Lip of rim bent, should I bend back?

OK, so I have a 1996 EB Explorer AWD, with the 5.0L V8. Yesterday I had a small accident, involving a road raged driver in a Cadillac, I will just put it this way, I was either drive over a curb into on coming traffic, rear end a Mustang, or Hit the road raged driver back into his lane with my truck, I chose hitting the road raged drivers new Cadillac, and leaving a nice bid dent all the way down his car. . But because of this I have some damage on my truck, noting too bad, but something that bothers me, because I take pride in keeping my truck looking nice.

I have the chrome skinned 5 spoke rims on my Explorer, and when I turned into the guy I bent the outter lip up against the side wall of the tire. It still holds air, and the rim is not bent, but it just looks bad. I was just going to bend it back, but I am worried about knocking the tire off of the bead. So is my fear for real, or should I just gently bent it back?

Pictures of the Damage:

 

[safn1949]

Replace it,this is one of those things where cheap=killed. Do it right,your butt depends on it.

 

[Anime]

Steel rims can generally be bent back into shape without a problem, but it's much easier with the tire off the rim. You can use a BFH to bang a steel rim lip around, (which is why steel rims are good for off-road use), but it's not as pretty as if you actually take the tire off and have the lip professionally shaped back as it was.

If it's not losing air, it's not that big a deal and you can probably leave it as-is.

If you repair it yourself with the tire still on there, you should at least take off the chrome skin, otherwise it will get banged up as well, which will be even more obvious, cosmetically.

Worst case, even if it winds up looking horrible, you can always seek out a new/used wheel, which actually might be a lot less expensive than a professional repair, even with the cost of re-mounting/re-balancing the tire. As mentioned, it also might be safer to just go ahead and have it replaced, you don't know what other damage the impact that caused the bent lip might have caused, there could be other less obvious damage.

Don't forget you can use your full size spare in the meantime.

 

[techieman33]

Agreed, replace it. Bending a wheel back into shape is ok for an emergency repair to get you back home in the middle of the night or off of a trail and back to camp. Once metal bends it becomes a weak spot and is much more prone to failure down the line, a month or a year from now it could fails and cut your tire leaving you who knows where on the side of the road.

 

[toypaseo]

For how dirt cheap OEM steelies are, find a used one...

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Well to be honest I was always tossing around the idea of replacing all the rims, with either the same thing but less scratched up, anybody have a good line in northern IL, or southern WI? I was also thinking about soft Soft 8's... I can honestly deal with it being bent, but it will always be in the back of my mind, I do agree if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I went on the alignment rack today at school, and everything else is fine. most of the damage was done by my brush guard, which left the whole side of the guys car with a huge dent, and not being able to open either of his drivers doors. Turns out he had no insurance, and had multiple other charges, so I got off with traffic school, and he got arrested.

 

[Varsity]

I went on the alignment rack today at school, and everything else is fine. most of the damage was done by my brush guard, which left the whole side of the guys car with a huge dent, and not being able to open either of his drivers doors. Turns out he had no insurance, and had multiple other charges, so I got off with traffic school, and he got arrested.

Sounds like justice has been served?

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Sounds like justice has been served?

Yea, It for sure has been. I don't think that guy will have road rage again...

 

[colintrax]

So tell us what happened exactly?
BTW, go ahead and get the soft 8's got an excuse now

 

[BigJoe1094]

So tell us what happened exactly?
BTW, go ahead and get the soft 8's got an excuse now

Agreed. With both lol

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Well if you want to know.

I was heading down a road in the middle of my town, it is a 2 lane road, right after I passed a road on the right hand side, this guy in his Cadillac come flying around the corner, and gets on my a$$. I look down and I am going 5 over the speed limit, I brush it off, but he does not back off, so I brake check him. then went the speed limit, Exactly. He apparently did not like this because he got right back up to my bumper, and started speeding up and slowing down, as if he was going to ram me, and continued by swerving side to side.

Well the road splits into 2 lanes, so as he speeds by I flip him off, and tell him to have a nice day. He rolls down his window, and tells me to pull over, and calls me a "pussy", I laughed, and then he began to push me off the road, and into the turning lane. He keep yelling, and starts hitting my truck with his fist(he was real close). I look up at the road, and there is a mustang in the turn lane and I was about to rear end him going 40mph, so instead of rear ending him, I jerk my wheel to the right, and smash the Cadillac back into the right lane, and then make an abrupt turn left.

I pull over in an apartment complex and take a look at my truck, it was fine, with the exception of the damage above. I called the police, and talked to an officer. turns out he did not call the police, although I was the one that hit him. Even better he was pulled over about 5 miles down the road going 90mph, in a 45.

Today at work, the officer stopped in, and gave me my citation, and just told me to take traffic school. She said that the guy was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident, and did not have any insurance. I asked her "so how bad is his car?" she laughed, and said " A lot worse then your car, he cannot open either drivers side door, and he has a dent going all the way down the side". I held back saying something funny.

I really went well, and I hope this guy learned a lesson, whether it not to mess with somebody who has a bigger truck then you, or not to get so mad over traffic.

Oh yes, and the best part, atleast in my mind, the car was a 2003 Cadillac CTS, I hate those, because they are cheap plastic cars.

 

[colintrax]

I just hate new caddys anyways, sounds like you probably did the right thing. Other than brake checking him. I've learned the hard way to chill out behind the wheel, let off the gas if you want. Just don't start slamming brake pedals
Glad the explorer came out ok other than the rim

 

[1996BLKBauer]

I just hate new caddys anyways, sounds like you probably did the right thing. Other than brake checking him. I've learned the hard way to chill out behind the wheel, let off the gas if you want. Just don't start slamming brake pedals
Glad the explorer came out ok other than the rim

I honestly did not actually slam on the brakes, I just hit them real hard long enough to slow down to the actual speed limit. The guy was so close, I just figured if he hit me, my steal bumper, would destroy his plastic front end. I just don't understand why people have to be in such a hurry all the time. He lived 10 miles down the road, and if I was going to the same place, he would only beat me by 30 seconds max. That is no reason to drive like an A$$hole.

 

[colintrax]

Don't say anything about steel bumpers being stronger than plastic on this forum

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Don't say anything about steel bumpers being stronger than plastic on this forum

Do go on...

 

[colintrax]

Got on a "forum fight" about that....