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How much trouble am I in? (rim+curb)

P

PurpleMystique

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Nov 16, 2004
Messages
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Location
Greater Des Moines Area
Well I took a corner a tad too fast on the fresh snow and my rear rim had a nice meeting with the curb. It is definitely cracked and will need replaced, but the tire is still inflated. I guess I'll see tomorrow if the seal is actually broken or not. By about 25mph there's audible road noise, and I haven't taken it about 40 yet.
I'm assuming I can get a new rim from the local junkyard for not too much, but any idea at what else I'm looking at for parts and labor, since I have no garage to tackle this myself?

brokenrim1.jpg

brokenrim2.jpg

brokenrim3.jpg


Sorry for the bad pics, my hand was shaking due to the 2 degree weather. The lines on the left side of the first picture are dirt, not cracks.
 
Yes, you need a "new" rim (probably $50 at the junk yard). I have excellent powers of observation. :laugh:

The bad thumping noise is due to the bad rim. You are probably "fine" with the tire. Drive it minimally until you can get it changed (probably $30 for them to take it out, remount and balance). You may be looking at an alignment $70. Check to make sure you did not crap out the wheel bearings. Push the wheel in and out and see if there is any play (free, jack it up and push in and out). I am surprised the tire seal is still good.

Edit. SVTJON87 and fordsvt98 FTW. Put spare in ASAP and while wheel is off, spin hub.
 
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id put the spare on asap. its not safe to drive on that. i did the same thing last year. im pretty sure i killed the wheel bearing. but i sold the car. you should have seen the big chunk gone out of my rim. and it help air!. took me like 3 mounths to find a used rim. but it was a mini van and that rim wasnt common.
 
probly 50 bucks + or - 10 bucks for junker rim with a good tire. and to swap your tire off your cracker to the good one id say 10 bucks. with balance and a new stem. with your rim off, spin your rotor and see if that bad boy is wobblin'....if it aint too bad roll with it. call it a night. UNLESS YOU HAVE HERCULES ARMS I DONT THINK YOU COULD DIY THE MOUNT OF NEW RIM TO YOUR TIRE LAWL.
 
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Tony2005 said:
Yes, you need a "new" rim (probably $50 at the junk yard). I have excellent powers of observation. :laugh:

The bad thumping noise is due to the bad rim. You are probably "fine" with the tire. Drive it minimally until you can get it changed (probably $30 for them to take it out, remount and balance). You may be looking at an alignment $70. Check to make sure you did not crap out the wheel bearings. Push the wheel in and out and see if there is any play (free, jack it up and push in and out). I am surprised the tire seal is still good.
Click to expand...

Well it's not a thumping as much as it is a constant drone, which is why I think the bearing might be in trouble too (oh please no...). I'll run by the junkyard and tire places tomorrow and see what they can do for me.
 
I did the same exact thing about 3 weeks ago. Another thing you will want to check out will be the lower arm of your suspension, mine had to be replaced.

The insurance company fought with me and refused to change the ball joint, which took the brunt of the impact. After inspecting the job, the lower arm *came* with a new ball joint already installed with the part :)
 
Here's the damage so far:
1 rim, $48.15
Mount and balance, new stem, $24.61 (that was an expensive stem...)

The drone is still there, and it's pretty apparent that the rim tips inward. You'll have to forgive me for not knowing the correct terminology, but the center part visible in pictures 3 and 4 below is definitely slightly bent right in the middle, is it supposed to be?
brokenrim4.jpg

brokenrim5.jpg

brokenrim8.jpg

brokenrim10.jpg
 
Oh yeah, forgot to mention a couple things. While the car was jacked up I tested a couple things. There was no play in the rotor, but it felt like the brake was being applied for about half of the turn, as it took a bit of effort to get it to spin at first, then it would go semi-freely for about half the turn, then back to being stuck.
Also, I spun the tire while it was in the air and it spun true, without any type of wobble. But when I took the donut off it was apparent that the inside of the tire wasn't making contact with the ground, showing that the whole deal was bent in.
 
