Sounds like you might have 3/8" galvanized. That stuff is horrible. Swithc it for 5/16" non galvanized. It's much softer and easier to work with, lays better on the drum, much less likely to kink. Just spray WD40 on it whenever you think of it.
The kink will do no harm. Most of the time nobody get very close to the 14,000# that 3/8" cable is rated at. Your winch will only pull capacity with one layer on the drum. It's unlikely you will ever experience a failure on it. I have busted a cable--a 14,400# 3/8" with an 8,000# winch. I was on the last roll. I was cutting on an oak with a 50" base--a monument of an oak. I had pictures when we cut it but they must have died in the last forum troubles. Anyway my brother was on the winch control because the tree was leaning toward the road. He was bumping the winch and the tree was swaying with each bump. I didn't notice because I was sawing. The cable was massively overloaded with the force of the tree sawing against the winch clutch. It parted, and my saw chaps were hanging on the cable and fell down next to me and all of these dead limbs were crashing around and I look up and see the cable piled around me. The chaps had just parachuted the cable into the tree. I had to cut 20' of cable--in a hurry because this 25,000# tree is half cut.
Everything you do, you have to do smart. Get that cable I specified and give yourself a margin of safety by having easier cable. And think about dynamic forces. I would use the kinked cable because I know that most of the time it's only a few hundred pounds of help I need. But I would not use that cable to do a first roll, max force pull.
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