Bent Rim.... fixable?

[Shirl]

Ok, so I get these awesome 17" wheels for my Cavalier. Bad thing is, my shocks/struts are shot all the way around. So we get new shocks/springs for the rear and put them in last weekend. Not too bad, took like 3 hours altogether. Monday, I head back to the auto parts store to get some struts/springs for the front and BA BOOOOOM!!!! I hit the biggest friggin pothole in town. I thought my car was going to fall apart. I got home after making my purchase and to my dismay and sheer aggrivation....Ok, I was realllly pissed off: Bent Outer Lip on the driver's side wheel. I hammered the hell out of it with a piece of wood and a hammer for almost 2 hours but it's still sticking out and is most noticeable when it is on top or to the side when the car is parked. I said the hell with it and ordered another wheel... is there any way to fix it correctly on my own? any suggestions?

[hockeyman]

You can bang them to hell, but you take a chance on blowing the tire out easily if you're driving and hit another pothole sometime in the near future. If you ordered another one, I'd keep the bent one as a spare only. I don't know of any places that repair bent rims. I'm sure they are out there, I just don't know of any.

[asdf1234]

Think about the amount of force it took to bend that rim. Then think about the amount of force you're applying with a peice of wood, and a hammer.

Good luck?

[Shirl]

That's why I'm thinking a 5lb. mallet or something much heavier than a hammer will do the trick.. you'd be surprised though, it looks much better than it did. I guess I'll work on it more after the new rim comes in and I get the tire removed off of the bent one and remounted on the new one.

[Loochy88]

i dont know much on the subject, but you might check out these places.

http://home.mindspring.com/~wheelben...elbender01.htm

http://www.metrowheels.net/wheelrepairprocess.htm

[Yaba3800]

there are two ways to do it.(i used to work in a tire store) one you can do what you were doing. and two you can secrure the wheel and get a cresent wrench on the lip of the rim and start leveraging. ive seen both work. and th ey sometimes fail. just depends on what the size/damage is. good luck

[Shirl]

OK, thanks for the help, guys!