Bent rim

[bench]

I had my front tires balanced and rotated at Speedo on their recommendation. The next morning the right front wheel was resting on the rim. I had a mobile service air up the tire and returned to Speedco. They rebalanced the tire and told me the rim was bent (side to side out of round.) Could this have been caused by their error? Nothing was said about the rime originally. Thanks in advance.

[Mike Canter]

Is it an aluminum wheel or a steel wheel? There is no such thing as a true steel wheel. They all wobble and normally you keep turning the tire on the rim until you get the best combination. Why did the air leak out of the tire. Did you pick up a nail or was it a valve stem problem. If the rim is really out of tolerance then it was most likely like that before you went there unless you slammed something pretty big on the highway. If it is on the fron then move it to the back and try it. If you have a spare then swap it out with the spare rim. If it is aluminum then not much you can do about it. There are companies that can straighten them but not sure they do it on large wheels. Speedco should know.

[bench]

The wheel is aluminum. It is bent so the sided are oof-when spinning the tire there is a slight side to side movement.

[Mike Canter]

Did they tell you how much .025", .040" or how much. I have always been told that .040 is the limit before you feel it? Was it on the front and not cracked then put it on the back and try it. Did you find out why it went flat?

[bench]

Mike,
The tire went flat because Speedco screwed the presser pro sensor on too tight. I am trying to determine if the front rime ending up resting on the ground from the air loss could have caused the rim to bent. thanks in advance for your help.

[Mike Canter]

The answer of if the rim sitting on the ground with a flat tire caused it to be bent is NO. It probably leaked out fairly slowly and gently settled on the ground with the tire between it and the ground. Did you find out how bent the rim is. They should be able to tell you how far out it is. Have they taken off the machine and flipped it 180* and measured it again to make sure it was on the machine tight?

[wa8yxm]

I would say no, Speedco did not cause the bent rim, nor did the tire going flat bend it. UNLESS YOU DROVE ON IT which I do not believe you did from what you posted.

Now the good news.. It may be fixable.. I know I've taken rims to a Weld Shop that has the proper equipment in Detroit (Marty's Welding, on Telegraph north of 5 Mile as I recall) and gotten them back, Mag-Alum alloy rims may not have the proper shine where they are repaired (those do not bend, they break) but he can fix a rim for like 10 cents on the replacement dollar in many cases.

I assume other shops have the same ability, but all welders do rim repair.