I recently purchased a 2006 BMW 750Li with 19" wheels and felt some light vibration in steering wheel around 50 MPH and found out (when I took it to BMW dealership) that the passenger side front wheel rim is bent and that was causing the vibrations. BMW has quoted me $750 to replace the rim and balance the wheels. I have a few questions on this.
How does a rim get bent - is this an indication of an accident or this is a common occurence?
Shold this have been caught by the folks who claim that each car goes through 140 point inspection?
If I don’t get the rim replaced, does it have any long term detrimental impact on the car like tires wearing out unevenly or alignment problem etc. or is the only side effect of this the slight vibration that I am experiencing?
Can I replace my spare wheel rim with the one that is bent?
Finally, I saw someone advertising a refurbished OEM 19" rim on the internet for like $250 - they mentioned that it met all BMW standards - is it advisable to buy these rims and replace my bent one?
I’ve read of this fairly frequently, pothole + low profile tires = bent rim. It’s not likely anything else is damaged, but you should have the alignment checked and have them make sure everything’s OK. If this was a certified car they should have caught it, but now they can claim you did it. You do need to fix it, it’ll wear tires, and might cause other problems. And it will bug you every day! You can certainly get a used one on the internet, but I would want some kind of return policy if it’s not acceptable. Also check around local big tire sellers, they sometimes have ‘take offs’ from people getting even bigger wheels.
One other option-repair your rim. Google ‘alloy wheel repair yourtown’, see what pops up. If you’re in a big city there will probably be a shop that can do it for about $150.
If you have a 19" alloy wheel as a spare, by all means use it. Make sure it’s not bent too…
Yes, this will be an ongoing problem
Used car inspections and certifications mean NOTHING… You bought the car “as is”…