Bent rim question

coupedegrace

coupedegrace

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Question: Is a slight bend in a rim acceptable?

Background: I purchased a 14" BBS-Mahle wheel on Ebay awhile back to use as a spare. My car didn't come with one, and the rest of the wheels are BBS-Mahles. I was about to go have a tire installed on it when I noticed that the rear rim/bead has a slight inward bend to it at one point. It is visible to the naked eye, but only if looking really closely (thus my not noticing it previously). There are no other obvious problems with the wheel. Not much in the way of curb rash, doesn't look dented, etc. That said, I realize that my eyeballs can in no way approximate a dial gauge measuring run out, etc.

I'm attaching a couple of photos of the rim with a tape measure for reference. It shows that the rim bends inward by about 1/16".

Love to hear a chorus of consensus on if it's okay to use as a spare as is, or if I'm inviting certain doom if I don't get it straightened.
 

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I have the exact same very minor bend issue on one of my Mahle rim lips. A wheel shop told me that can easily make it perfect again by putting on a wheel spinning machine. Sadly though they said the BBS Mahle and BMW raised letting on the inside dish would get ground off when they spin the wheel back to true.
 
It may affect tire seating such that you get an air leak in cold weather. Not sure how much of an issue that is in Portland.
 
Trained wheel guy can likely repair it. I've seen worse come back to life.
I wouldn't bother trying to mount a tire until it's straight.
 
dang said:
A tire will mount fine and hold air. I see damaged wheels daily and I'm amazed at what holds air. If it's a spare and you don't need to drive on it much, or at all, I'd just mount a tire and be done with it.
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I'm a fan of this answer;).

I think I'll do that and keep an eye on the air pressure.

Straightening and refinishing the wheel will get added to my "to do" list, but it will be quite a ways down.

I really like the BBS-Mahle wheels and the 14" size. Granted the dwindling tire choices are kind of a drag, but for now I'm sticking with original diameter wheels.
 
coupedegrace said:
Holding air was actually one of my main concerns.
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The spare that came with my 2800CS had a fairly big crack in it such that it wouldn't hold air. I wanted to have a working spare but on Maui, vintage OEM BMW wheels are as rare as hen's teeth. So I bought an inner tube and had it installed. Most shops will look at you like you are nuts because they don't remember when tubes in tires were standard but I found one that did what I asked.

True, there are inner tubes that are better for radial tires and talcum powder should be used when installing the tube to help keep friction down, but it's not rocket science after all. It was just so I could have a spare I could depend on for a while. I've gotten a good rim that will get a new tire when that's one of the last things I need to do when getting my car back on the road.
 
mulberryworks said:
The spare that came with my 2800CS had a fairly big crack in it such that it wouldn't hold air. I wanted to have a working spare but on Maui, vintage OEM BMW wheels are as rare as hen's teeth. So I bought an inner tube and had it installed. Most shops will look at you like you are nuts because they don't remember when tubes in tires were standard but I found one that did what I asked.

True, there are inner tubes that are better for radial tires and talcum powder should be used when installing the tube to help keep friction down, but it's not rocket science after all. It was just so I could have a spare I could depend on for a while. I've gotten a good rim that will get a new tire when that's one of the last things I need to do when getting my car back on the road.
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Inner tube - I love it. I'll have one bias-ply tire, tall white walls, and a well powdered inner tube. I've put talc on my bike inner tubes for ages now.
 
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