bent rims

[imdawrlus]

so i go to get some new tires today and i was watching the guy and on the 4th tire he goes "come here and look at this"...so i go over and hes got the last tire on the balancing machine and he puts the top down and im just standing there watching my tire wabble all over the place....it wasent the actual tire, it was the rim moving....he said gm's are "famous" for it.....well now the truck drives fine...it runs smooth on the highway so i have absoloutly no drivability complaints right now....he did tell me that the tire was going to wear out unevenly and that it wouldent be covered on the warrenty....he pretty much said to try to get new rims....

1, what the hell bends them??

2, is it really going to wear the tires out that much faster?

3, what would u do about this?

THANKS!

[imdawrlus]

noones ever had this problem??

[Matt 4.3 TBI]

Your description is a little confusing. Was the tech able to get it balanced?

I've never had a bent rim. Are they steel wheels?
The only time I've heard of bending rims is if you've been hitting curbs, or doing a lot of rock crawling - coming down hard on your wheels.

If the wheel is wobbling while driving it'll not only reduce tire life, but put a lot of stress on your wheel studs.

[imdawrlus]

yes they were able to get it balanced....when it was on the balancer i was watching the tire and rim wobble around....it rides smooth as hell tho...its a plow truck so maby it hit some curbs? i'm probably gonna try to get someone else to look at it...maby they just didnt mount the tire right on the rim? when i was looking at it i could have sworn that the rim was wobbling too......he told me it took six ounces of weight to balence the worst tire....

[Lo'nomA]

I work in a tire and see alot of bent or warped wheels. If yours was wobbling that bad but you dont have any driving problems, i think the guy balancing your wheels is a moron. He could have had it on the balancer crooked. If its that bad you would definatly feel it. I've had problems before balancing stock wheels but it was mostly because they were put on the machine incorrectly.

[Sparky2263]

I'm with Lo'noma, bent wheels are fairly common.

Tire balancing is accomplished by balancing not only the radial (up/down) imbalance but also the lateral (side to side) imbalance. A static balance only accomplishes a radial balance.

I see lateral runout of up to 1/2" due to bent wheels and the customer never feels a thing because the balance cancels out any shake. Radial runout over an 1/8" will shake at 45-65 (depends on tire size) but not above or below.

The bad boy balance is called a force variation balance (the balancer costs a little over 10 grand). You actually measure wheel runout (lateral and radial) and tire runout. The balancer then "match-marks" the spots to line up the wheel and tire. You pop the bead, turn the tire to line up the marks and "Shazam" baddest balance around. Expect to pay 100-125 for this balance job.

[imdawrlus]

oh yea it rides like a dream....even on the highway at 70 its smooth as glass......6 ounces of lead is a lot tho...thats a third of a pound....i dont know how possible it is that alll except for 1 are bent....but i'm going to get a second oppinion now.....

[Sparky2263]

i'm going to get a second oppinion now.....

That would actually be a fifth opinion............

;)

[imdawrlus]

Quote:
Originally Posted by imdawrlus
i'm going to get a second oppinion now.....


That would actually be a fifth opinion............

i ment have someone else look at it with a balencer and make sure they mounted the tires right......

[bvr775]

1, what the hell bends them??


I'll adress this problem.
1.it was bent from the factory(you'll have known by now if it was).
2.bad pot holes
3.overheating your rotors by riding the brakes are haveing to stop suddenly at high speeds and then sudden cooling like wet roads or car washes.
but here's the most common
4. tire plases that use an impact to put your wheels on. They should be evenly torqued manualy. When you hear the little retaded kid out with the impact and it sounds like he's useing a jackhamer to put your wheels on,,run out quickly slap him in the back head and tell him "NO" in a stern voice.
this is how they get away with it and say "it's not our fault" They normaly say they use a torque stick, knowing 90% of the people that come threw don't know jack about tools or rims, but thinck about I can use a torque stick on an impact for about 6 months doing personale work for my clients then i have to replase it because they wear out. A moderatly sized Tire shop puts anywhere between 10-20 sets of tire on a day and that not includeing brake jobs and flat fixing. When was the last time they checked their torque stick? Chances are it's the same stick they've had sence they opened, it's never been calibrated and they have the impact turned full blast with 190psi running threw it.

I've said it before and I'll say it agian..Watch the mechanic or tire monkey when you get mantinance work done or even major repairs. They have to do a large volume and hire underqualifyed cheap labor to make any money and it's your ride that normaly suffers for it.

If you figure up inflation over the years and the amount of skill needed to diagnose and repair cars today as oposed to what a good mechanic was makeing 20 years ago A qualified auto tech should make about 80k a year starting. You need your own shop,be willing work 24 hours a day, have long client list and a show on tlc or the dicovery channel to do even close to that now days.

[HIM]

my dad bent one on his neon.... well i bent it when I was driving it. He had it straightened out at a wheel place I think it was something like 100 bucks but it drove fine until it shelled the carier bearing. Idk id just say screw it man and live with it.

