I ate a curb today

[Shoeboy]

I was out for lunch with a buddy of mine. We pulled into the parking lot of the strip mall (a very large parking lot) about 1pm. It had snowed last night about 15cm and the parking lot had not been plowed, even though 8+ hours had been passed since it stopped snowing, anyways. I pull in and I nail my passenger tire up against the curb that was covered in snow and was even with the snow on the ground. I nailed my tire on the curb hard enough (despite the fact i wasn't going fast, I hit it on an odd angle), I bent my rim hard enough for when I parked about 50 feet away I could hear the hissing sound coming form the passenger side. I go to change the tire with my buddy, and my damn factory flimsy powered metal wrench Chrysler gave me with the car shattered on the first wheel nut. It had never been used before, and it broke on the first nut, no wonder Chrysler is in trouble. I'm going to be doing a suspension check on my car tomorrow and I'm going to check how badly the rim is messed up, if its not bad I can have it repaired, if its bad, it looks like I'm going to be looking for a used rim, and if I can't track one down for a reasonable price, looks like I'll be looking for a new rim set since the Chrysler rims are $600 each. Once i find out all the damage done I will be contacting the land manager of the mall and telling him what happened, and what damage has been done because of the lot not being plowed, and I'm going to see if I can make a deal with them about it, even if its just them paying parts. I'm not pissed I hit the curb, I'm pissed that the lot was not plowed when it should have been, its not like its a small side lot, the parking lot is probably about 10 acres and none of it was plowed, you could see where other people had hit curbs all over the place, and none of the curbs are in straight lines, they're all on angles and the rows go in all directions, its not an easy lot to navigate when there is no snow, its impossible to navigate the curbs when the curbs and the roads are evened out with snow half a foot deep. I just needed to vent, gaaa, this has been a shitty week.

 

[Ozwynn]

alloy wheels?

 

[RobbieD]

Sorry, man. That sucks. I hope you find a deal on the replacement rim.

 

[Shoeboy]

Yep, the nice 16" 5 spoke chrome dimple rims that came factory and are amazingly hard to find here (I had to track one down for a customer not to long ago, and even from a junk yard it wasn't cheap (about $300 used, or about $400-500 new aftermarket)

 

[Twizzler09]

Aluminum rims, when they're bent, they're bent. End of game. My boss at work doesnt let us even attempt to straighten them out. Just gives em a quote for a new rim, etc etc.

Unless you have/know something we dont, looks like youll be in the market for a new one.

 

[Shoeboy]

There is a place here in Calgary that we deal with on what seems like a weekly basis. Its called Alberta wheel and tire. We send a lot of rims there for repair and it is very rare that they can't/wont fix it. They deal with anything from bent rims, cracked rims, to curb kisses, they can weld up almost anything and recoat almost any type of rims with very little to no signs of repair. They can even do resizing of rims by adding or taking away from the over all width. If my rims is both dented and bent then they probably wont be able to do much as the structural integrity of the rim might be compromised, but if its just dented on the bead then they should be able to to fix that right up but since it went flat, and quite quickly to, without the bead popping, I'm thinking there is more damage then what meets the eye.

 

[Ozwynn]

yeah ...... I curbed the minivan, my brother potholed his wife's focus, both times the wheels looked fine but where toasted. I just happened to get lucky when my former neighbor totaled here T&C and I scored her chrome dipped alloys. she sold them to me for $50 a wheel. my brother wasn't so lucky, $150 each for used 17" focus wheels.

 

[Twizzler09]

There is a place here in Calgary that we deal with on what seems like a weekly basis. Its called Alberta wheel and tire. We send a lot of rims there for repair and it is very rare that they can't/wont fix it. They deal with anything from bent rims, cracked rims, to curb kisses, they can weld up almost anything and recoat almost any type of rims with very little to no signs of repair. They can even do resizing of rims by adding or taking away from the over all width. If my rims is both dented and bent then they probably wont be able to do much as the structural integrity of the rim might be compromised, but if its just dented on the bead then they should be able to to fix that right up but since it went flat, and quite quickly to, without the bead popping, I'm thinking there is more damage then what meets the eye.

Thats awesome, dont know of anyone remotely close to us that does that. hope it works out for you.

 

[Original_Ranger84]

That sucks dude, but hey time for some bling bling! lol

You might want to check the tire too for seperation where it hit, we have had a few people come in who thought they just needed a new rim when it turned out the tire had seperated when it got pinched by the curb.

 

[Mark_88]

Wow...$600 for a new rim? That's more than I paid for my Ranger...

Hope you get it fixed for less than that...but I'd be looking at a set of nice el-Cheapo steel rims from the junkyard if it was me...

 

[koda6966]

My father took my brothers first car into the curb, damn thing was totaled.

Ended up buying him another one.

 

[dirtsquirt]

I hear you on the stupid lot's and there designs ( i plow lots all winter) with a grader. raised catch basins are the worse. Stops one rather fast like. But the layout of some of those planter/parking curbs realy make one think if the designer has a brain in there head. Or if the head is on just to stop the spine from unravaling.

 

[Shoeboy]

Well, I had it up in the air today, It looks like I need a tire and 2 rims, one is bent and the lip is bent, and the other is bent even worse and there is a 4 inch hole/crack in it. I have managed to track down a set of used winter tires the exact same as what I have, I'm still looking for rims.

 

[v-8power]

Check out www.transwheel.com they can fix it or sell you a reconditioned one cheap.

You would be suprised at what can be repaired on rims.

My wifes grandma hit rail road tracks and broke out about a 10 in. section of the rim, they was able to repair it like new, with warranty.

 

[Hypnotic Toast]

That's nothing. I hit a curb a few years ago when there was ice on the road and I broke a chunk of it off. That made for a very wobbly drive.