I just took the car into the shop because I noticed a rough ride at low speeds. 5 minutes on the lift, and the guy calls me in to show both pass side wheels bent. Only guess is a pot hole, but I don't remember hitting anything hard enough to do that.

They want 2k to replace the two wheels!

Has anyone else run into this? Does the cost sound right? Makes me worried about fragile rims...

 

Depending on how bent they really are, there are ways of using weights to balance the rim just like you would a typically mount/balance with new tires. I curbed my wife's rim and they didn't make it anymore, so we did that and you can even tell.

 

Not sure where you took the car, but I would get a second opinion, unless of course you could confirm that they are actually bent when you where called in to the shop.
At my dealer, they sell rim/tire insurance that covers me for 4 years against, for instance, pot whole damage, yet you must have an air leak to trigger coverage. What some do, once damaged, is go out and hit a hole harder to make sure. Anyway, it costs something like $350. Canadian on the F-type R for the cover, so I took it.
As well, if they are not too bad, I know that my car dealer can send them out to have them straightened for a fraction of replacement.. maybe check that out.?
Lawrence

 

Thanks all. I did look, and they are visibly bent by over 1/4". Since I track the car, I was worried about bending back into place. Not sure if that would cause more problems down the road.

Unfortunately, I passed on the tire/wheel coverage when I bought the car... oops.

 

I continue to be amazed at what a good wheel repair shop can do with wheels that to the untrained eye would look otherwise irreparable. From what you describe, your wheels should be more than fixable at reasonable cost.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

I assume those are 20"? I went with 19" given the roads in New England. Given how bad the roads are after the nasty winter, I'm glad I did. I too skipped the wheel insurance.

 

I have a Mercedes Benz CLS-500 and I believe the wheels are made of chewing gum. I bought the wheel insurance and saved the cost several times over. I've had dents and cracks repaired many times. I'd check a good wheel repair shop, they will probably return the wheel looking as good as new. My last repair was a crack and the wheel would not hold air, overnight is was repaired and looked new.

 

Which wheels are on your car? The F types are relatively new, but I have seen some styles on eBay.

 

Here in Atlanta I use Wheel Wizard for all my wheel work. They have straightened bent wheels and powder coat refinished my wheels when they have been curbed for $210/wheel. I purchased a "spare" front and rear wheel so I can drop off the damaged wheel and put it in storage until needed. They can fix most any wheel as they do all of BBSs competition wheel maintenance.

 

Sounds WAY high for repair and WAY low for replace. Better do your homework.

 

Its definitely replace... they offered repair as well for about half. They ordered the wheels and they are getting put on tomorrow.

Now I'm wondering if I should keep the old wheels and get them fixed (at some point) to have a set of spares.

A lot of the guys I track with keep a separate set of wheels dedicated to track days. Perhaps these old ones can become the beginning of my daily driver set...

 

Defo on keeping them and getting them repaired for a spare set. If you leave with them, they'll just end up repairing them and selling them!

 

Well, the old wheels wouldnt fit in the trunk. :-) so, the dealer delivered them to my house. I thought that was great service! Rides better now, yay! Off to thundrrhill for the weekend to deplete my pirellis so I can get some mpss.

 

Alloy Wheel Repair Specialist fixed the bent rim on my XKR.