[T Man]

The bad boy balance is called a force variation balance (the balancer costs a little over 10 grand). You actually measure wheel runout (lateral and radial) and tire runout. The balancer then "match-marks" the spots to line up the wheel and tire. You pop the bead, turn the tire to line up the marks and "Shazam" baddest balance around. Expect to pay 100-125 for this balance job.


We have one of these balancers at our school. He he, free ballance for Tommy!!!

[bvr775]

road forse is pretty nise if you have a 4x4 running tall tires because you use less wheel wheights. This means you don't have the wheights flying int you paint on the trail.
125!!!!!! that is a bit much. The most I've heard anyone chargeing is 20 a wheel. I run 37"s on the ford and 39"s on the blazer and it only cost 10 bux a tire.

[T Man]

A handy tip. I recently bent one of my stock steel stamped wheels. A BFH worked really well in the situation. No problems since either

[hellraiser_88]

1, what the hell bends them??

2, is it really going to wear the tires out that much faster?

3, what would u do about this?

THANKS!

1 See BVR755's post

2 Yes, My dad warped a whel on his ranger when he hit a huge pot hole and it rode horrable and you could tell how it was eatign the tire away faster than the others if you looked closely.

3. Buy new rims&tires, my dad tried to get a rim, to replace his stock on the warped, and all of the ones he got from JC Whitney and the local salvage yards were warped.

[Sparky2263]

125!!!!!! that is a bit much. The most I've heard anyone chargeing is 20 a wheel.

Well, I only know 3 fellow shop owners and 2 dealerships that have them. If you can find someone that will mount up the wheel/tire assbly, take the runout and road force measurements on their 11k balancer, take it off, put it on their 8k tire changer to pop the bead, match the marks up, re-mount it on the force balancer and take the measurements again, all for $20 a wheel, hey, I say go for it. 25-30 a wheel works out to 100-120 anyway.

The range of price also depends on how many wheel/tire assblys. actually need match mounting. Most of the time it's only 1 or 2.

[Hanr3]

I'll adress this problem.
4. tire plases that use an impact to put your wheels on. They should be evenly torqued manualy. When you hear the little retaded kid out with the impact and it sounds like he's useing a jackhamer to put your wheels on,,run out quickly slap him in the back head and tell him "NO" in a stern voice.
this is how they get away with it and say "it's not our fault" They normaly say they use a torque stick, knowing 90% of the people that come threw don't know jack about tools or rims, but thinck about I can use a torque stick on an impact for about 6 months doing personale work for my clients then i have to replase it because they wear out. A moderatly sized Tire shop puts anywhere between 10-20 sets of tire on a day and that not includeing brake jobs and flat fixing. When was the last time they checked their torque stick? Chances are it's the same stick they've had sence they opened, it's never been calibrated and they have the impact turned full blast with 190psi running threw it.

I have to disagree with this.
The torque stick is not a torque wrench. The stick is only used to run the lug nuts down and close to the recommended torque. The shaft is made of spring steel, it is designed to torque to a maximum of whatever the sitck is. After the tires are rehung, the vehicle is dropped to the ground and each and every lug nut is torqued to spec with a torque wrench. Our torque wrenchs are recalibrated every month. We don't recalibrate torque sticks, we replace them. Far as I know, you cannot recalibrate spring steel. Like trying to heat up a leaf spring to bend it more, it will last a couple of months then go back to its previous shape. The nature of spring steel.

As for the problem with the bent rim, no doubt you have it fixed/replaced by now. However in case someone else reads this later, I'll post up the solution.
Someone mentioned only one aspect of "Road Force Balancing". The ability to "Match" the tire to the wheel. The other thing a "Road Force Balancer" does is check tire road force and rim run out. If your rim is too warped it will suggest replacement. If your tire is egg shaped it will recommend match balanceing if at all posibile, or replacement if match balancing will not fix the problem. Match balancing aligns the flat spot on teh tire with the high spot on the rim. We charge $15 per tire to Road Force Balance. If oyur rim is bent, get it Road Force Balanced. Roads Force Balancing also measure the lateral force (vibration) of the tire at speed. It then makes recommenations how to get ride of that vibration if at all possible. It will measure vibrations you wil never feel. Even a eggshaped tire can be balanced, however it is still eggshaped and will cuase all sorts of problems. Most start replacing steering/suspension parts and then come back saying they tried everything and hope Road Force Balancing will fix the problem. 9 time out of 10, the problem is not fixable at this point. Had tehy come in when tehy vobration started, yea we can ussually get it fixed. Call the tire shops in your area, and ask them if they can road force balance.

We do considerable more then 10 sets of tires a day. I can do 10 sets by myself. Its mindless work, and great exercise for someone who polishes a seat for there normal job. Yes I use impact tools, and I use my impact gun to remove and rehang the tires. I have never had a return for screwed up lug nuts. One guy tried to blame me, however you could tell the cross threading happended when he tried to put the lug nuts back on. Oh, and my impact gun is not on max, not that it matters anyways. The spring steel in teh torque stick won't let you over torque the lug nuts, unless you grab the wrong stick.