Most of the time, the rim is not a part of the car that people think about, especially while repairing car parts. People don’t think about rim repair because they think replacement is the best option. However, auto mechanics can help you repair your rim, depending on your type. If you are using a steel rim, it is easy to bend back into its normal position. This article gives a comprehensive insight into a bent rim repair cost.
Alloy and aluminum rims are a little difficult to repair. However, experts will let you know if your damaged or bent room can be repaired. An auto shop that repairs bent rims will charge you about $150 for the job, which is very cheap compared to the cost of rim replacement. The cost varies from shop to shop, but it will be between $65 to $400.Â
Additionally, you can fix a bent rim in your garage, but you will need to follow some steps, have some tools and be extra careful.
Rim Repair
There are different kinds of rim repair; they include;
Bent Rim Repair Cost, Damage Types: #1. Buckles And Bends
Buckles and bends occur to your tire wheel’s inner and exterior parts, causing air pressure loss, wheel alignment problems, tire wear, and vibration while driving. An auto shop can help you repair buckles and bends on your wheel rim to ensure that the air pressure is sustained and the tires are ready for performance.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, Damage Types: #2. Curb Rash
Curb rash occurs when you park your vehicle close to an obstruction, are driving on a flat tire, or hit a stone or any hard object. Your wheels can go through a form of cosmetic damage that includes scratches and finish deterioration. To repair this, an expert will help you machine the cracks away and get your wheels back to shape with a factory-like finish.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, Damage Types: #3. Cracks And Gouges
Cracks and gouges occur when you hit a pot-hole at high speed or in an accident. To repair the wheel rim, an expert will help you fill the cracked or gouged area with a durable weld that will not change the size or shape of the wheel. However, you will have to replace the wheel if the damages can’t be repaired with a durable weld filling.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, Damage Types: #4. Corrosion
Corrosion on your wheel results from external factors such as road chemicals, paint on the alloy wheel, and tire sealants. Corrosion can cause the rim to bend, causing air pressure loss. An expert will help you clean the affected area using a proprietary corrosion solution and bring your wheels back in good shape.
Bent Rim Repair
A bent rim affects the safety of your vehicle, prevents smooth rides, causes your tire to wear out quickly, causes alignment problems, and can affect the fuel economy of your car. You might wonder whether you can fix a bent rim without hiring a mechanic, and the answer is YES! Get the necessary tools, follow the essential steps, and you won’t have any difficulties.
First of all, jack up your car, remove the tire from the vehicle, and then remove the wheel from the tire by using a prybar. Here are the steps to follow;
Bent Rim Repair Cost, DIY Guide: #1. Check The Material Of Your Wheel
Repairing the bent wheel becomes easier when you know the material from which your wheel is made of. Check whether it’s alloy or steel, steel rims are heavier than alloy ones, and they have fewer designs and variations. Steel rims are fixable and easy to repair but will never look as new; alloy rims are less heavy, but the probability that you will damage them during repair is very high.
If you are finding it difficult to figure out the material of your wheel, you can find out by using a magnet. It’s steel if the magnet glues; if it doesn’t, it’s an alloy wheel. If your car wheel is made of alloy, you should contact a professional before you continue.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, DIY Guide: #2. Remove The Lug Nuts On The Bent Wheel
You can remove the lug nuts or loosen them; the essence is that it will make it easier whenever you want to remove the wheel later. Lug bolts keep the tires firm to the car; depending on your type of car, you can have up to 4, 5, or 6 bolts.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, DIY Guide: #3. Get A Jack And Raise One Side Of The Car
The jack makes it easy to remove and repair the bent wheel. Park your vehicle in a safe and cool place, raise the car with a jack, and set up bricks and stones in the front and back of the tires. If you have a flat tire, create space for when you inflate it so that attaching it back will be very easy.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, DIY Guide: #4. Detach The Bent Wheel From Your Car
Use a screwdriver to remove the lug nuts to detach the tire from your car. Make sure you keep each bolt in a safe place.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, DIY Guide: #5. Deflate The Tire
An inflated tire is difficult to work on when you want to repair a bent rim, remove the tire valves and deflate the tire. You can now remove the rim from the tire using a pry bar. Wear your safety goggles, caps, and gloves, switch on the welding torch, and heat the bent area of the rim.
Focus on one part for up to 3 minutes. If the bend is severe and deep, you will have to focus on that part for up to ten minutes. Turn off the torch, put it down, and then fix the bent rim.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, DIY Guide: #6. Place A Piece Of Wood On The Bent Area
What you are doing here is that you want to hit the bent area but not directly heat the rim. While you place a plank at the top of the bend, you hammer the plank instead of the rim, but the effect straightens the bent area. Get a plank that curves like the rim for an effective process.
Begin to hammer the area until the rim straightens. If the rim doesn’t get straight because of the plank placed on it, you can hit it directly, but do it slowly and carefully.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, DIY Guide: #7. Fix The Rim Back With The Tire
Apply metal lubricant to the rim and the tire, attach the rim and tire back together, inflate the tire (with some guidance on how to put air in tires at gas station), and then test if there are any air leaks on the tire. Then fix the tire back into the car.
