My dealer tells me I've got a slightly bent wheel (by 0.5mm) on my 2002 Maxima GLE. A replacement would cost $700, which I'd rather avoid as long as possible. However, the car doesn't tremble or shake and I keep the wheel on the rear axle. My questions are:
1) Is it safe to keep a slightly bent wheel on the car? I routinely drive 70-80 mph every day.
2) Is there a place/website you would recommend that i can buy a wheel for less? How do I know I don't get a bent one on the after/used market!

 

I did it for many months, it's not that bad.

I ended up getting a very nice used one installed by a local shop for ~$330, which I still think was expensive. The cheapest way is to either find a junkyard, or buy a set of replicas (someone said there are replicas on eBay, like $400/set of 4? not sure if they make the 2002 wheels though...)

 

HOLY **** that's expensive! How much does an 03 SE wheel cost?

 

Try using www.car-part.com

 

CHECK EBAY i saw two 2kX wheels for sale cheap hope there the right ones.

 

you can get your Wheels unbent.. At keystone for like 150 dollars i am not sure if you have a keystone store in your area though.

 

Yeah, you can get those repaired. I would look into that option before putting $700 on a stock wheel. IMHO. (As long as there ar no cracks)
The option would be to buy a new set of wheels with nice rims for 1k

 

Check out this alloy rim:




That was off of my other car, my 1995 Eagle Talon turbo. Look at the space between the bead of the tire and the rim!!

Believe it or not, that rim was completely fixable. Cost me $110.00 at Sport Car Tire in wilmington DE. I wish I took an after-shot because I could not tell the rim ever had anything wrong with it!!!! It came back perfect!!

I have since put about 50k on that rim and it's never lost air, never had a balance problem, I don't even know which rim it is any more.

Bent rims can be fixed!!!

I did this to my TE rim on my '03 max last year:



I had the same place fix it. Again, I can't tell the rim was ever touched and it rides perfect.

 

hit up user Moore9911 on ebay. That's a shop called O.E. Wheel Distributorsin Sarasota, FL. I got a 2k replica wheel from them for $140 after I bent mine. Just keep your center cap.