Bent Wheel from Balancing?

[RajnCajun7]

hey everyone...i recently went to a tire and wheel store in my area to have a 4-wheel alignment done, and i also had the two front tires balanced. After it was done, the tire tech said my front-driver's side wheel was really badly bent. he said he should've shown it to me while it was up on the lift but he forgot, which kind of seemed shady to me. now, when i'm going at least 35 mph, there's a loud wobbling sound coming from the front end, which i suspect is the bent wheel.

is it possible that a wheel can be bent when balancing the tires? i can't remember hearing a wobble this bad ever before, and i'm wondering if this tire tech had anything to do with it. thanks for any help in advance

 

[spindlecone]

hey everyone...i recently went to a tire and wheel store in my area to have a 4-wheel alignment done, and i also had the two front tires balanced. After it was done, the tire tech said my front-driver's side wheel was really badly bent. he said he should've shown it to me while it was up on the lift but he forgot, which kind of seemed shady to me. now, when i'm going at least 35 mph, there's a loud wobbling sound coming from the front end, which i suspect is the bent wheel.

is it possible that a wheel can be bent when balancing the tires? i can't remember hearing a wobble this bad ever before, and i'm wondering if this tire tech had anything to do with it. thanks for any help in advance

Not Likely
Maybe he also rotated them and the bent one was on the rear orig
On the upside specialty rim shops can easily straighten them

 

[IAmTodd]

IF they're stock wheels, its probably easier to get one at a junk yard or ebay.

 

[james t]

Put the bent one on the rear- you probably wont even notice it. If its a stock wheel then throw it away and get another from a junkyard... if its some kind of nice wheel then have it straightened. If no one in your area does this check out Stockton wheel.

 

[ExplorerDMB]

You can't get a bent wheel from balancing. Hopefully it is just a wheel bent and nothing major.

-Drew

 

[CDW6212R]

Use that wheel as your spare, good luck,

 

[jimbo74]

you shouldnt be able to bend the wheel balancing... however, i have worked with some shady techs that have pretty much beaten the crap out of the wheels when taking them off..... also if they did not rotate them and the bent wheel was originally on the front, and it is noticealbe now, i would check the orientation of the rim mounting flange to the axle hub... quite frequently did the idiots i worked with not properly center the wheel on hte hub and just slammed the airgun down......

 

[spindlecone]

you shouldnt be able to bend the wheel balancing... however, i have worked with some shady techs that have pretty much beaten the crap out of the wheels when taking them off..... also if they did not rotate them and the bent wheel was originally on the front, and it is noticealbe now, i would check the orientation of the rim mounting flange to the axle hub... quite frequently did the idiots i worked with not properly center the wheel on hte hub and just slammed the airgun down......

Just curious Jim
How can one beat the crap out of a wheel by removing it?
Upon remounting the tire, if you can put the lugnuts on it is self centering
pls explain

 

[jimbo74]

you can easily beat the crap out of a wheel by removing it..... here is a case: the rims has somewhat rusted to the hub and willnot come off the hub face with all lugs removed... in comes a BFH to hit the rim and jar the rim loose.....

also as for the most times the lugs will center itself... but sometimes what happens is that all lugs go on and tighten, but something gets in the way... like the hub being ****ed to one side or some foreign material stuck on the backside of the rim preventing a complete seat of the rim......

 

[spindlecone]

Thx for the info Jim, as a part owner and investor in a San Jose wheelworks, will pass the info along.
Not that it's not possible, just have never seen the above problems ever occur.
The tech would have seen the bent rim on the balancing machine, at that point company policy dictates, stop, call the customer,explain the problem, and go from there

 

[jimbo74]

Thx for the info Jim, as a part owner and investor in a San Jose wheelworks, will pass the info along.
Not that it's not possible, just have never seen the above problems ever occur.
The tech would have seen the bent rim on the balancing machine, at that point company policy dictates, stop, call the customer,explain the problem, and go from there

yes that what policy dictates... but how often is policy followed? policy dictates safety glasses in the shop at all times.... and no smoking... i can tell you that all the wheel works stores i have ever been in this was not followed... unless the top brass was there....

 

[alexefron]

If the wheel is bent badly enough to be noticable at 35 mph, wouldnt it take a ton of weights to balence?

 

[spindlecone]

If the wheel is bent badly enough to be noticable at 35 mph, wouldnt it take a ton of weights to balence?

Any reputable tire outlet, would never attempt to balance a badley bent rim. you replace it, or repair it

 

[jimbo74]

Any reputable tire outlet, would never attempt to balance a badley bent rim. you replace it, or repair it

that isnt completely true.. when i worked at wheel works, we had a lot of commercial accts... the peopel that brought in the vehicles did not care if the rims were bent and told us to balance them anyways.. it was quite common to put a minimum of 6 oz. on a 16"x7" truck rim.....

 

[spindlecone]

Commercial accts aside, wheelworks due to liability, would not do that to non- comm customers

 

[jimbo74]

Commercial accts aside, wheelworks due to liability, would not do that to non- comm customers

we also did that to non comm accts as well.... i will add though, most people wanted things fixed..... some were too ghetto to care... and this was regular customers....

 

[jtf_explorer]

well jimabena and I, 2 guys in the blue shirts actually doing the work see that a hammer is use on at least one car every day to get tires off, atleast here in rust belt michigan, and tire being put on the hub crooked is VERY COMMON with 1-ton 3/4 ton trucks and Discount Tire kids who don't know better. But it is alright, my fat ass boss who sits at home and counts the cash at the end of the day in his white shirt doesn't know much about wheels and tires, or brakes, susp, drivetrain either. But hay he knows how to be a fat ass. none of us know it all, but we all know something.

 

[jtf_explorer]

oh yeah my boss gets caught in his own lies every once in a while too.

 

[CDW6212R]

FYI, whenever you buy any wheel, new or used, look hard at the hub mounting surface and the hub hole. I just discovered two of five 99 Limited wheels had tiny burrs on the hub hole edges. Evidently some hammering was done to remove wheel centers, or that hub hole was bounced on the balancer. The wheels didn't set easily against the hubs, so I took them off and looked harder. I ended up filing those burrs off with a tiny file. Regards,

 

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

i work at a maintenance shop and we do a lot of tires and you'd be surprised at how many vehicle have bent rims, if they aren't bent severely i just note it on the work order so the customer knows.


if its bent to the point where it is damn near impossible to balance i then show the customer that the rim will need to be replaced.