Scuffed my rim hard! Do I need an alignment?

karpman9

karpman9

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[eek] [ohcrap] [eek] [ohcrap]

Well Friends,

It took me 73 days, but on Friday I finally inflicted injury unto my BMW in the form of a 3-inch long rim scuff (slightly deep~3-5mm). It occured while pulling into my driveway at work. I took the right turn in a bit too hard and clipped my rear passenger wheel and jumped the curb. These are the 18" ZHP double spoked rims. The edge of the Michelin PS-2 got clipped as well and actually had a three inch long strip of rubber hanging by a thread on the tire. It was a sad sight, but I carefully pulled off the damaged rubber and inpsected the rim. It was like someone took a hammer and chisel to the edge of the rim, as alot of "rim-powder" was easily blown away. Fortunately, the tire is sound and the rim does not appear to be bent at all. The rim does look as though it did release some of it's inner material (doesn't look like metal though) but thankfully, it's really just a superficial "wound".

With all of that said, and also with only about 3800 miles accrued to date, should I get an alignment? When I had my Lexus IS 300 and needed an alignment after I hit a seriously big rock and bent my rim, it was the begining of the end of my enjoying that vehicle. It was never the same car again. The dealer couldn't seem to ever get the alignment correct. I am afraid of that same scenario occuring with my BMW. Does the dealer actually do the alignment or do they send it out? Maybe it depends on the dealer. Scary stuff to ponder! I feel a very slight, very very slight shimmy......or was it there all of the time? I just can't be certain and would rather not do any more harm to my baby. To align or not to align?

Please help with your insights! Thanks in advance!
 
jrt67ss350

jrt67ss350

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If there's a shimmy, then there is something wrong. Either the alignment got screwed up or the rim is bent or even worse, a suspension component is bent (but I would doubt that). How do you know the rim isn't bent? You really can't tell unless you take the rim off the car and mount it on a balancing machine and watch the tread surface or bead as the wheel rotates.

I had a rapidly developing shimmy in my E30 and thought it was just a wheel that came out of balance. When I took the car in for balancing, the guy showed me how one of the rims was bent. You couldn't tell it when it was on the car, but you could see it when the wheel was rotating on the balancing machine. On this rim, if you had removed the tire and laid a straightedge across the bead surfaces of the rim, it would not have been perpendicular to the hub mounting surface - the entire rim was bent relative to the hub mounting surface. Led to a bad shimmy, and you couldn't tell it just by looking at the rim. All because of those lovely Memphis roads littered with potholes.
 
Kirby

Kirby

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Even if it's not bent, a scuff 3" long, 3 - 5mm deep and that piece of missing rubber *might* be enough weight loss to affect the balance. I would not expect that alone would cause a shimmy, but I think it would be most noticeable in uneven tire wear later on.

It sounds like it bugs you enough that getting the wheel checked and balanced would make you sleep better. There are places that can repair/recondition the wheel to like new, but I have never done this.
 
S

sly

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If the wheel is bent or out of balance, you will get a vibration at speed and it will be very noticeable. If your wheels are out of alignment, your car will pull to one side or the other. In other words when going down a level road you will constantly have to make steering corrections. It wouldn't hurt to take your car to a tire dealer and have the wheel and balance checked out for the wheel in question.

Another suggestion. Take the wheel to a dealer that repairs damaged wheels. For about $90 they will repair your wheel and balance it for you. I always send my damaged wheels to the Ole Wheel Shop in MD, and they make the damaged wheels look good as new.
 
E

epj3

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Kirby said:
Even if it's not bent, a scuff 3" long, 3 - 5mm deep and that piece of missing rubber *might* be enough weight loss to affect the balance. I would not expect that alone would cause a shimmy, but I think it would be most noticeable in uneven tire wear later on.

It sounds like it bugs you enough that getting the wheel checked and balanced would make you sleep better. There are places that can repair/recondition the wheel to like new, but I have never done this.
Click to expand...
I disagree - I believe it COULD cause a shimmy.

I had a VERY bad front end shimmy, to the point my hands would start to feel numb from the shimmy alone at 60 - 80 mph. Wheel balance later - and a 10 gram weight took care of it. I think any amount of weight will make a difference, especially on a large wheel.
 
Kirby

Kirby

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I agree 100% that on a front wheel it would cause a shimmy. This was on his rear wheel, so I think that a shimmy would be much less likely. Could be wrong though...
 
P

paddyLV

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[wave] karpman9...

I did the exact same thing w/my '04 330i 'ZHP' rims. I ripped a 3"- 4" gouge on my front passengers rim by backing parrallel to a curb, forgetting it was there until I heard the sound of metal on concrete...

Ever seen a grown man cry. I obviously had my head up my [shake] ...

Anyway, I went to my dealership, here in Henderson (NV), and they recommended
a business called [Wheel Guys] that specialize in curb damage, painted, polished or gouges w/BMW vehicles and their alloy rims.

If you call them they may be able to recommend a business near you for wheel repair specialists.

Their # is: Wheel Guys ~ 702.437.7777

Good luck!
 
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