My repair shop is telling me I have my third bent wheel on my Sienna van. Neither my husband nor I have experienced bent wheels before in our combined 50+ years of driving. I was there because my Goodyear tires had recently been rotated and I was experiencing a vibration. The tires have 40,000 miles and I’ve already replaced 2. Now, I’m being told that my other two tires are bad and that my wheel is slightly bent. I overheard a tech tell the manager that he bent a wheel while I was waiting. Is that possible? Could the repair shop bend wheels doing maintenance? How long should a person be able to drive on tires warrantied for 80,000 without problems? Next time, do I buy the cheaper tires, since I’m going to be replacing them anyway?
It might be a good idea to check with a second shop.
What kind of wheels do you have. Standard steel, original equipment alloy or after market alloy? Most of those fancy wheels are actually not as strong as the old cheap steel wheels. Now the wheels on race cars, are generally alloy and very stong, but not the same alloy or design as those on passenger cars.
What kind of driving do you do? Do you tend to hit curbs?The wheels are either the original to the Sienna XLE or the comparable replacements that this shop put on. No, we don’t parallel park, hit curbs, or run into potholes. We do a lot of driving in this vehicle, usually putting a couple hundred miles on each weekend driving our kids to sports events. Since the first bent wheel, I’ve been paying attention! I will be going to another shop but would really like to have a closing conversation with this manager, especially if his tech did the damage in question. We realize it’s hard to prove. What are your thoughts on tires?