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Bent rim, nail in the tire, and a flat..

Urohawk

HR Heisman
Sep 30, 2001
7,956
10,773
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Looking for advice. I've got 20 inch rims with sport tires. Last fall I had to swerve to avoid oncoming car that drifted into my lane and hit a missing spot of black top at 60 mph. It bent the rim and developed a leak. This happened in Sept so I just pulled all my summer rim/tires and put on my winter set so the bent rim could get fixed.

The bent rim was repaired by a reputable place and sat in my basement over the winter. Fast forward, I swapped my summers rims/tires. They told me they found a nail in one of the tires but didn't say which one. Six hours later my tire was down to 20 PSIs. On a closer look, the repaired rim is the one with the tire plug.

Thoughts on going about getting it fixed. I'm afraid both the tire place and the rim shop are going to tell me I need to replace everything, but I don't want to buy a one without knowing the other is fine. Rim replacement is 750 and tire is about 300.
 
Talk is cheap. Literally. At least hear what each place has to say before proceeding. Start by calling them, they may surprise you.

Probably, at some point, gonna want to do as TJ suggested. If it's the patch then simple enough.

If you are at an impasse, remember you can always have the leaking tire swapped out with another tire (Same rim leaks, faulty rim repair likely. No leak on that rim, but leak on the "new" rim the tire bead is likely damaged).

If the rim is irreparably damaged then, of course, get your money back.
 
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Did you call your insurance agent back in September? That's the first thing I would have done.
 
Talk is cheap. Literally. At least hear what each place has to say before proceeding. Start by calling them, they may surprise you.

Probably, at some point, gonna want to do as TJ suggested. If it's the patch then simple enough.

If you are at an impasse, remember you can always have the leaking tire swapped out with another tire (Same rim leaks, faulty rim repair likely. No leak on that rim, but leak on the "new" rim the tire bead is likely damaged).

If the rim is irreparably damaged then, of course, get your money back.
Nailed it.
 
Big rims and sport tires look super kewl.

But they are not remotely durable, so plan on spending $$ for replacement/fixes regularly unless you're only driving on flat interstates/racetracks.
 
For a couple hundred dollar repair? Not worth it for MOST people’s insurance policies/companies.
Yep. Even for $1000-2000

They'll jack your rates up substantially if you claim lots of nickel/dime stuff.
Can you claim that stuff? Sure, but you'll pay the insurer many times over in higher rates over time.

And if you try to switch insurance, they will have access to any past claims you've made, so you won't get their "regular rates", either.
 
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For the moment, lets forget insurance claims and things like this. You just want to be able to trust rim and tire, and how to go about getting that done.

I had to do this exact thing a year ago. One corner kept losing air after about a week. Took it to two tire places - the place where I bought the tires, and a second shop I trust. Remounted the tire, changed the valve...no change. Both places stated the same thing...it was their opinion that the rim had a hairline crack in it that they couldn't find - and I needed to replace the wheel to know for certain.

That's what I did, found a one used...problem went away.

It sounds to me like this is an expensive wheel and tire combination. Now first of all, I highly doubt that there is any type of guarantee with a bent wheel fix on certain types of wheels/damage. You would have to look at the receipt of the place that fixed it to know for certain. But I have been around long enough to know that fixing a bent up wheel (fixing the bend) is one thing, but you have no clue whether there is some sort of hairline crack that either wasn't caught initially, or developed because of the impact and/or repair job.

The tire, you have to check the purchase agreement/shop where bought to see about roadside hazard repair or replacement things.

ALL THIS BEING SAID...the ONLY way you can trust both tire and wheel is to buy replacements. Yes, expensive. But the peace of mind that goes with replacements is worth far more to me than always worrying about that corner while driving the vehicle.

Me personally, I would investigate whether it's wheel or tire before making any decision. It might be tire only...but if the wheel has a hairline crack in it, I'd bite the bullet and find both a tire and wheel replacement. And if that means needing to buy all 4 corners for tires, so be it.


I watch a lot of video about people that fix up vehicles. One thing I can tell you is if the integrity of a wheel is ever in question, they replace it. Many times that involves buying used/matching off the internet if at all possible. And me personally, that's also what I'd do. It sucks, but so does having to continuously air up a tire every few days - as well as simply never trusting driving the vehicle.
 
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Anyone else sing the Thread Title as the Applebees country song? That’s what it reads like.

That’s all I got. Gotta go…

(Singing in head) Bent rim, nail in tire, my hearts on fire…gimme dem riblets.
 
For the moment, lets forget insurance claims and things like this. You just want to be able to trust rim and tire, and how to go about getting that done.

