Gearhead Jim

The official GM policy is that aluminum wheels should not be straightened or repaired in any way except repainting. I'm told that the GM wheel insurance is quite expensive for that reason, bent = replaced.

OTOH, there are many wheel-straightening services around the country, our local dealer uses one. Most other wheel insurance policies insist on straightening rather than replacing if the damage is not severe, and there must be tens of thousands of cars, including Corvettes, driving around on straightened wheels.
Are the straightened wheels failing? If so, do owners typically get some warning like very slow pressure loss?

On the C7, it's not just the GS/Z06. We have two sets of wheels/tires (PSS and AS3+) for our 2017 Z51. That's eight wheels, in 28k miles of driving I've bent five of them. I keep the tires properly inflated, suspension usually in Tour, and never hit a curb or similar; just the unavoidable potholes and frost heaves in the crappy roads of Illinois. Never bent a wheel that I know of in 200k+ miles in C5 and C6.

My rule of thumb is that if I can see a bend in the wheel while it's just sitting there, it should be replaced. If the bend is too small to see, and no cracking, let the wheel shop straighten it.

What has you experience been?

RapidC84B

I wouldn't track/race on a repaired wheel, but for a street car I'd consider it. My mother just had her CLS550 MB in for service (very low profile runflats on that too) and her RF wheel was slightly bent. Repair was a couple hundred vs. a new wheel at OEM list of $1,400. She had it repaired, no issues. In high school I banged a curb in my Mustang and had the wheels repaired, but I was pretty ignorant about car stuff then and wasn't doing anything other than drag racing it.

Gearhead Jim

It's been said but not verified that Spring Mountain straightens wheels slightly bent by students who dive aggressively onto the corner curbing.

Landru

Only thing that'd concern me w/ straightened wheels is if they properly balance.
If a wheel balances, why not.

Gearhead Jim

There is concern that the wheel might crack some time in the future. I’m trying to find out if that sort of thing actually happens or not.
Occasionally someone posts pics of a cracked wheel but I don’t recall any that had been straightened.

RapidC84B

If you have quality wheels, fixing them is fine. GM's wheels are garbage on the C7 model. They'll crack and bend brand new. Straighten away and then if they crack replace them.

koranke

I'm not an engineer, but my understanding is that any bending or heating of aluminum will weaken it, so certainly repairing a rim does raise a safety issue. Having said that, I've rolled the dice with my GS and had all 4 rims repaired when I discovered they were bent. So far so good, but I've only put on a thousand miles since the repairs.

Avanti

I suspect "straightened" wheels vary tremendously as to damage sustained, and some out there will fail because of that alone.

There is always risk involved with such processes with aluminum, especially since the composition of wheels also varies.

NashvilleGrandSport

Had two bent wheels repaired on my wife's Hyundai after blowing out one tire and damaging another on a pothole. Two tires and straightened wheels balanced out fine. No issues. Charged $125 per wheel.

BEAR-AvHistory

Bend metal & its weakened. Bend it back & you are adding to the weakness. Think about bending an alloy beer can back & forth. Its OK for a wheel depending on how much of a safety margin is built in to it & how its to be used.

evoroadster

I wouldn't follow that logic. You can balance a cinder block but you wouldn't want to drive on one.

Gearhead Jim

An interesting analogy, but I agree.
The wheel repair guy said they can never get a wheel back to absolutely perfectly round, that after a wheel has been straightened several times it can end up like a blended octagon. It can be balanced, but not fun to drive on.

My current set of wheels has one front and one rear that were straightened. After balancing on the Hunter Road Force Balancer, the road force numbers were 2 and 2 for the front pair, 6 and 8 for the rear pair. Anything below 20 is usually acceptable and below 10 is excellent.

Silver C7

Getting my first bent wheel repair back from Mavis Tire tomorrow. It was bent on the inside, couldn’t see it but felt it, but it wasn’t losing air and the wheel wasn’t cracked. It was first bent wheel in three years of ownership and over 35k miles. It’s an aftermarket wheel with my PSS tires (pothole). I would imagine there won’t be an issue.

orca1946

I would think the wheel shop could tell if they can fix it properly.

gliot1

Lol.....you are taught to use the curbing to the limit at Ron Fellows.

Gearhead Jim

True, but I'm not sure the wheels have been told that.

z51vett

Tadge says they will rebend again ie easier second time.
z51vett
Doug

Zjoe6

I was all over the curbs and didn't bend anything. They're designed to be ridden over. They must have dropped a wheel off the track or some other non-recommended maneuver.

Gearhead Jim

Wondering if the wheel repair guy was fleecing me and claiming to fix wheels that weren't bent, I brought him a set of almost new takeoff wheels/tires I had just purchased. Told him just like before, inspect and straighten as necessary.
He called me a day later and said the wheels were perfect, no work needed.

rrsperry

Come on guys... I AM an engineer, yes you can fix bent or cracked wheels as long as you do it correctly. Bending a wheel DOES NOT make the wheel weaker. It makes the affected area tougher. As in, it reduces ductility due to work hardening. If it's repaired and then annealed correctly it can be as good as new.

Now the question is, did they do it correctly?

Cheap wheels bend. Bend them enough and they crack.

Expensive forged wheels can bend or crack. It just takes more force.