After hitting a "pothole" on a recent trip, one of my stock wheels had a bent rim with a compression crack. After pricing a new rim at $500+, I decided on aftermarket rims and replaced all 4. Good choice! I was selling the stock rims to a wheel repair house and we spun them. ALL were wrecked! Not a single rim survived the hole. Two were scrap, and two might be straighten-able. So, be careful out there! Or, better yet, sell those puppies and get nice aftermarket rims before yours get bent!

 

that sucks..

I'm going with the after-market wheel option, and plus after-market rims looks a hell of alot better IMO.

 

Are you sure your tire pressure was correct. "Soft" tires sounds silly. I am willing to bet your tires were underinflated. There would be a lot more bent rims on here if the tires were that crappy!

 

Since I had driven from Denver to Oklahoma (about 4000 ft lower) I'm sure my tires were down some in pressure. That could have had some effect, for sure. Interestingly, the tires survived fine. I re-used them on the new wheels, since the car only had 5000 miles.

 

after my last car I bought the 5 year wheel/tire warranty on the SS. I hate aftermarket wheels

 

Yea we had that problem as well. Pothole and both left wheels bent. Got them straightened and now good to go. But wow, watching them do it is cool. I had no idea wheels flexed so much in every direction. lol

 

Steel is probably still the best wheel material, since it exhibits more "spring" than aluminum and will flex and return to the original shape better. Aluminum can be either brittle or ductile (but not very springy) depending on heat treatment. And, yes, wheels can and do flex a lot. My decision to replace rather than repair had more to do with price (I bought all 4 new wheels for the price of one stocker) than anything else. I actually like the look of the stock wheels. But I've received a lot of compliments on the ARs.