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"Mount and balance, new stem, $24.61 (that was an expensive stem...)".
It is the mounting that is expensive. The stem is probably $1 and the balance is usually $7 or so.

"The drone is still there, and it's pretty apparent that the rim tips inward. You'll have to forgive me for not knowing the correct terminology, but the center part visible in pictures 3 and 4 below is definitely slightly bent right in the middle, is it supposed to be?"
Can't really tell what you mean with those pictures. Maybe circle it and repost? But now is the time to take it to another tire shop which has those "free alignment check" deals. And say you hit a curb recently and "can you check if the alignment is out". If they say, yes, then you know it is just that $70. If not, then they will tell you what you have to do.

Edit. I was going to mention this but forgot. Do I spy a Pre98 in the background of Pic 2?
 
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No, I do not believe that is supposed to be bent, If you go to sears for the alignment, they will do all 4 corners. 65.00 dollars here in MN for that service. They will NOT do just 2. I argued with the guy for like 2 mins to get a cheaper price but he wouldnt give in. Try not to drive on your tire for more than 7,000 to 10,000 miles with tire bent in like that cause it may cause uneven wear on your tire, or tires potentially. Maybe they can bang the control arm bracket into position again, or possibly the hub bracket deal "spindle" is bent. 75 bucks so far aint bad eh? better than 400! Take it one step at a time and dont get too upset with yourself.
 
According to the bill from the tire place the mounting and balancing was N/C (no charge, probably since I bought the tires there), the stem was $20, and there was a $2 hazardous material charge (probably for disposal of the bad rim). Plus tax makes $24.61.
I took it on the highway tonight and the drone was there, I'm hoping it's just tire noise because it's hitting unevenly and not bearing noise. I do think the noise now is different from when the spare was on, so hopefully that's it.
There's a Sears just across town so I'll take it there and see how bad the alignment is or if it's more than that.
I'm not too bent out of shape (haha) about it all, luckily I have a job now so I can cover the costs. I might have to wait just a bit longer to get that laptop though...
Here I marked the area that is bent.
brokenrim8red.jpg


Oh yeah, idk if that's a pre98 in the second pic, I just took the picture in the Best Buy parking lot while I was waiting for them to get my tire done.
 
It's a problem. It's bad enough to wear that tire out in very little time. Perhaps as little as one or two hundred miles.

Something is bent. Most likely something will need to be replaced, but sometimes bent parts can be straightened.
 
Okay, I just got back from Car-X and here's what I found out. They couldn't visibly find something bent, so he wanted to pretty much replace the entire suspension assembly back there - both lateral links, steering knuckle, trailing arm, spindle, and strut. Everything but the strut could be sourced from a junkyard for $250, plus $103 for the strut, then $207 for the labor and $60 for an alignment.
$700. Does this sound reasonable?

I'm going to try and get another couple estimates before I decide what to do. There's noooo way I want to sink $700 into a $1000 car.
 
Get a second, third, fourth opinion. If you have the time, but, if I were you, Id try to concentrate on the side that is bent, and go from there. And try my best not to get sucked into the driver's side. How hard did you pinch that curb anyway?
 
Ya I guess i misread your post about the drivers side deal. Ya get a diff opinion (price) too. Maybe call the yard and source the parts you need. 1. Strut (maybe bent) 2. control arm trailing arm whatever 3. knuckle. <-- it will come with the spindle on the knuckle I believe. Car x or any other place will prob try to inflate the JY price a wee to make room for the overhead costs. But, if you find the price out for yourself youre one step ahead. $250 - 275.00 to install with alignment.....meh. makin out alright so far Id say if you cant do it yourself. Now its a question of the parts cost. Be cool with the parts dude at the Junkyard and you may skimp a good deal out of it, then possibly walk in to someplace good to have em throw the parts in for ya. Up to you man. But in all a savings of 200 bucks if you can pull it off. If you know the price for labor is 250 + or - 50 or so.....then its all about the parts. 500 for a lil mishap aint the end of the world. Its necessary to keep that baby on the road, and in resellable condition. Either that or take a big arse crowbar and........lol NVM. If you need to save up for it.....well.....you know the deal.
 
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