How to Fix a Bent Wheel
There's not much worse than driving peacefully home from work when all of a sudden, another car cuts you off and you have to swerve to avoid a wreck. In the evasive maneuvers, you manage to smack a curb and ruin your tire. After going through the hassle of putting on the spare and driving to the local tire store, the tire technician informs you that your wheel is bent. Your options in this situation depend on two things; how badly the wheel is bent and what type of metal the wheel is made of.
If the wheel that's bent is made out of steel, it can usually be bent back into shape. The tire store should have the proper hand tools to do this. There's nothing scientific about straightening a bent steel wheel, it just takes a hammer and large pipe wrench. The technician will bend it until it's straight again.
However, if the bend in the wheel extends past the lip of the rim and into the center, the wheel most likely isn't reparable. Even if the technician is able to get the tire straight enough to hold air, the wheel will be so warped that your vehicle will ride very poorly. In this case, the wheel will need to be replaced.
If the bent wheel is made out of aluminum or another type of alloy, it will most likely have to be replaced or sent to a professional repair site. Alloy wheels cannot be bent back into shape like steel ones can. They have a tendency to crack or break when you try to bend them back into shape. If you're lucky, the wheel may just be slightly bent and will still hold air. If that's the case you can at least drive on it until you can find a new wheel or get it repaired professionally.
For alloy wheels that are excessively bent, there are companies that can take your wheels and heat them up and reform them back into shape. This is an expensive process that can take a few days, but in many cases it's cheaper than purchasing a new alloy wheel.
Bent wheels can cause your vehicle to ride poorly and possibly cause your tires to leak. It's important to get them repaired or replaced as soon as an incident happens. They're not always caused by hitting curbs, but can also occur from hitting potholes and other obstacles in the road, so take care to avoid these things while driving.
