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Bad to drive with bent wheel(s)? And question about brake dust

26K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  Erick Sermon 
#1 ·
looking thru the tire and wheel forum, i finally remembered to ask 2 questions that have been bothering me for a long time.

firstly, i have a slightly bent wheel or 2(i think)- 1 of them definitely is bent, as its clearly visible. you can feel the vibration at speeds over 40mph, it sounds like a rumbling noise at highway speeds. how bad is it to drive with bent wheel(s)? i figure instead of repairing, i'm just gonna buy CSLs staggered(not sure whether i want 18" or 19", is there a difference between those 2 going from 16"?). anyhow, is it bad to drive on bent wheels? i'd say the wheels were bent since i bought the car used, so i've driven about 18,000 miles on them so far. and the suspension and all is fine so far.

2nd question is, what can i use to clean the brake dust? i scrubbed each spoke 1 by 1, man was it tedious. i got a lot of it off, but a lot of it wont come off :censor:. it feels like its baked into the wheel :banghead:. so what would you guys recommend to clean the wheels of this damn brake dust? i have these wheels(sorry for the bad pic, can't tell much- but i donno what type of bmw wheels they are);



thanks in advance guys :)

and admins, i posted this in general and not wheel and tire forum because of the views we get here :)
 
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#2 ·
I am by no means an expert, but driving with a bend wheel will evenutally wear out the wheel bearing. How quickly this happens depends on the severity of the bend. I would look into getting it fixed even though you may be getting new wheels soon. I believe it will still be cheaper to do the wheel than get a bearing replacement down the road. Just IMO
 
#3 ·
soap and water is the best to clean wheels safely. products that are designed specifically for rim cleaning are usualy high in acidic content (especially ture for brands that require a rinse with water after applying) and will eat away at your pads, rotors, probably wheels. all this and more i learned from the great detailing forum on this site.
 
#9 ·
Type 42's are a pain in the ass to clean .. but they sure look sweet :drool:
 
#10 ·
UnBreakable said:
Type 42's are a pain in the ass to clean .. but they sure look sweet :drool:
i just wish they were bigger. 16" is damn small(it should've been at least 17"), i don't know wtf bmw was thinking :loco:.

anyhow, can anyone else offer advice about driving with the bent wheel(s)? thanks in advance :thumbsup:
 
#12 ·
repair it or replace - you're stressing your suspension components...

also i'm going to make a habit of removing my rims to clean them. Actually you'll need to if you want the baked in crap clean.

I used one of those wheel cleaners and I no longer use it because its really bad for the finish but also it doesn't fully do the job anyways it still leaves tonnes of dust. What i did this weekend was take a spray bottle and put some car wash soap and water. Shake it and spray the wheel. Then rinse to get the loose grime away. Spray again and go over over spoke and reach as far back the rim with a towel. Rinse again and wash your hands since you'll have cuts from scratching against your brakes with your hands. Spray again and then using a clean spone and soapy water I cleaned again with a sponge for more lather to make it shiny. The second step got most of the crud off the wheel but still looked dull. The rims look shiny after the soapy sponge could work on an already dust free rim.
 
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