Bent Tire Rims

[Doug]

Ok, What does everyone know about bent rims? � First of all a little background. �I do not know whether I have original rims or aftermarket rims. �They look authentic to me and are in very good shape as far as rust. �However, they do appear to have had some use. � �I was running them since I had my jeep about 5000 miles total. � I always had a little bit of shimmy when driving. �It got worse over time but thought it was due to my front tires which were wearing quickly from no alignment. � �

The steering components are all tight and new and have no play in them. � I have now properly aligned the front end and hopefully that resolve the premature wear on the front tires. �

I went to a tire installer today to have the balding tires swapped on the rims for two new tires. � (It is always fun trying to find someone around here who is willing to work with innertubes or who knows what they are doing. �More of that for a later discussion.

After they replaced the tires they were about to balance. �When they put the first tire on the balancer and slowly spun it around, the tire and rim had a very pronounced wobble to it. �The rim was bent. �After closer inspection it appears that the rims are bent more toward the edges of the lip and not closer to the hub area. �Although that is from casual visual observation and more of a guess. �The other rim was put on the balance machine and it looked much straighter and more true when it turned.

I went home and propped my jeep on jacks and ran the engine and watched the two rear tires. � They have a little bit of bend to them as well. �The right rear is mostly true and only off a tiny bit. �The left rear is off a little bit more. �I swapped the spare for the bent tire front tire, put the two straight rims onthe front, test drove,and I have much less shimmy now.

So here are some of my questions. �How do the rims get bent anyway? �Do they get easily bent when installing tires? �Do they get bent from driving? �Do the tire mechanics have to be extra careful? � Do repop rims bend easier than originals? �Are most orignial rims bent due to years of abuse? � Is there any way to practically straighten a bent rim or is replacement the only way to go? � Do your tires spin perfectly true if you lift your jeep and spin the tires?

[p3ferris]

Having a bent rim is a son of a gun.  Hydralicks is the only to get them straight...body shop...pricey.  As far as how they get that way is abuse.  Sliding into a  curb while turning  or slipping sideways at a good speed.I personally have not done that but I have seen it done in front of me.  They take off the bent one on front and put it on the back.  This will stop the front wobble.  The poor sucker that buys the veh. later suffers with tire wear.

[Carls_jeep]

They are stamped steel so they can be straightened but it's not easy and you probably don't want to pay what it would cost. I have one bent wheel as far as I know and one with a wallowed out lug nut hole. Some day I will have to deal with straightening one and the other will be a spare. I don't have a spare tire now.

[Doug]

Are cj3a rims easily bent when installing and removing tires from them.  Is that a problem that is typical.  Only reason I ask is if a person were to buy a new rim, I would hate to get it ruined during a tire install.

[rocketeer]

Bent rims are a hazard of off-roading, potholes, and banging into curbs. Pneumatic tire changers can easily bend a rim if the person doing the job doesn't watch what they're doing. Personally I don't believe in trying to straighten a rim unless it's a ding in the lip. Once the metal has been bent it's been stressed. To bend it back will stress it some more creating a, however mild, weak point.

So, I want straight, new if necessary, rims on the front. A very slight off-center wobble in the rear rims should not pose a problem.

The best way to prevent the rims from being distorted on a pneumatic tire changer is to do it manually. It really isn't that hard. Two tire irons will do it. Just be careful of pinching the tube. Also remember to fully inflate the tire, and then let all the air back out, to let the tube seat itself within the tire, then inflate it again.

This is the type of tire iron I use. That little notch is great for hooking over the lip while prying the tire onto the rim.



I probably should also mention how to break the bead on these old wheels/tires. Remove the valve stem and let all the air out. Get your bottle jack. If you have a pickup, go get it. If not, ask a friend. Slide the wheel under the vehicle. Set the base of the bottle jack on top of the tire sidewall as close to the rim as you can get. Adjust the jack up against the frame of the truck. Now start jacking. As the base of the jack starts to apply pressure to the bead double check that it's not pushing on the rim. It might take a bit of practice until you figure out at what point will the jack start to slide. Stop jacking before it slides over. Let it sit for a while. If it doesn't break loose, do it again at a different location around the tire. Eventually it will break loose.

Once the tire beads on both sides are broken free it's time to pry the tire off. Stand on the tire to push the sidewall down and hook the bar between the tire and wheel on the side away from your foot. Now pull on the bar until the bead comes above the rim. Stand on the bar and insert the second bar about 10" or so away from the first and repeat. Once the bead between the bars is up and over the lip of the rim remove one of the bars and continue to work your way around the rim. Once the top bead is completely over the rim reach inside and remove the tube.

With the tube out use the bars to leverage the other bead up and over the rim. There ya go, piece of cake! �;)

At this point I usually use a drill powered wire brush to clean the inside of the lip, If the rim is all rusty I will wire brush the entire interior until clean. Do not paint the inside.

One recommendation, do not reuse old tubes, it's not worth it. After what you just went through the last thing you need is for a tube failure inside your new tires.

