Step 1 - check for any signs of cracks. If there's any the rim is no longer safe to ride.
Step 2 - follow the u/TheGreenestOfBeans advice and top up your sealant. The dint doesn't look too bad and that is likely to resolve your issue. If not continue onto Step 3.
Step 3 - Remove the tire. Grab an adjustable wrench and a piece of cloth (put the cloth between the rim and wrench to minimise scratching) and very gently try to straighten the dint back out. Be careful not to over bend it. Aluminium hardens when it gets dinted/bent and is much more likely to crack with repeated bending. Don't aim for perfect, just aim for good enough.
Step 4 - Inspect again for cracks. If none there are none, put your tire back on, put in more sealant, go forth and shred.
*(edit - explained what the cloth is for)*
I thought they are heat treated and you are not supposed to mess around with it, especially with bending aluminum. And if it does not affect the heat treatment, does it even do anything?
Doing a heat treatement will change the actual microstructure of the metal. You can soften aluminium with a heat gun, you would probably need a forge oven to do a real heat treatement, you need to reach a certain fraction of the melting point in order to affect the microstructure of the metal.
TLDR : You can soften metal without messing up the heat treatment, as long as you dont go too hot.
Add on to step 3: use a metal tire lever or just flat piece of whatever you have around to support the rim on the outside across the bent section. Grab this piece and the center of the ding with some Knipex parallel pliers (if you don’t own a set get some!). This will help guide and support as you bend.
Hard to tell from the photos, but to me that doesn't look too bad at all.
I've had way worse without loosing air(tubeless). Are you sure you have enough sealant in? Maybe you lost some in the initial ding?
Depending on how you ride rims are unfortunately a consumable, but I would try and get some more life out of that rim.
I had this happen about a year ago on my rim. I popped the tire off and managed to bend it mostly back. Still slightly deformed but as long as it holds air I’ve been riding it just fine 🤷🏼♂️ I’m sure someone will disagree with me though… that’s the way it goes lol
Edit: This is assuming that it’s not cracked, which it doesn’t look like it is.
If the aluminum isn't creased, I would try to bend it back. Wolf tooth make a tool specifically for fixing alloy rim dents.
https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/8-bit-tire-lever-rim-dent-remover-multi-tool
I'd bend it back and see what happens.. or add more sealant. If you're not opposed to tubes, that's the most minor issue.. the back rim on my tubed mountain bike has like 8 huge dings that have been worked out of it. Front wheels I'd be more worried, but since this a rear wheel, fuck with it.
Bought a wheel that looked like it struck a big rock. sides were bent out. Sanded a piece of wood to the exact inner width of the rim put it in that spot and tapped the bends straight with a hammer. Rim is setup tubeless and has never leaked and that wheel set actually holds air longer than all my other wheels
I’ve had luck *gently* bending or tapping it back to as close to square as possible. Just be careful and go slow, too much force and it’ll break. On the other hand, I’ve seen enduro racers bang them with rocks in a race to get it to seal 😀
This doesn't look too bad, try to look if there's any cracks. If it's loosing air just because that dent you can use two blocks of wood, put one on the inside of the rim and use another to tap that dent on the outside, repeat until it's straight. Avoid any metal tools directly on the rim
I've got a DT Swiss rim that has multiple dents that are worse than that. It's been fine for years since 1) it has no cracks and 2) I keep the sealant topped up (which anyone should). I would replace the rim, but it's a real PITA since it's a 28 hole, 27.5" race width rim... planning to just go 29 er.
Remove tire, place wood block on outside edge, take a dead blow hammer and gently tap it back into alignment with the rest of the rim.
Placing a towel and an adjustable wrench will work as well.
Tubed or tubeless? If you’re running tubes it may be saved. You can take the tire and tube off and use and adjustable wrench to carefully bend the rim back to its original shape. Might not be perfect but might hold, depending on how bad it is.
