[ShanMan14]

I hit a pothole about 2 years ago and it bent the outer edge of my front wheel. I've since had it "pounded" back to round, or as round as you can get it.

I can still detect where it was bent and straightened. Are there any safety issues in doing this? Should I have had it replaced versus repaired?

 

[Need4Speed]

I hit a pothole about 2 years ago and it bent the outer edge of my front wheel. I've since had it "pounded" back to round, or as round as you can get it.

I can still detect where it was bent and straightened. Are there any safety issues in doing this? Should I have had it replaced versus repaired?

this is probably a question best answered by our resident wrench heads, but IMHO, when its bent, the integrity of the rim is of course compromised, therefore weaker to some degree..over time, it could come back to haunt you.

Thants my .02

 

[larryg]

IMHO you should replace the rim. I'm no metalurgist but I do know that cast materials do not take well to bending, the metal gets brittle if it is not worked at a specific temperature.

In addition, I have seen rims that were "straightened" professionally and I wasn't impressed. While they did get rid if the flat spot so there was no hop on the spin balancer, you could still see lateral run out as a wobble. These rims were from a bike that was crashed hard on a track but if they were that bad, they shouldn't have tried to fix them.

Larry

 

[GSXR1000DJ]

See...he knew the answer. :thumbs:

 

[zedhead]

I've had wheels straightened over here in the UK by professional wheel builders and I couldn't tell, at all, where the dent or flat spot had been...
I guess you just have to get the right people to do the job, there's no way I would trust some back street bodger to do it, only people who know what they're talking about...

 

[ShanMan14]

IMHO you should replace the rim. I'm no metalurgist but I do know that cast materials do not take well to bending, the metal gets brittle if it is not worked at a specific temperature.

In addition, I have seen rims that were "straightened" professionally and I wasn't impressed. While they did get rid if the flat spot so there was no hop on the spin balancer, you could still see lateral run out as a wobble. These rims were from a bike that was crashed hard on a track but if they were that bad, they shouldn't have tried to fix them.

Larry

Thanks Larry! :cheers:

 

[zedhead]

you could still see lateral run out as a wobble.
Larry

In that case they were NOT straightened 'professionally'!

 

[larryg]

In that case they were NOT straightened 'professionally'!

That was my point. They should have told us the rims were too damaged to be repaired. There aren't that many places that offer this service and we used one that was supposed to have a good reputation.

Either way, I'm still not convinced that a repaired rim won't crack the next time it takes a hit and that is why I would recommend replacing it.

Larry