pmas76

While going about 40 MPH I hit a pothole with my front passenger side tire. Then afterwards, though thanking the lords I didn't get a flat, the steering wheel slightly wobbles left right left right until I hit about 30 MPH then it stops but you can still feel it ever so slightly in the wheel. It's a very slight vibration at speeds over 30 MPH, barely feelable. When approaching a traffic light or slowly accelerating to about 30 MPH the wheel moves left right left right, like a wobble. The car drives straight, but the wheel wobbles. I inspected the wheel when I got home and the tire looks intact (Nitto NT 555 235/35/19) and the rims from the naked eye don't look bent (MM EVO 5 19"). What do you all think happened?

1) The rims got bent slightly beyond what the naked eye can see?
2) The alignment got screwed up?
3) Both?
4) Neither?

I'm bringing the car into Nissan to get serviced in like a month and a half. Should I wait till then to have the rebalance and rotate the rims? Should I bring it to somewhere else right away? Please, anyone with any input/advise, please respond. Thanks so much.

itdood

It's probably tire related. A belt let go, a balance weight tore off, tire blistered or is about to.

I'm right there with ya, did the same thing today. Seems to be a bunch us did actually.

Try rotating to the tire to see if that changes anything. If it does, it's the tire...

Inspect suspension while you're in there.

UMD_MaxSE

iTrader: (1)

take the wheel off and inpect it. The inner lip could be bent...

Donkey®

iTrader: (3)

I did the same exact thing this morning. Did not notice to I got home this evening...but YES, rim is bent. I did not think I hit it that hard either, but, yeah, I do remember hitting it. Oh well. New rims were orderded already

pmas76

if the rim is bent is there a way to fix it? would putting it in the rear help at all or would it have to be fixed/replaced? so is it even possible it's the alignment? thanks.

UMD_MaxSE

iTrader: (1)

depending on how bad the bend is, the rim can be fixed. There are shops that repair bent/cracked rims. There is a popular wheel repair shop in PA and one locally here in MD if you are on the east coast. I'm sure there are others... look around.

You can swap it out to the rear and it will help the vibration, but if it is bent bad, then you should try to get it fixed and rebalanced. Make sure it is safe to drive on.

pmas76

i know it's all speculation until i get it looked at, but is it possible that it could be fixed with a new rebalancing?

UMD_MaxSE

iTrader: (1)

if it is not bent badly, then a simple rebalance could take care of it... it all depends

SG01MaxSE

Whatever you do... check out the inner sidewall of your tire ASAP! Same thing happened to me while driving my wife's car one night.

Big-a$$ pothole... steering wheel wobble... simultaneous front & rear blowouts at highway speeds!!!

Luckily, it was about 4 in the morning, and nobody else was on the road. The car bounced off of a T-rail, spun across three lanes of interstate, and came to a stop on the shoulder. Thank God no one was hurt. Turns out, the pothole had destroyed some belts in the inner sidewalls, and a bulge formed. First big bump on the interstate made both tires blow at the same time.

Again... check those inner sidewalls!!!

pmas76

i will, in the morning, thanks. i dont know whats worse, if its the rim or the tire. those rubbers are expensive. i was hoping it was just an alignment issue or maybe a balancing issue. This is possible i hope.

Fezzik

iTrader: (2)

I HATE POTHOLES. Found out that my front driver side tire is seperated. ARGH. have to take it easy until the tire comes in at cooper tires. These people are great. Takin care me as quick as can be! have the cooper cobra GT

kronnman

iTrader: (2)

I blew out both right side tires at about 25 MPH. They went down slowly. Both tires had damage to the inner sidewall.

pmas76

well, this morning i looked more carefully at the exterior side wall and there is no visible damage. The inner lip of the rim looks intact and the inner sidewall, from what i could see, appears in tact as well. But i still have a slight steering wheel wobble with every rotation of the wheels. As the car accelerates it gets faster until it dont wobble anymore. What i was planning on doing is over the weekend move the front right tire to the back and the back right tire to the front. If the problem goes waya, then its a bent rim. If the problem persists, then its the alignment or possibly some else like an axel. Am i coorect with my assumptions? Also, if it is a slightly bent rim, would i have to get it unbent, or would those wheel weights solve it? If it has to be unbent, where do you go to get it fixed, at a regular tire place? I live on Long Island in New York. Thanks so much.

itdood

I just went through the same thing. The tire looked fine from the outside. I took it off tonight to inspect, sure 'nuff, on the inside, the rim is bent. Still holding air.

I already used a shop once to straighten a rim that was FUBAR on my Eagle Talon. Here's a pick of that rim:



The place I took it to actually fixed that rim. I still use it and it hasn't been an issue, the rim looks as good as new. My Max TE rim is no where near that bad. If your's is still holding air I'm sure it's fixable. You can see on that Talon rim, I bent it so bad the tire let all the air out in an i instant. Not all shops can do that. Call around, if a tire shop doesn't have the equipment to repair rims, I bet they know one that does.

pmas76

wow, that rim got f*cked. Like i said, my rims has no visible bends. If that rim was fixed, i'm sure that if mine is slightly bent then it could be fixed as well. Could i have f*cked something serious up like an axel, or do yall think it's rims related?

itdood

Check the axel. It's easy, just jack up that tire and spin it, see if it wobbles. Best place to check for a bend is a point as far away from the center of the axel as possible, so leave the tire on.

I did that with mine tonight. I actually put a screw driver into a socket so it would stand straight up. I put my drop light behind that and put the screw drive as close to the tire as possible without hitting the tire. Since I rotated the bad rim to the back for saftey until I get it fixed, I had a known good tire on the front where I thought I could have damaged something. Put the car in neutral and just spun the tire and watched it against the screw driver. Not very scientific but I was completely confident after watching that for a bit to decide I had no other damage other than the rim.

The axel itself really won't bend, if anything, the wheel bearing would get flat sided. Check for that as well. The tire won't rotate smoothly. It would also be noisey.

Trust me though, I'm almost postive you bent the insdie of the rim.

spauldingsmails

During the Midwest / NE blizzard 2 weeks ago I hit (on driver side) a medium sized pothole on an exit ramp going, I dunno, 50 MPH. Car still drove OK but I was concerned. Today I hit a pothole (this time on passenger side, you know for balance) at about 40 MPH. I then noticed car had some vibration in the steering wheel. Appointment w/ dealer wasn't convenient, so I took to Discount Tire. Turns out I had bent the drivers side, inside, front wheel two weeks ago after all. Cost will be $140 approx to correct existing wheel through Discount Tire. They said both tires were perfect, but they did not look inside the tires. The car did drive much smoother on the way home w/o the bent wheel, and w/ the donut on drivers side rear. Just wondering, anyone know if Nissan dealers give one comped alignment in first 10K miles?? Thx!

pmas76

Well, this morning I took the rim off the car to inspect it. Turns out, the rims is slightly bent. It is visible to the naked eye that it is slightly out of a circular shape and the lip that holds the tire in place is slightly, i mean slightly sticking out. I guess it's the best thing that could of happened considering if it was the tire that would have cost me over $200 and if it was the axel or something suspension related it could have cost more.

My question now is, I'm in the NY area (Nassau County, Long Island). Where do i go to get it unbent? I would like to cut out the middle man if possible to save some cash. What do the actually do? Do they bang it out with a Rubber mallet? What would it cost me approximately and how long do they usually take to get it done? If anyone has any input to shre it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.