Pothole damage

I hit a very deep pothole and it sent my hubcap flying and bent my rim. Pics below.
The Mitsubishi service person said he could try to bang it out but recommended I get a
new rim, which costs $150 plus labor. He said banging it out could damage the tire.
Any thoughts? The tire seems to be ok. It lost some pressure when it hit but I have
filled it up and it seems to be holding. By the way, the hubcap costs $130, which seems crazy.

I've banged out many wheels like that Tony. It's worth a try and if done right, you're not going to damage the tire. I put the wheel and tire assembly flat on the ground and then hit the inside edge of rim [where the wheel cover snaps in] with a long sledge hammer until the dent is out. Admittedly, I do have a wheel balancer to check my work on.

Better yet, if you want to bring it over to my house after work tomorrow, I will do it for you. Send me a PM.

I'm surprised the tire survived. You'd think pinching the tire enough to bend the rim would blow it out, since there's not much room for the air displacement. Unless the rim caught the edge of the hole, in which case the hubcap's most likely broke (if not missing altogether). I'm no metalworker, but that could probably be hammered out. If it's still holding air, it's not too far gone. No damage to the suspension?

The Mitsu repair guy didn't say anything about the suspension. It seems to be handling well. There is some noise from that end but it may be that the tire is slightly out of balance.

How many potholes did you hit? From the pictures, there is more than one dent in that rim. Like others have suggested, I would try to get it back into shape (until pothole season subsides). It really is time for a new rim. Just take a good look at the tire from time to time to make sure there are no bulges developing in the area of the impact. Also, is the steering wheel still centered when driving straight down the road?

I'm taking everyone's advice, I'm at Firestone waiting to see if they can fix it. I'm shocked the tire didn't pop too after seeing the damage to the rim. I hadn't checked the tire pressure in a while and it may have been under inflated. The alignment seems good but the tire is giving a low rumble. I guess I'll find out soon.

Latest update, the mechanic told me he got the tire off and it's not damaged. Said he should be able to repair the rim. Thanked me for bringing the car, said he's never seen one and it's "really cool" - his words. So far so good, although I'll still have to get a new hubcap.

siai47 said:

How many potholes did you hit? From the pictures, there is more than one dent in that rim. Like others have suggested, I would try to get it back into shape (until pothole season subsides). It really is time for a new rim.

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I agree - That rim is bent at least in two places, if not three and we haven't examined the other side of it. Pound it out now so you can drive it while you wait for a new rim to come in. If it was my car, I'd change not only the rim but the tire too . . . . and I'd have a really knowledgeable person give the suspension a very close look. IMO, there is no way that tire isn't damaged even though you may not be able to visually see it. I wouldn't trust it and would be very careful driving the car until it was replaced

Don

Don, those were my concerns too, but Firestone finished the work, the rim and tire look good, at least from the outside, I drove it to work and it felt, sounded fine, no noises, no pulling, no issues at all. And only $70 labor. I'm at 19,000 miles and haven't rotated the tires yet so I'll be doing that soon and I'll have them check the tire/rim again when I do that. Thanks everyone for the helpful advice.

Do you plan on rotating tires side to side? With different size tires front and rear, that seems to be the only way to rotate.

BillThompsonMIEV said:

Do you plan on rotating tires side to side? With different size tires front and rear, that seems to be the only way to rotate.

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Even with no toe-in, I tend to create a bit more wear on the outer edge due to hard cornering. :shock:
I may try flipping and remounting the tires at 50% wear to stretch out the service life, since the tread is not directional.

The thing is, with rotating side-to-side, if you just unbolt the wheels and switch them, you'll still have the worn part of the tread on the outside. The tires would need dismounted from the wheels and switched, making sure that the worn tread is now on the inside of the wheels (opposite for me since I have a tad of toe-out, tires like this: \\ // )

I'm about ready to get a new set and keep my half-decent Enasaves as spare tires.

Isn't that part of maintenance rotating tires in our case from side to side?

tonymil said:

Isn't that part of maintenance rotating tires in our case from side to side?

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I asked mitsu "Hello, how often are we supposed to rotate tires? Or do we since they're different sizes? "and they emailed me: "Thank you for wriitng Mitsubishi Motors. Per page 7-24 of your Owners Manual, do not rotate the front and rear tires. Thanks for your question."

Also from http://www.edmunds.com/how-to/rotate-your-tires.html
“Rotating generally does not refer to either of the following actions:
• Exchanging tires on the same axle — for example, swapping the rear tires left to right
• Criss-crossing tires — moving a tire from the passenger's side rear to the driver's side front

There's a good reason for this. Tires develop wear patterns as they age. Some of these patterns are tied to the suspension system and the alignment. That's why we keep the tires on the same side of the car.”

So I was just going to say “Yea! One less maintenance item!”

-Barry