How hard is it to bend a factory rim?? :(

[junehhan]

Hey guys, I hit a monster pothole tonight coming home from work, and the car actually bottomed out, and then went into the air because the pothole was so huge. My question, is how hard is it to bend the factory rim? There was a guy behind me who pulled over to ask if I was okay, and he said he saw sparks fly from the bottom of my car when I bottomed out, then he said he saw me catch a little air. The impact from this pothole was so hard, that I banged my shoulder against the door, and my hood on the ceiling of my car. I felt along the rim, and although I can't see anything abnormal, I can feel an indentation on one small part of the front rim on the lip. :bigcry:

[bigslim]

I thought we had some mean potholes here. Sounds like "Hummer" country down there.

[Murader03]

June: If you hit that hard, I'd have the rim inspected. I can't remember which car I had at the time, but I hit a pot hole at an entrance ramp to the NJTP coming home from a week long business trip. The car never left the ground, but it hit hard enough to bend the rim and cause an air leak. I had to hit every service center until I got home and put air in the tire. Took the tire to a rim repair shop and had it fixed. Looked just like new and didn't cost and arm and a leg. At the least, have it inspected and have the balance checked!:cry:

[RCSignals]

our rims are Forged aluminum, and strong, but hit hard enough they will bend.
About all you can do is take it to the dealer and have them check it.
If it is bent, maybe your insurance will cover it, or the city's insurance

[SergntMac]

June: If you hit that hard, I'd have the rim inspected. I hit a pot hole at an entrance ramp to the NJTP coming home from a week long business trip. Took the tire to a rim repair shop and had it fixed. Looked just like new and didn't cost and arm and a leg. At the least, have it inspected and have the balance checked.

www.fixrim.com

I have ued these guys without a problem. They have repair sites and inventory across the country, one of which is right here by me in Arlington Heights Ill.

All repairs cost 110 bucks, and they can fix a lot of severe damage. I bought one MM wheel here from JinFla's wreck and it was missing a sizeable chunk from the outside of the rim, and you would never know it today.

All repairs include all polishing and metal fabrication, out or round and balance inspections and refinishing with clearcoat. They will even paint the inside of the rim, or powdercoat the whole rim to your liking. Unfortunately, they do not resize rim width.

BTW, RC is right about billing the city/state owner of the pothole. A one-car traffic collision report may be required for that claim, better go get some pics before they seal it up.

[junehhan]

During winter, our roads look literally like a war-zone, especially when you are driving through the inner city, and the ghetto's. I honestly wish I knew why the city of Cincinnati neglects our roads so badly, when we pay a lot in tax to the city. There is a Hummer sized pothole over by where I work that has been there for 3 weeks now, and they still havn't fixed it. I saw a VW Bug get nearly swallowed by this pothole as it bottomed out even though it was going really slow. The pothole I hit last night came out of nowhere because it was dark, and raining very hard. I didn't even know about it till my shoulder had slammed into the door and I felt my car take a leap. After hitting it, I was almost positive my car had been busted and something was broken, but that fortunately wasn't the case as I was able to continue driving home. I was sure that I had blown a shock mount off, or ruined the front end, but I guess that's the beauty of having a panther platform car, as you know it's gonna be a tough car. I checked the rim again now that it's daylight, and while I can't see any damage, I can feel a dent in the inner part of the lip with my finger. I've made an appointment with a local rim repair shop for tomarrow to have it looked at...........

[ADE 1000]

Sorry to hear that June, the roads here in Chicago are no picnic either. As someone else mentioned, I would suggest filing a claim with the city. They might reimburse you for the damage.

The tire have fairly tall sidewalls, so rim damage is not as much a concern in the Marauder as it is in something like my vette. The damage you feel is probably superfcial. As long as it holds air, I would think that it is fine. But its still probably worth getting it checked out.

[jgc61sr2002]

June - I would have the front end checked on a lift and an alignment. :(

[tbore007]

these are some tuff car if it can take that...hey. post a pic of the pothole..thay would be cool to see....

[FordNut]

Anybody that hasn't been to Cincinnati, trust me. I've been to a lot of places and their roads are the worst I've ever seen anywhere. Many of the dirt roads here in the south are much better than what they call streets up there.

June, good luck on getting the rim fixed. And check the sidewalls of the tire closely for any signs of bulging or possible damage.

[junehhan]

Well, i'm going to have the front end checked out by a shop run by a guy i've trusted for a very long time. This guy used to be the regional manager for ProCare Automotive which at the time was owned by BP. After Sullivan Aquisitions bought the buisness out, he became the shop and service manager at a local Ford dealer where he really cleaned up a crappy ass dealer, to eventually open up a chain of automotive repair buisnesses now. He told me to bring it in tomarrow morning and he'll check everything out on it.

Also, just for giggles I called up my dealer up to see what the price on a new Marauder rim is, and it's $599. Interesting thing, is that when I called up my local SVT Ford dealer, they quoted me only $581 for the same rim. Even if my current rim is okay, or can be repaired if damaged, I want to keep an extra full size rim around just in case since this could happen again as our roads are just terrible. Fordnut is saying it right that there really are dirt roads that are in better shape than what they call roads here. I also went back with my camcorder to snap some footage of the Hummer sized hole in the road, and they patched the damn thing up. It's funny though, because there is a Ford Excursion sized pothole about 2 blocks down the same street in the same lane, and they apparantly didn't patch that one up. :rolleyes:

[CRUZTAKER]

Dude sorry about the pothole dive.....

You got good replies, sorry I missed this thread. Have the entire area inspected, including the shock, spring, control arm, ball joint, tie rod, etc. Also, you may have broke the bead on the tire, and it will start losing air regularly.

As far as a replacement rim, I have a local source in Macedonia, and I can get a polished wheel for a little over $300. PM me if you need a wheel replacement ok.

[junehhan]

Well, I had the entire vehicle checked out today, and here is the conclusion:

This car is one tough work of art :bows:

They checked the entire front end completely, and they have found nothing to be damaged and out of the ordinary. Even the alignment is still true and not off line. For a car to bottom out causing sparks to fly, and then catching air is simply amazing. Would a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry or Nissan Maxipad been able to survive this type of trauma? possibly but I bet it would have suffered a lot of severe damage. You don't bottom a car out hard, and fly into the air without anything being damaged very often. I am so impressed that Ford did not compromise the durability of our vehicles in the Marauder when they redesigned everything! This proves that the panther platform is absolutely one of the toughest platforms available today for a vehicle. As far as the rim goes, the guys who checked it said that the little indentation I feel is a non-issue as they said it's way too minor for it to cause any problems. You can't see it, and you can only feel it when you rub your finger across the lip. It's very small, so it's hard to feel, but they said that this will not cause any problems for me. You really have to pay attention hard to your finger to feel it because it's so small............

What do you guys think?

Cruztaker, are these refurbished rims, or just used?

[martyo]

Would a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry or Nissan Maxipad been able to survive this type of trauma?
That's hard to tell. There was probably one sitting in the bottom of the pot hole that you went over. You'd have to look at its roof and see if you left any dents as you rolled over it.

[junehhan]

The scary part, is that these potholes are getting dangerously big as they continue to be neglected by the city. My friend called me to tell me that he saw a new VW Bug get swallowed by a pothole up by his house. He said the bug dropped it's drive side front tire into the pothole, bottomed out, and then was unable to get enough traction to get itself back out of the hole...............