I had to do this exact thing a year ago. One corner kept losing air after about a week. Took it to two tire places - the place where I bought the tires, and a second shop I trust. Remounted the tire, changed the valve...no change. Both places stated the same thing...it was their opinion that the rim had a hairline crack in it that they couldn't find - and I needed to replace the wheel to know for certain.

That's what I did, found a one used...problem went away.

It sounds to me like this is an expensive wheel and tire combination. Now first of all, I highly doubt that there is any type of guarantee with a bent wheel fix on certain types of wheels/damage. You would have to look at the receipt of the place that fixed it to know for certain. But I have been around long enough to know that fixing a bent up wheel (fixing the bend) is one thing, but you have no clue whether there is some sort of hairline crack that either wasn't caught initially, or developed because of the impact and/or repair job.

The tire, you have to check the purchase agreement/shop where bought to see about roadside hazard repair or replacement things.

ALL THIS BEING SAID...the ONLY way you can trust both tire and wheel is to buy replacements. Yes, expensive. But the peace of mind that goes with replacements is worth far more to me than always worrying about that corner while driving the vehicle.

Me personally, I would investigate whether it's wheel or tire before making any decision. It might be tire only...but if the wheel has a hairline crack in it, I'd bite the bullet and find both a tire and wheel replacement. And if that means needing to buy all 4 corners for tires, so be it.


I watch a lot of video about people that fix up vehicles. One thing I can tell you is if the integrity of a wheel is ever in question, they replace it. Many times that involves buying used/matching off the internet if at all possible. And me personally, that's also what I'd do. It sucks, but so does having to continuously air up a tire every few days - as well as simply never trusting driving the vehicle.
If there's no guarantee on a bent wheel fix I guess I'm wondering two things 1) Was that made known upfront? and 2) What's the cost? At some point it's not worth the gamble trying to replace.
 
My guess is the good doctor has a fancy suv and rims/tires etc are not cheap.
 
If you call your insurance it likely would be 2 separate losses. One for pot hole and one for nail so 2 deductibles and 2 losses on your record. The soap on the wheel bead and plug is where I would start.
 
For the moment, lets forget insurance claims and things like this. You just want to be able to trust rim and tire, and how to go about getting that done.

I had to do this exact thing a year ago. One corner kept losing air after about a week. Took it to two tire places - the place where I bought the tires, and a second shop I trust. Remounted the tire, changed the valve...no change. Both places stated the same thing...it was their opinion that the rim had a hairline crack in it that they couldn't find - and I needed to replace the wheel to know for certain.

That's what I did, found a one used...problem went away.

It sounds to me like this is an expensive wheel and tire combination. Now first of all, I highly doubt that there is any type of guarantee with a bent wheel fix on certain types of wheels/damage. You would have to look at the receipt of the place that fixed it to know for certain. But I have been around long enough to know that fixing a bent up wheel (fixing the bend) is one thing, but you have no clue whether there is some sort of hairline crack that either wasn't caught initially, or developed because of the impact and/or repair job.

The tire, you have to check the purchase agreement/shop where bought to see about roadside hazard repair or replacement things.

ALL THIS BEING SAID...the ONLY way you can trust both tire and wheel is to buy replacements. Yes, expensive. But the peace of mind that goes with replacements is worth far more to me than always worrying about that corner while driving the vehicle.

Me personally, I would investigate whether it's wheel or tire before making any decision. It might be tire only...but if the wheel has a hairline crack in it, I'd bite the bullet and find both a tire and wheel replacement. And if that means needing to buy all 4 corners for tires, so be it.


I watch a lot of video about people that fix up vehicles. One thing I can tell you is if the integrity of a wheel is ever in question, they replace it. Many times that involves buying used/matching off the internet if at all possible. And me personally, that's also what I'd do. It sucks, but so does having to continuously air up a tire every few days - as well as simply never trusting driving the vehicle.
Yeah, for me a bent rim repair is a crap shoot I'm not willing to throw on. Just replace the SOB. Of course I'm a wealthy HROT poster so no worries but even so. You just don't win. I just don't mess with shit like that.

A few years back I had a slow leak in one of my front tires and I was getting ready to go on a fairly long trip so I went to Dodge Street Tire (guys I really trust) to get it fixed.

The repair guy called me back and said he had something to show me. A heavy duty staple had punched through just above the tread. He said he was OK with patching it but I would need to keep an eye on it. I told him I was taking about a 1600 or 1700 mile trip next week pulling a 3,000 lb boat and I didn't really want to be keeping an eye on a sketchy tire while I was doing that. He said, "What tires do you want to put on?"
 
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