[VW2010]

How do you detect bent rims (minor ones) without taking the help of Service center guys?

Tyre wear - Uneven tyre wear is a good indicator
Car vibrations - Speeds about 80kmph (sometimes above 100) will start giving you vibrations accompanied by higher than normal tyre noise.

Do wheel balancing and alignment once every 6 months and during that ask them to check for any bent rims.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by vigsom

I'd say that it is the aspect ratio (sidewall height) that has a role to play here rather than the rim diameter.

Most important is the actual sidewall height as weirdly, the "60" in 225/60 R15 actually means 60% of 225. Don't know why this became a practice and why tyre manufacturers don't simply mention the sidewall height in mm.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

My X3 came with 18 inchers from the factory with 245/50/18 RFTs.

That's still better sidewall height than mine .

but I went ahead and got staggered 19" BBS rims on (245/45 + 275/40)

. However, I've been told that some of these high-end brand rims can be more solid & robust than the OEM stuff.

I do believe BMW bent rims and RFTs have a deep connection

I'm on tubeless since about 10,000 km.

Originally Posted by redcruiser

How do you detect bent rims (minor ones) without taking the help of Service center guys?

1. Slow punctures.

2. Checkup at the time of service.

[benzinblut]

One wheel got slammed in a sudden pothole after a blind downward slope on Ghodbunder Road. That was a nasty one. This happened to 16 inchers. Cant imagine how 18 inchers would have fared here.

[Newtown]

Aspect ratios leading to a sidewall height of ~110 mm is okay for cars on Indian roads that are 150 hp or less. Anything more powerful, requires a taller sidewall height, especially in the conditions we drive in. The odd stone, rock, pothole will suddenly present itself at the most unlikely of times and roads.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by vigsom

I'd say that it is the aspect ratio (sidewall height) that has a role to play here rather than the rim diameter. An aspect ratio less than 60 isn't good for our roads. Except with the 2016 Crysta ZX that had 55 profile tyres, Toyota has by and large been offering cars with above 60 aspect ratios for their other offerings here. In fact, the old Fortuner with 265/65R17 and the old Altis with 195/65R15 were the best.

This is precisely why I'm living with those ugly looking wheels and 195/65R15s on my XL6, but not having the heart to upgrade to 195/60R16s or 205/55R16s. A larger sidewall is needed since I regular do bad roads.

[CEF_Beasts]

Originally Posted by Axe77

If I'm not mistaken the current X3 also comes with 19 inchers. Surely that's going to be a disaster right, if even 18s are not holding up? Any thoughts on this one? Haven't heard too many gripes from X3 owners so just wondering why that's not caused as much issues.

Even I was a bit worried about 19 inchers in the X3 but compared to the 530d's rear wheels, X3's 245/50/R19 (122mm) has a good 13mm higher sidewall than the 275/40/R18s (109mm). X3 SportX variant's 225/60/R18 (135mm) has an even more healthy 13mm over the Luxury Line's 19s (at the time of replacing my tires will surely look at GLC's 235/55/R19 tires if available). More than anything it's the lack of options that's affecting the 530d's rear wheels, as said 650Nm eats through anything less than 275s.

Originally Posted by GTO

Recent visit to the shop as the rear-left rim was bent and caused a slow puncture:
Attachment 2231025

Could 275/45/R18 be an option (Porsche Panamera uses these)? Side wall looks really healthy compared to stock 275/40/R18s

[speedfreak77]

Hi GTO, Reading this makes me remember a very bad incident I faced in my humble Innova Crysta. The upsized wheels do look good but you have a lot of issues you need to deal with. My Crysta was en route to Bangalore coming from Chennai and it hit a pothole and when I heard the loud thud, I knew something wrong has happened which I really don’t want to look at. Checked and indeed the wheel got bent. This hasn’t happened for the first time so I finally gave in and decided to switch back to the 17 inchers which the company gives stock. So when I carried forward with the trip, There was a puncture and the tyre lost all its air and the worst nightmare struck, the original wheels socket used to undo the wheels was in the car and the ones which came with the vossen wheels was back at home in Delhi as when the car got shifted to Bangalore, the car went through a thorough service and when it was sent I completely forgot about the socket. Stuck at the side of the highway for 3 hours until a towing truck came along and then the wheels were done for. Switched back to the 17s. The profile wasn’t even that low, It was 245/50/R18. Even though I detest the stock 17 inch wheels, I have not even seen a single scratch in 2 months.