Cracked Wheels Repair
A cracked rim can only yield to repair if the crack is not much and is in an area where it can not alter the wheel’s structural integrity. A vertical crack in the middle or rear of the wheel can yield welding. However, a large crack in multiple areas can not be repaired. Here are the steps to follow;
- Inspect the wheel
- Get the right tools and know how to use them to avoid injury
- Set up the rim for welding
- Weld the rim
- Be sure everything is perfect when you are done.
Before repairing a cracked rim, you need to ensure the rim will yield to repair to avoid wasted efforts. A rim with several cracks won’t yield to fix. If the rim has been repaired before, don’t repair it again. Also, a wheel with large cracks or cracks on the front of the wheel won’t yield to repair.
Wheel Scratch Repair
To repair a scratch on your car wheel, you will need a glass cleaner, silver alloy wheel paint, a cleaning towel, a scuff pad, fine and coarse sandpaper, masking tape and paper, and so on. Once you get those tools ready, here are the steps to follow;
- Clean the area with glass cleaner and a clean towel.
- Use coarse sandpaper to rub the scratches until they smooth out.
- Scrape about six inches in the repair area
- Use tape and a newspaper to cover the wheel to prevent it from overspray.
- Add three to four light coats of primer, do not spray any un-sand area. Use fine sandpaper to clean any bumpy spots.
- Apply paint and then apply two light coats of clear coat on the paint.
- Wait for a few minutes and then clean up everything. Remove paper tapes and newspapers, and you are done.
How To Repair Aluminum Wheel Rim
A damaged or bent aluminum wheel rim will affect your car’s overall performance and give your vehicle a poor appearance. Below are the steps you should follow to repair your aluminum wheels/rims;
Bent Rim Repair Cost, Repair Procedures: Step 1
Inspect the wheel rim and determine its damage: dents, scratches, corrosion, or cracks and fissures. Because, for instance, you can’t make amends to dents at the edge of the wheel rim. Also, you can’t remove dents in the aluminum wheel rim; it will affect the integrity of the whole tire.
You can not weld an aluminum rim, and you can not remedy cracks and fissures with a depth of 1-2 millimeters. If the wheel rim has scratches and corrosion damage, you can repair it by grinding, polishing, and applying a new layer.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, Repair Procedures: Step 2
Prepare the wheel rim by removing it from the tire, ensuring you work on damages comfortably. You will need a small grinder, different grit of sanding paper, a wheel rim filter, and a workbench.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, Repair Procedures: Step 3
Now you can repair the damage. Use an electric multi-tool to grind all sorts of scratches and fissures but make sure the grinding tool doesn’t get anywhere near the tires. Properly treat all cracks and crevices, they get deeper, and you don’t want that.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, Repair Procedures: Step 4
It’s time to work from coarse to fine. Get fine-grit sandpaper to smooth out the areas with scratches. Seal the rim with varnish without filler, and get a polishing disc to apply the finishing touches.
Bent Rim Repair Cost, Repair Procedures: Step 5
Once done, you can paint the wheel rim and clean the rim with a silicon spray. Seal it with varnish.
Scraped Rim Repair
If your car has so many scrapes and scratches on its exterior, you can always restore that beauty it used to have; how do you go about it?
- Sand down the scraped surface with 80-grit wet/dry sandpaper. Then get soapy water and use a sponge to wash it off.
- Locate the areas where the scrapes are deep and many, and apply some polyester and finishing filler. Give it time to dry before you continue.
- When the area you applied fillers to has dried up, its surface ensures easy painting. Use 80-grit coarse sandpaper first, then 180-grit sandpaper. This step will make it easy to add primer.
- Set out the wheel for the first coat. Cover every area you don’t want the paint to touch with masking tapes, and cover the tire’s valve, lug caps, and sidewalls to prevent paint from touching them.
- Apply the first primer coat. First, apply a thin layer of filler primer to the entire rim surface, then leave it for about 10 minutes to dry up.
- Apply the primer coat for the second time. At this point, spray a heavy amount of filler primer all over the rim surface, and make sure it gets everywhere equally.
- Get a heavy metallic paint and spray it over the rim surface; your rim will have a bright outlook when it dries off. Then give it time to dry.
- Finally, apply a clear coat. Let it dry off before you remove the masking tapes and add some finishing touch.
Curb Rash Repair
A curb rash is what you see on your tire rim when you hit a curb; the rash can look like scuff marks or scratches. To repair a curb rash, follow these steps;
- Clean the area.
- Cover the tire, valve stem, and every other part close to the affected area.
- Use coarse sandpaper to sand out scratches.
- Use Bondo putty to cover the damaged area.
- Use sandpaper to smooth the putty.
- Scrape up to six inches around the damaged area with scuff until it becomes smooth.
- Apply three or four coats of primer on the surface of the wheel.
- Apply an amount of paint to the wheel and allow it to dry.
