bent wheel (stock)

[ilh]

About a month ago I noticed a bit of "thrumming" at 70+ mph from the right rear, and maybe a touch of vibration. Today, with the 60F weather I rotated the tires, and what do you know, that wheel is bent on the inner edge. Bummer. With the wheel on the front, I have quite a bit of vibration now (of course).

 

Here are some photos:

 

http://www.csail.mit.edu/~ilh/pics/bent-1.jpg

 

http://www.csail.mit.edu/~ilh/pics/bent-2.jpg

 

http://www.csail.mit.edu/~ilh/pics/bent-3.jpg

 

12,500 miles and otherwise not a scratch or bit of curb rash. Bummer.

 

I actually suspect it happened while the dealer put 300+ miles on my car diagnosing my stalling issue a while ago. The first time I hit the highway after that I noticed the thrumming, and when my new throttle body came in I told them to check the right rear, and they of course found nothing. Hmm. I don't have any proof, and I don't really know for sure. I don't believe I have ever hit anything very hard. I am very careful, particularly on Cambridge, MA roads.

 

Anyways, is this fixable? If so, can anyone recommend a place in the Boston area? I'd even consider Manchester, Providence, or Hartford if there is a particularly good place. How much should I expect such a fix to cost?

 

Thanks.

 

--Lee

[Guest *Jedimaster*]

Not enough sidewall?

[agctr]

Thats SO pothole damage but you would have to hit it pretty hard to cause damage like that. Most rim shops will be able to prepare that pretty easily. Looks like there is no tyre damage which is a good thing also.

Ada///M.

[VXCL]

i thought the car comes with stick on weights from the factory?. or did you have that done for whatever reason? i don't remember seeing any of the clamp on weights on my wheels. is that a band aid for the bent rim?

[ilh]

The wheel has stick-on weights near the outside and this clamp-on weight on the inside. I think my other wheels are the same way. As far as I know, this is how they came from the factory.

 

You can see the stick-on weights in the first pic.

 

--Lee

[ilh]

I called the dealer today and very gently pointed out I think the damage happened while the car was in their care several weeks ago. I pointed out that when I got my car back on a loaner throttle body, I immediately noticed the new, subtle vibration coming from the right rear at highway speeds and requested they check it out when they swapped in the new throttle body. That was in their records. They found nothing when they checked out the new vibration. I don't know how hard they looked.

 

Anyways, without any pushing at all on my part over the phone, the service manager offered to swap the wheel out with a 11,000-mile car there. I think he intends to swap the whole wheel/tire combination.

 

Assuming the wear level is comparable to what I have on my tires (12,500 miles), any problem with this swap?

 

I will visually inspect the "new" wheel and tire, and I will measure the tread depth to the best of my ability. What is the best way to measure tread depth for these purposes? I have an approximate reference point for my tires on the back of a penny.

 

As long as I swap to a wheel without any blemishes, this will be a very good outcome. I freely admit that I don't know 100% that they did the damage, it was quite a while ago, and standard dealer practice these days is to deny everything. The fact that my dealer is going to stand up and make things right without any real pushing from me is very impressive in this day and age.

 

--Lee

[VXCL]

TAKE THE WHEEL! awesome things are being taken care of without costing you $$$$$