Larry

[Doug]

Larry,

Having my own tire irons and have the ability to change tires myself would be a help.  When I bring a tire with an inner tube to most of the tire shops around here they refuse to work on it for liability purposes.   When I finally find someone who will work on them, they do not appear to be the most reliable people. Then of course, try to tell someone with a 24" prybar and a pnuematic tire changer to take it a little easier on your rim and they look at you like they might want to beam you in the head with one of their tire irons.    Around here if they are not selling you a $1,200 set of truck tires, or trying to finance you on a set of $5,000 spinner rims, they don't want to talk to you.  

Doug.

[Bob W]

It's easy to accidentally bend a rim using the very common, good old days, Coats 4040 machine. This is because the lower shoe moves during every operation, not just when breaking the lower bead. If it's not adjusted properly the shoe catches on the rim and this machine has enough power to easily bend the wheel. I think the wheel could even get bent if the tire was old and not pliable and required a lot of force to break the bead.

[Doug]

Bob, you never stop teaching me a new old thing that I did not know before.    That is very useful information.  However, since it is impossible to talk to these tire guys, I doubt they would ever listen to me about adjusting and calibrating their machines before they work on my tires.  They act like they are doing me a favor just by agreeing to work on the tires.  So that leaves doing it by hand myself if I want to have any say in how careful or gentle it is done.  Now here is the $64,000 question.  If I use the two manual hand held tire iron method, how rough on the rim is the move where you stick the tire iron under the tire bead and bend the iron back until the bead pops over the rim.   Will that act alone bend a rim.        

Does anyone know if the reproduction rims are of descent quality.

[Doug]

Larry,  what length are your tire irons.  I see them on the internet starting at 8" for motorcycles all the way up to 24".  What length should I use?   Also, is there any trick to not bending the edge of the rim when folding the tire bead over the rim.  THanks  for all the help you guys offer.

[Bob W]

Larry, �what length are your tire irons. �I see them on the internet starting at 8" for motorcycles all the way up to 24". �What length should I use? � Also, is there any trick to not bending the edge of the rim when folding the tire bead over the rim. �THanks �for all the help you guys offer.

Get the long ones. Remember there is no magic in a tire machine, it has to accomplish the same thing you will be doing by hand. The rim should be strong enough. The key is doing it properly. A tire bead will not stretch. For it to come over the rim the opposite side must be in the drop center section of the wheel.

It is not that difficult, you can do it. Of course it wouldn't hurt to have an extra tube on hand. �;D

If you are going to be mounting a few tires I recommend the "Tyrepliers Beadbreaker". I used one of these for a field repair and it worked great. Much less frustrating than the normal jack method of bead breaking. Speedwaymotors.com has a similar tool for 1/4 the cost but it only does 15" wheels. I was thinking about getting one and modifying it to fit other wheel sizes.

[rocketeer]

The longer the bar the better the leverage. Mine are 24". As for bending the rim, you can't manually apply enough pressure to bend anything using tire irons. As Bob pointed out it's the pneumatic machines that can do the damage. The older Coates machines were not that bad if you paid attention to where the underneath shoe lined up and didn't let it push on the rim. The older machines had the upper and lower shoes on the same end. Somewhere along the line they got the bright idea to push down on one end and up on the other and that's how most of the newer machines work. As you can imagine this 180deg seperation of forces actually increases the risk of a bent rim no matter what precausions you take. I've seen centers broken right out of mag wheels on these types of machines.

Larry

[Doug]

Guess I will be getting some tire irons!

[Jesse]

Get tire irons! I put my tires on the rims with a couple of gigantic screwdrivers and it took all day. Otherwise I think it is something that anyone could do with a little time.

If the tire shop busted out a mag wheel of mine, I might have a cow!

[squidtone]

Hi there, late to the thread as usual (and I had to re-register......for the new BB?)
Anyway, regarding mounting tires on wheels, I would also consider the "Portable Tire Machine" sold by Harbor Freight, or Tractor Supply. I got one last year for 30 dollars. They go on sale frequently.

These can be screwed to a floor, or in my case I just get an old pallet and screw it to that. The unit features a bead breaker which works great. The bar provided is less than stellar when it comes to mounting, but works fine for demounting. I have mounted/dismounted probably a dozen wheels so far and it does take a little practice and some kind of lube!. Large tires I've found to be actually much easier to work with. The bar provided is not a "spoon", but has a spoon end and a "mounting" feature. That feature is tricky to use on small tires. It can also scratch up your wheels. However, there are very nice mounting bars available from some folks like this: http://no-scufftiretool.com/Pictures.html The plastic used keeps you from scratching paint.
I intend to make one myself, but the one shown is reasonably priced it seems.
I really like having the capability of installing tires and this option isn't too expensive.
good luck!
Dave

[mrspeedyt]

as to breaking the bead... I use a 'bead breaker' tool that I bought from j. c. whitney 15 years ago... lot easier than using the bottle jack method.