bent my steel wheels what to do?

[vibedrivermatt]

well the other day I was going down a twisty back road/highway and nailed a big pot hole. Maybe doing 50/55 mph or so. I thought everything was fine but than I got out on an interstate and definitely noticed a shimmy. It wasn't that noticeable until I got up to 80mph. Its more felt when taking turns. So my question is what should I do the fix it with spending least amount of cash? I sure that I hit my right two wheels. So I need to have two new steel wheels and get balancing done.Does anybody have some budget friendly tips on getting on hold of some wheels cheaply? Thanks

[tribalman]

Quote, originally posted by vibedrivermatt »Does anybody have some budget friendly tips on getting on hold of some wheels cheaply? Thankstheft??? kidding kidding. i'd say check junk yards. vibe/matrix/corolla/tc/ lots of other cars. discounttire.com has the 16" steelies for 56 each.

[Entelodont]

The first thing you should do is take to a reputable tire shop to see if balancing the tires will cure the shimmy. I caught the edge of the Sea Of Tranquility, and it blew the sidewall out of the winter tire. Proceeded to limp a mile or so to get it off the interstate, and there was no damage to the steel wheel. If a new wheel is required, try a Toyota dealer parts counter; they usually have take off steelies for sale and don't want them taking up space.

[vibolista]

That was a pretty hard knock, so might want to check the alignment. Shouldn't be too tough to find good steelies at cheap prices. A lot of wrecked Corollas, Vibes, Matrix out there make steelies plentiful in local bone yards. Our roads are incredibly bad this year already, and have had a couple of close calls with suddenly appearing craters! Watch out!

[vibedrivermatt]

Quote, originally posted by vibolista »That was a pretty hard knock, so might want to check the alignment. Shouldn't be too tough to find good steelies at cheap prices. A lot of wrecked Corollas, Vibes, Matrix out there make steelies plentiful in local bone yards. Our roads are incredibly bad this year already, and have had a couple of close calls with suddenly appearing craters! Watch out! yup it was. made a pretty bad noise when I went over that thing, shook the car pretty hard. thanks for the tips. Trying the toyota counter was something I didn't consider. I'll post an update on this after she's all fixed up in about two weeks. I'm at work not using the car for a while. I'm hoping just getting the wheels will fix it but I do know of a really good local tire shop. The alignment seems like its still dead on but, those guys can check I guess.Thanks note to self: don't post pics of vibe/matrix up on blocks when explaining where I got my new wheels in the update.. hehe just kidding

[vibedrivermatt]

ok just wanna follow up on this thing because I finally went to the tire shop. They guys said my wheels where fine but they only visually inspected them. I was a little disappointed because I was expecting them to put them on a balancing machine. Maybe I have to go to a different tire shop. This place was supposed to be pretty reputable but they didn't seem to try hard enough to solve my problem. I kinda left wondering if I was imagining the whole vibration thing but, I remember something definitely being different and actually being a bit shocked by it when I got up to interstate speeds. Uh I think...I may just go to another tire shop and ask for a balancing and check.

[djkeev]

I very hard hit like you describe can compromise the belts in the tire, causes them to "slip" and giving you an out of round, impossible to balance tire that really isn't safe to use any longer. I'd for sure hit a tire shop, preferably the brand on the car, and have them checked out if you can't do so yourself.Last thing you need is a tire failure at 80 MPH!! (by the way, where exactly is the speed limit 80 in the USA?)You could also have bent a control arm or even the spindle throwing the front end geometry totally out of whack as well.dave

[vibedrivermatt]

hmmm i didn't consider or know the belts in the tire could be messed up. Maybe my rims are fine. Either way think I'll get to another tire shop at some point. but a wouldn't a tire being "out of round" cause a severe shaking in the steering wheel? if so Im not getting that. On some interstates the limit is 65 but as long as your not going over 80 the state police usually won't pull you over. Nobody really drives 65mph and average speed seem anywhere from 70 to 80. Every once in a while some crazy kid who hasn't gotten a speeding ticket yet in their life goes by doing a 100. I've been driving around a lot though and should sorta say lately I'm having a hard time detecting any shimmy. One thought was that maybe I'm just feeling the road? I should fess up that maybe I could have imagined a prob from the beginning and really its fine.

[lovemyraffe]

Quote, originally posted by djkeev »Last thing you need is a tire failure at 80 MPH!! (by the way, where exactly is the speed limit 80 in the USA?)There are 2 sections of about 20 miles each on I-15 in Utah where the speed limit is 80.

[djkeev]

Quote, originally posted by lovemyraffe »There are 2 sections of about 20 miles each on I-15 in Utah where the speed limit is 80. Does Montana still have "reasonable and prudent" as their speed limit??

[tribalman]

Quote, originally posted by djkeev »Does Montana still have "reasonable and prudent" as their speed limit??nope.

[vibolista]

Quote, originally posted by tribalman »nope.Sad thing.