As they say, if you love your car then you love every part of it and when something happens, your heart falls apart. Seeing that your beautiful 530d is running on stock wheels and still there are a lot of troubles with the wheels justifies how bad our roads are and the Indian authorities really need to work on them.

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by redcruiser

curious question!!
How do you detect bent rims (minor ones) without taking the help of Service center guys?

You easily can find out while getting the wheel balanced. Any bends/lateral bends will be exposed while the wheel rotates on the balancing machine.

[red_nemesis]

Originally Posted by GTO

Please do read my detailed thread (Tall tyres & regular wheels versus low-profile tyres & large wheels) on the topic. 84% of enthusiasts voted against this idiotic trend that is just not for India and its broken, potholed roads. Read here (18" wheels of my car are troublesome | Frequent tyre damages | EDIT: Moved to 17-inchers) about the saga of a Volvo owner who sensibly moved to 17-inchers

This is spot on. And not just the mid to high end cars, this trend has caught up with the entry level ones as well. When I bought my Tiago XZA+ with 15" wheels (that look gorgeous by the way), I did not expect it to have that big of an impact on ride quality on the roughs over Tiago with 14" wheels that I had driven earlier. Having to regularly drive on rural roads, it is quite noticeable.

And if that wasn't enough, had to face a big sidewall cut when I went through a pothole last week on my Goa-Pune run. A warranty claim that was summarily rejected by Bridgestone, leaving me to replace a brand to tyre with just 4k on the odo. (More on those weird warranty policies later).

I think it is high time OEMs start giving buyers who want to buy the top-end variants an option to choose downsized wheels.

[Simple_car]

My experience with 17-18-19 inchers on different cars and with varying sidewall heights suggest that there are multitude of factors which is causing the bends. Considering the speed and road conditions equal, broadly the factors can be classified into follows:

1. Quality of OEM alloys - German OEM's act pretty strangely in many ways, and BMW is no different. Just because rims come from BMW/Merc/Audi, doesn't mean they will be of best quality. From my limited exposure however, I have found that amongst the 3 german trio, Merc and Audi have the stronger alloys. BMW are so-so. Volvo and Lexus are hands-down much superior than all the 3. The now-defunct Ford alloys were also pretty good.

2. Sidewall height (not the size in inches) - The size of rim in inches 17-18-19 has lesser relevance than the actual height. My unscientific calculations based on experience suggests that a side wall height of at least 120 mm is essential in India. I have 18 inches and have driven through horrible roads, loads and speeds and I have never had issues on my merc e350d. Similarly, my friend has a 19 inches on his car but the sidewall height is good. He has never faced issues till date.

3. Tyre quality - Some tyres (can be of any brand) are notorious for poor sidewall strength.

These are just broad classifications and are mainly applicable to sedans/pseudo SUVs. For a lay person like myself, I have devised a simple way to gauge the quality of rims/tyres: I keep a tab on how frequently do I have to top up my air pressure. I have cars which have never needed a top up for months, and I have cars which require a top up every month/15 days. I ensure that the tyres are free of punctures. And I try to ensure that I have a minimum 120 mm sidewall height irrespective of the perceived quality of rims/tyres. I have no confidence on the quality of the roads I encounter, as even with the best of intentions, you will end up being stranded on our roads due to tyre bursts/loss of pressure.

Thanks,
Simple_car

[PapaBravo]

Originally Posted by vigsom

I'd say that it is the aspect ratio (sidewall height) that has a role to play here rather than the rim diameter. An aspect ratio less than 60 isn't good for our roads.

Agree. I upgraded from 225/50R18 to 225/55R18 & felt the difference. The ride is much more comfortable as well.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by GTO

The stupidest, dumbest new trend among Indian cars is that of large rims with low-profile tyres.
.....
If your car allows a swap to 16 or 17-inchers, please do so for the robustness & practicality. It'll be the best automotive decision you made this year!

