I bent a rim or 2 hitting a giant pot hole (dusk on a one lane road, and was semi-blinded by an oncoming car ). Is there any hope of restoring some semblance of balance, until I decide what wheels to go with? I'd hate to wear out my tires in the interim.

 

it all really depends on the rim. you could have it roadforced balanced, where you take the lowest point on the rim (the bent point) and the high spot of the tire and try to neutralize the harmonics (not sure if that's the correct word i'm looking for). but with a bent rim, you won't get much luck.

**edit** i once heated up a rim with a torch and banged out a bend with a soft face dead blow hammer. the rim wasn't perfectly round, but it was way better than before. balanced out pretty well too. but i'm not recommending this in anyway!!!!!!!!

 

hmm, well that sucks, only 17k on these tires. Guess I'll order a wheel and tire package when I figure out what I want.

 

You could always buy a couple replacement rims, someone is always selling them in the for sale section. I would just go with a new set of rims and tires and the sell your old tires and rims, its like a rebate on new wheels :D

 

Check around for a local wheel straightening shop. They can do some pretty amazing repairs and would likely be cheaper than buying/shipping rims. My son bought some rims for his RX-7 that were slightly bent. A local shop fixed them for about $60/rim.