3 bent wheels; can they be successfully straightened?

[racer2086]

Hey guys. Few questions. Car is still pretty new to me, so just found this out. Went to get the front tires balanced due to a shake above 80mph.

As soon as he put it on the balancer, the balance was good, but inner lip was obviously bent. Both left wheels and the rear right, slightly. No cracks and tires loose no air.

I've had experience only once before with wheel repair on my E38 and it wasn't great. But that was to fix a crack in a rim and refinish. They welded it (quite poorly I may add), but it was straight and didn't need straightening. For the cost, though, I should have just located another wheel.

These ZHP wheels seem harder to find and more expensive. Can a good wheel guy get these straight? Will they crack trying to straighten them? And are these rims more prone to bending than others? Thanks

[JPMo]

Well I can just speak from my experience, but I bent a wheel a little while back after hitting a pothole. Caused horrible shaking from like 65-80 mph. I found a place that did wheel repairs and had pretty good reviews so I went there. The guys were super cool, showed me around their shop and fixed my wheel. The guy had been doing it for a long long time and the shop was full of BMWs.

So yes the wheels can be straightened successfully if you get someone who knows what they’re doing

[racer2086]

So I took it to the wheel guy and all 4 were bent, the right front the least bad of the 4. He rebalanced everything after and I took it on the highway finally this past Friday. Wow the car is glassy smooth. It wasn't cheap, but totally worth it.

[RUS_ZHP]

I am glad to hear that you have a great results with straightening the wheela. I was in the same position when I bought my car. 3 wheels were bent quite badly, bad they were successfully recovered.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[John in VA]

It's nice to hear you found a competent shop. You should mention it so the next owner in your area can also have a good experience.

[racer2086]

Good idea! The shop is called Lex Wheel Repair in Brandon, FL. Tiny place. The guy does everything himself, so he's who you deal with. Good guy who cares about his work and his customers.

[fredo]

Check this E90post link. The driver thinks the accident was due to a bent rim which was repaired.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=28145077&postcount=1

[Galapolis]

Check this E90post link. The driver thinks the accident was due to a bent rim which was repaired.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=28145077&postcount=1

This is exactly the reason why driving on repaired wheels is illegal in Germany. I currently have two small bends in my rear wheels. You can't get 78s in the US, so I've decided to not repair them and wait until I can get another set when I head home. It's not worth the risk.

[Pilot05]

Check this E90post link. The driver thinks the accident was due to a bent rim which was repaired.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=28145077&postcount=1

The theory that a previously repaired rim contributed to this crash is a wild-assed guess on the part of the poster


He had a modified E90, he floored it, he got it an accident. Many things could have have caused his wreck..

I am not going to stop repairing rims and driving on them because of this..

[fredo]

There's another theory on post #5: "Based on the large section of missing wheel, it looks like to me the left front brake caliper got loose from the hub and broke through the wheel, locking the left front and you spun. You must have caught the soft shoulder and it flipped you."

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1866773

[pedro2u]

I replied earlier to that thread and said the same thing!

[GeorgeH]

There's another theory on post #5: "Based on the large section of missing wheel, it looks like to me the left front brake caliper got loose from the hub and broke through the wheel, locking the left front and you spun. You must have caught the soft shoulder and it flipped you."

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1866773

To me it looks like the barrel of the rim is bent inside towards the center/hub. I would highly doubt that the wheel failed from a repair after 3yrs.

Small to medium bends I don't think twice about them. Cracks are a different story though, I do have a wheel that was cracked and repaired. I don't have any concern running that on my street cars that aren't being driven at the limit, but I will not drive that wheel on track where I'll be banging it off curbs. YMMV and all that stuff, do what allows you to sleep at night. :)