The other day I was driving on the highway and during a lane change I looked over my shoulder and apparently didn't see something I hit. It was not a car or an animal, the sound was so bad I thought I ran over a bike or hit a stove laying in the middle of the highway. Couldn't see anything in the rear view so I just assume it was a really big pothole.
Put the car up, couldn't see anything under the car, no body damage, nothing.
Today I notice an odd mark on the sidewall of the tire that hit whatever. It's as if something rubbed the dust off the sidewall. I pull the wheel cover back a little right near it and notice the lip of the steel wheel is bent.
The reason I checked the wheel again today (and found the problem) is because after the hit I've noticed a consistent vibration in the steering wheel past 70mph.
Could appreciate your help for answering these questions:
1. Does a bend always need to be fixed? I don't know if it's just the very lip of the rim that's bent or the actual barrel of the wheel itself. It looks extremely minor. Can it just be balanced out with more weights?
2. I just want to fix the balance issue. Not sure if the balance issue was caused by internal damage to the tire, a thrown weight or the minor bend on the lip or possibly more of a bend I can't see.
3. How much would you think it would cost for a tire shop to fix a bent rim? What exactly do they do to fix the bent rim? This is a steelie. If it's going to be more than 50 I might as well just buy a new steelie, I'm due for new tires anyway.
I'll get a picture for you guys soon. I'm convinced whatever it was, I happened to hit it with just the outer lip of the wheel (hence why the sidewall was scraped). That's probably the worst place to hit because it puts more leverage on the wheel width wise? That's also probably why the hit sounded so harsh and bad, it contacted the wheel directly (it literally sounded like crunching metal LOL). If it had gone under the tire, it would have been a dull and softer blow because it would have hit the tread and not the wheel.
Put the car up, couldn't see anything under the car, no body damage, nothing.
Today I notice an odd mark on the sidewall of the tire that hit whatever. It's as if something rubbed the dust off the sidewall. I pull the wheel cover back a little right near it and notice the lip of the steel wheel is bent.
The reason I checked the wheel again today (and found the problem) is because after the hit I've noticed a consistent vibration in the steering wheel past 70mph.
Could appreciate your help for answering these questions:
1. Does a bend always need to be fixed? I don't know if it's just the very lip of the rim that's bent or the actual barrel of the wheel itself. It looks extremely minor. Can it just be balanced out with more weights?
2. I just want to fix the balance issue. Not sure if the balance issue was caused by internal damage to the tire, a thrown weight or the minor bend on the lip or possibly more of a bend I can't see.
3. How much would you think it would cost for a tire shop to fix a bent rim? What exactly do they do to fix the bent rim? This is a steelie. If it's going to be more than 50 I might as well just buy a new steelie, I'm due for new tires anyway.
I'll get a picture for you guys soon. I'm convinced whatever it was, I happened to hit it with just the outer lip of the wheel (hence why the sidewall was scraped). That's probably the worst place to hit because it puts more leverage on the wheel width wise? That's also probably why the hit sounded so harsh and bad, it contacted the wheel directly (it literally sounded like crunching metal LOL). If it had gone under the tire, it would have been a dull and softer blow because it would have hit the tread and not the wheel.