First off, I have 20" TSW Nurburgrings and Kumho 245/35/20 Ecsta 4X tires. I hit a rail at a train crossing pretty hard about a week ago and busted my front left tire. The non-elevated train crossing is in the middle of a 6 lane highway in a very busy part of town (crossing isn't even used anymore). Once the car in front of me went over the tracks, I didn't have time to react and hit one of the rails dead on. About a foot of pavement was missing in front of the rail, which exposed the rail even more. My wheel looked OK with no scratches, but I knew the tire had to be replaced because it was blown. I had the car towed (it was a Saturday afternoon) and a tire was ordered. Once I got my car back on Tuesday, I noticed it was riding very rough. I took the car back on Wednesday and asked them to re-balance the wheel/tire. On Wednesday afternoon, I picked my car up and nothing had changed, the vibration was horrible. I took my car the next day to a different shop and asked them to take a look at it for me. Turns out both wheels on my passenger side are "bent"!!! There is absolutely no visible damage anywhere, but the shop said they cannot balance them properly due to them being bent. They put both bent wheels on the back to reduce the amount of vibration I can feel in the cabin, but it is still very noticeable. I was told that nothing is going to be damaged by this set-up and it is more of an annoyance than anything. I see this as a temporary fix because as soon as I have to have the wheels rotated, the bent wheels will be up to the front of the car.

I did insure the wheels when I bought them, but I'm afraid to put in a claim because of an increase in my premium. I called the city to complain about the crossing and they told me to call the state since it is a highway. The state said to call the railroad because it was at a crossing but I contended that the missing pavement was the real culprit. The state highway dept. is sending me a form to fill out and send back in, but I am not holding my breathe on that one. After replacing my tire and with the Saturday tow, I am $250 down already...2 wheels would be another $750. Can anybody give me some advice on if there is anything I can do to salvage my "bent" wheels or if anybody has ever put in an insurance claim before on damaged wheels. I finally got the wheels I wanted 6 months ago and now it has all gone to shi*! Any help/advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

call a wheel repair place and have them look at them.....other unless u use insurance or the state covers it, you're buying new wheels.

 

Any shots of the rims bent? You can try taking the rim to a rim repair shop in your state and ask if it's possible to unbend it. I have TSW Jamaras and I hit a pretty bad pothole in NYC a month ago and months before summer started, I hit a rail pretty hard but no visual damage and vibration.

 

I also think it depends on where the bend is. I too have a slightly bent front rim but it's the chrome lip that keeps it from being repaired. If its on the inner part of the rim it can be fixed.

 

Damn that sucks . The wheels on your Maxi is one of my favorites... If I had another chance to buy again, I'd get those staggered in 20's hyper silver...

 

A shop should be able to repair them.

I have a slight bend on my outer lip, took it to three places and none of them can fix it. This is why I'll never buy cheap wheels again. Only multi-peice wheels. That way the wheel can be taken apart and replace whatever was damaged.

 

I don't have any shots of the bent rims because nothing is visible...everything looks just fine. I did notice however that the wheel that has the new tire has no weights on it at all. All my other wheels have some weight to help balance them out. Two shops have tried to balance the wheels and neither shop has put weight on this wheel where the new tire is. Just seems a little weird to me.

 

Oh don't worry, they are getting replaced!! haha.