- Then apply two light coats of clear coat to the paint, and you are good to go.
Scuffed Rims Repair
Repairing a scuffed rim requires the same methods outlined in scrapped, bent, or scratched rim sections. If you can’t do it independently, you can hire a professional to help you with it.
Rim Repair Shop
The rim repair shop you go to will determine how much you will pay to repair your bent rim. The location of the rim repair shop and how professional its workers are will also affect the cost. A rim repair shop in an urban area will charge you more than those in a rural area.
Bent Rim Symptoms
A bent rim can damage your tire and put your life at risk. If you don’t know the symptoms of a bent rim, below are some;
1. Vibration On The Steering While Driving
Your steering begins to shake and vibrate when your rim is bent because your tire is touching the road surface inconsistently.
2. Poor Handling
A bent rim affects the tire pressure and steering performance negatively. You have a bent rim if you cannot control your car or it feels hard when driving.
3. Wheel Damage
If you can see any physical damage on your wheel, it’s most likely that your rim is bent too.
4. Deflating Tire
If you notice that your tire regularly deflates without any cause or reason, you have a bent rim. A bent wheel pulls away from the tire quickly, causing air leaks.
Bent Wheel Repair Cost
If you want to repair a bent wheel on your car, the cost depends on how badly the wheel is bent, the quality of your wheel, and the auto shop you visit. However, you should prepare to spend between $75 to $450 for minor bends and $450 and above for severe curves.
FAQs On Bent Rim Repair Cost
How Much Do Rims Cost
A brand-new set of rims will cost about $90, but the price may vary based on size, quality, and type of car. If you use luxury cars like Audi, Chevrolet, and so on, you will spend up to $1000 to get a new set of rims. Note that a set of used or second-hand rims will cost less.
Can You Fix A Bent Rim
A bent rim can be fixed and repaired if the damage is not severe. However, the probability of the bend yielding to repair is not hundred percent, and in extreme cases, you will need to replace the entire wheel.
How Much Does It Cost To Repair A Tire
Replacing a single standard tire costs about $60 to $200. However, the cost depends on the quality and tire you use. Also, replacing tires for SUVs and trucks will be around $350 and above. In addition, consider replacing all tires at once.
How To Fix A Bent Rim
To fix a bent rim, find out whether you have an alloy or steel rim, loosen the lug nuts of the bent wheel halfway, and raise the side of the car with a bent rim with a jack. Detach the tire from your vehicle, deflate the tire and remove the rim. Use a welding torch to heat the bent area. Place a plank on the bent area, then hammer the spot through the plank until the bent area becomes straight and smooth. Attach the rim back to the tire, check the tire for possible leaks, and then fix the tire back to the car.
How To Fix A Cracked Rim
To fix a cracked rim, figure out how severe the crack is. If the damage is large, you don’t need to worry about a repair; you will have to replace the whole wheel. If the crack is small, epoxy the cracked area and let it dry. Patch it up with glue after sanding it. You can also use recycled materials such as old tires or bike frames to fix a cracked rim.
How To Fix Scuffed Rims
To fix scuffed rims, start by cleaning the rim with a mild cleaner and washcloth. Sand and fill the damaged area, then apply primer and paint. Cover areas with newspaper or masking tape, then use metal alloy primer on the scuffed area. Once the primer dries, spray a base coat of metallic spray paint to the scuffed area, allow the spray to dry, and apply up to three spray paint coats.
How Much To Repair Tire
Tire repair in an auto shop will cost about $10 to $20, depending on the quality of the tire, the auto shop, and the severity of the damage on the tire. Some shops may even help you repair the tire for free.
How Much Does It Cost To Buff Out A Scratch
You will spend about $150 to buff out a surface scratch. It will cost you $2500 to buff out a deep paint scratch and $3500 to buff out an entire car scratch.
How To Get A Tire Back On The Rim
There are several ways to put a tire back on the rim, but the fastest and easiest way is to raise the wheel part above the ground and put the rim in the tire. Get a bottle of fluid, spray it into the space between the sidewall tire and the rim, use fire to prevent the granule of the tire from drying off, then inflate the tire. Then you can fix the tire of the car.
How Much Does It Cost To Put Tire On Rim
Hiring a professional to help you fix your tire back on the rim will cost you up to $45 per tire, which means you will pay up to $150 for four tires. This price depends on the size of your tire, the quality, how many tires you want to fix, and your type of car.
How Much Is Rim Repair
Repairing an alloy or steel rim will cost you between $50 and $150, while chrome rim repairs can cost between $200 and $500.
How Much Do Hub Caps Cost
The price of hub caps depends on the size, brand, material, and purchase location. However, a hub cap can cost between $25 to $50. Higher-end hub caps from premium car brands can cost $100 and above.
Bent Rim Repair Cost: In Conclusion…
The cost of repairing a bent rim depends on factors such as how severe the bend is, the quality of your rim, and the auto shop helping you to fix the bend. However, prepare to spend between $65 to $450.
