Bent Rim Question

Spin them on a wheel balancing machine and watch for out of true.

Or just spin them on the car and hold a piece of chalk or grease crayon near the lip of the rim. takes a steady hand tho. To really test precisely, set up a dial indicator with a magnetic base, stick it on the fender (clean everything well first, don't want to scratch) and set the ball of the dial indicator on the lip of the rim, then you can measure actual runout in thousandths.

nate

Based on the original poster's comments it would appear that the wheels were not far enough out of true to be noticable while driving. If that is so I think that any wobble noticed by the mechanic isn't worth worrying about.

Thanks for the info, and you are correct about nothing being noticeable. I still don't know why they were checked in the first place. It certainly isn't listed in the maintenance schedule.

Wayne

He probably put them on the wheel balancing machine, and watched them as they went around and noticed they were out of true.

You can actually measure this with a machinist's runout gauge, but usually a qualitative inspection by eye is enough.

If you see a little wobble as they go around, but there is no uneven tire wear and you don't feel anything funny while driving, don't worry about it.

--scott

Did he check wheel alignment? It's standard practice to account for normal runout when mounting the alignment equipment on the wheels. I never heard anyone call them "bent," though. (Spent some years as an alignment tech). ALL wheels have SOME runout, even expensive customs. As long as it's within .060-.080 inch, you'd never feel it while driving.

Chances are they did a wheel rotation and spin balance. There's not a set of wheels around with 100,000 miles on them that don't have at least a bit of wobble. If you don't notice it then it isn't worth worrying about.