Damaged my car's steel rims: Replace or can I get it repaired?

We heard a reasonably loud sound followed by a hiss of air going out.

BHPian gischethans recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I suffered rim damage yesterday, thanks to a tree stump on an interior rural road. It was on a slight bend in the road and I don't know how it even hit only the rim. We heard a reasonably loud sound followed by a hiss of air going out. I did not lose control and could safely stop the car.

This also happened to be my first experience of changing the wheels - I knew it only by theory until yesterday.

Now my questions are:

1. Is it possible to repair this damage? Would it be reliable after that?
2. I have tyre protection insurance from Digit. I checked with them if it would cover my damage on Twitter but they didn't call me back yet
3. I called them up separately and was told rim damage can be covered under the zero depreciation cover that I have. The agent was not clear about tyre protection and its impact on NCB. A normal claim would impact NCB.

Here's what BHPian saket77 had to say on the matter:

It's a tubeless tire as I can see. If you wish to run it 'tubeless', I would recommend changing it. Else it can be hammered and brought back to shape and relocated to the rear axle, preferably with a tube in it.

Here's what BHPian Kosfactor had to say on the matter:

A steel rim is inexpensive, I recommend replacing it rather than trying to repair it. There will be dealers who only sell used steel rims in your city, often from vehicles that have swapped their steel wheels for alloys, it will be cheap to purchase.

Here's what BHPian parsh had to say on the matter:

Been through that on my Innova, done that and used realigned wheels without any issues for ages.

That is the beauty of the Steel Rims.

It is not just hammering. Hammering is used only to get it into decent shape first. After that, proper realigning wheel shops should have access to realigning pressing machines. It works without any issues if you do not want to lose your original wheels which can be recovered and can find such wheel shops.

Had cost me about 250 per wheel, realigned 2 wheels.

If you claim from insurance, it will by default be the material and service being availed out of insurance service and it should impact your NCB unless there are specific clauses excluding it. You should get crystal clear clarity from them on the impact.

Here's what BHPian Dr Alpha had to say on the matter:

I had a similar kind of dent in the front left wheel during a monsoon drive in Maharashtra on the way to Thoseghar waterfall the very first-day l entered Maharashtra from Tamilnadu. A stream of water submerged a huge crate-like pothole hiding it from my view which I realised only after going through a heavy thud. A local wheel alignment shop guy hammered it back into shape and rotated it with a tyre on the rear axle. Completed the 10-day drive across Maharashtra without any issues. Once back from the trip checked the rim with my trusted alignment guy and the rim continued to serve me without any issues.

That’s the advantage of steel rims, can be hammered back into shape.

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