By the way, he was saying forty thousanths (.0040 of an inch) , not forty thousand (40,000). .0039" equals one mm. I’ve attached a chart for your reference.
http://mdmetric.com/tech/cvtcht.htm
In short, it spinds like you’re fine.
If you can’t feel any vibration, get a second person to drive it (blind, don’t tell them anything) and get their opinion on vibration. Peoples’ sensitivity varies quite a bit from complete dead-a$$ to “drive over a dime a tell it is heads up” sensitive. If the 2nd opinion says there is a vibration, as several posters here say, it will wear out your tire faster on that wheel.
For a replacement, take a picture of your wheel and stop by the local auto recyclers. You might find a match off a wreck for less than the $120 to straighten.
Is this the scenario, you bought new tires, the balance tech notices the wheel is bent, but you have never noticed a problem? If this is true, then who ever dismounted the old tire, bent the rim. When he went to break the bead on the old tire, he hit the rim on the underside with the bottom bead breaker. The wheel was bolted to the tire changing machine so when that hydraulically powered arm cam up and hit the rim instead of the tire, the plane of the rim was distorted.
You could figure out exactly where the rim was hit, turn it over and hit the other side with the bead breaker, it should straighten the wheel. But a professional rim repair shop would be better.
BTW, you won’t feel any vibration if the bent wheel is on the rear, but you will when the tire is rotated to the front.