Not just India, I am struggling with 20" tyres on my Range Rover Sport here in the UK. I don't know how people are running on 22 inchers! I don't understand the point of such huge wheels in SUVs. Not all the SUVs are used as mall crawlers!

I was planning to switch over to 18 inchers, but need to check first if there will be adequate clearing for the huge disc brakes and money is of course another factor. But if I keep the car for a long time it will be a lot less headache.

[manjubp]

Originally Posted by Simple_car

My unscientific calculations based on experience suggests that a side wall height of at least 120 mm is essential in India.

For exact reason, I am considering to upsize the aspect ratio from 205/55R16 to 205/60R16. The change in sidewall height is nearly 10mm and overall GC will go up by 20mm, with an error of nearly 3.17%, not sure, if this is even advisable to go with..

[ValuableRecluse]

Originally Posted by GTO

Recent visit to the shop as the rear-left rim was bent and caused a slow puncture:

• 4,000 - 5,000 bucks on repair costs every time. That's 10,000 a year on wheel repair alone.

• Meanwhile, the heroes at Kia (Seltos X-Line), Hyundai (Alcazar), Toyota (2021 Fortuner) & others continue to inconvenience their customers by launching variants with 18-inch wheels. Look ma, how awesome it looks in the brochure - who cares about the real world where our customers will be harassed ? Mercedes even gave me an S-Class with 20-inch wheels. Drove to a hill station close by, had to encounter rough roads (not even a pothole) and here's what happened. Good luck taking your S-Class on a Mumbai-Goa run. S-Pressos & Santros were overtaking me on the way back home:
Attachment 2231026

The solution:

• I plan to keep the 530d for another couple of years. Hence, instead of buying a single wheel, I actually bought a FULL SPARE SET on OLX. What a colossal waste of money, just to have those 18-inch wheels. No choice though = all of my 4 rims have been repaired several times and soon, the others will be unrepairable too. Luckily, the used set of 4 wheels that I bought is flawless and the price was fair (60 grand). But not everyone has the spare storage space.

The perils of owning a performance car in India.

Not so much the wheel size that's the issue here but the tire profile. I've had 60 profile tires on my Fortuner for 60k km but no wheel or tire damage inspite of fairly enthusiastic driving on rough roads and gravel roads.

Do you think runflat tires with their self-supporting, reinforced side-walls and/or support ring system will protect the wheels better on rough roads?

Have you experimented with higher tire pressure to reduce the possibility of the sidewall getting pinched and wheel damage?

In both cases you will have a firmer ride but at least you won't be putting any more kilometres on that dreaded space saver!

[kartikv1]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Quite surprised to note that you've been facing so many bent rim issues on your 18s. My X3 came with 18 inchers from the factory with 245/50/18 RFTs. I ran those for about a year and half before switching to tubeless as I found the RFTs to be quite harsh in terms of the ride quality. No bent rims in that period with RFTs nor in the next 3 years with tubeless.

I know you would cringe just at the thought of this, but I went ahead and got staggered 19" BBS rims on (245/45 + 275/40). Almost 2 years on these rims and touchwood, no issues. I also do a lot of highway driving and Bangalore roads these days are as bad as it gets. The lightweight BBS rims have made the car feel more agile and nimble compared to before for sure.

I do believe BMW bent rims and RFTs have a deep connection. These RFTs are just not meant for our imperfect roads. Their ability to run at zero pressures and safety during tyre blowouts are all fine, but they simply can't abosrb the impact when we hit cracks and potholes hard. The hard sidewalls transfer the impact on to the rims and naturally they get bent. Do consider getting high quality aftermarket rims like BBS. They are known to make some of the strongest and toughest rims in the industry.

During my last visit to the bmw service to get my tyres checked, noticed 3 bent rims (only slightly albeit). The major reason attributed by the SA was the RFTs - which transfer all impact from potholes directly to rims hence the damage. Once we change to tubeless the rim bending shouldn’t be a problem and also the harsh ride quality will improve.

I seriously detest this trend of 18 inch and upwards tyres - just image driving these on Delhi Jaipur highway and I can guarantee that you will not come out without a bent rim or damaged tyre. Only expressways can be safe places for such tyres.