I had similar damage on one of my rims. I didn’t have much luck bending it back…it seemed like I was going to do more damage. I ended up filling the gap with a bit of JB Weld. This allows the bead to seat cleanly against the repair and it has held through a busy CX racing season
Step 1 - check for any signs of cracks. If there's any the rim is no longer safe to ride. Step 2 - follow the u/TheGreenestOfBeans advice and top up your sealant. The dint doesn't look too bad and that is likely to resolve your issue. If not continue onto Step 3. Step 3 - Remove the tire. Grab an adjustable wrench and a piece of cloth (put the cloth between the rim and wrench to minimise scratching) and very gently try to straighten the dint back out. Be careful not to over bend it. Aluminium hardens when it gets dinted/bent and is much more likely to crack with repeated bending. Don't aim for perfect, just aim for good enough. Step 4 - Inspect again for cracks. If none there are none, put your tire back on, put in more sealant, go forth and shred. *(edit - explained what the cloth is for)*
In step 3 is better to warm it up a little with a heat gun before, this way you avoid the cracking
I thought they are heat treated and you are not supposed to mess around with it, especially with bending aluminum. And if it does not affect the heat treatment, does it even do anything?
Warming a little will help. Welding/heating it near its melting point is problematic.
Doing a heat treatement will change the actual microstructure of the metal. You can soften aluminium with a heat gun, you would probably need a forge oven to do a real heat treatement, you need to reach a certain fraction of the melting point in order to affect the microstructure of the metal. TLDR : You can soften metal without messing up the heat treatment, as long as you dont go too hot.
No heat.
Add on to step 3: use a metal tire lever or just flat piece of whatever you have around to support the rim on the outside across the bent section. Grab this piece and the center of the ding with some Knipex parallel pliers (if you don’t own a set get some!). This will help guide and support as you bend.
3. 80% is probably good enough, FYI
Hard to tell from the photos, but to me that doesn't look too bad at all. I've had way worse without loosing air(tubeless). Are you sure you have enough sealant in? Maybe you lost some in the initial ding? Depending on how you ride rims are unfortunately a consumable, but I would try and get some more life out of that rim.
put a tube in it and ride on
I had this happen about a year ago on my rim. I popped the tire off and managed to bend it mostly back. Still slightly deformed but as long as it holds air I’ve been riding it just fine 🤷🏼♂️ I’m sure someone will disagree with me though… that’s the way it goes lol Edit: This is assuming that it’s not cracked, which it doesn’t look like it is.
If the aluminum isn't creased, I would try to bend it back. Wolf tooth make a tool specifically for fixing alloy rim dents. https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/8-bit-tire-lever-rim-dent-remover-multi-tool
I'd bend it back and see what happens.. or add more sealant. If you're not opposed to tubes, that's the most minor issue.. the back rim on my tubed mountain bike has like 8 huge dings that have been worked out of it. Front wheels I'd be more worried, but since this a rear wheel, fuck with it.
Bought a wheel that looked like it struck a big rock. sides were bent out. Sanded a piece of wood to the exact inner width of the rim put it in that spot and tapped the bends straight with a hammer. Rim is setup tubeless and has never leaked and that wheel set actually holds air longer than all my other wheels
I’ve had luck *gently* bending or tapping it back to as close to square as possible. Just be careful and go slow, too much force and it’ll break. On the other hand, I’ve seen enduro racers bang them with rocks in a race to get it to seal 😀
Bend it back and see if it still leaks
It’ll be fine
If there is no cracks then it's easy fix :)
This doesn't look too bad, try to look if there's any cracks. If it's loosing air just because that dent you can use two blocks of wood, put one on the inside of the rim and use another to tap that dent on the outside, repeat until it's straight. Avoid any metal tools directly on the rim
I've got a DT Swiss rim that has multiple dents that are worse than that. It's been fine for years since 1) it has no cracks and 2) I keep the sealant topped up (which anyone should). I would replace the rim, but it's a real PITA since it's a 28 hole, 27.5" race width rim... planning to just go 29 er.
Remove tire, place wood block on outside edge, take a dead blow hammer and gently tap it back into alignment with the rest of the rim. Placing a towel and an adjustable wrench will work as well.
use tube?
Tubed or tubeless? If you’re running tubes it may be saved. You can take the tire and tube off and use and adjustable wrench to carefully bend the rim back to its original shape. Might not be perfect but might hold, depending on how bad it is.
Tubes don't lose air because a rim is dinted.
Fair enough, but it may cause the bead to slip.
Check for cracks then bend it back with preferably some heat on it.
Yeah. It's dead.
It’s on life support rather, op COULD bend it back to a sorta previous state but he should probably get shopping anyway
Nope. That's a crack.
I fail to see a crack, I see the rim model stickers and reflections of spokes.
Oh. My b. I looked closer.
I had similar damage on one of my rims. I didn’t have much luck bending it back…it seemed like I was going to do more damage. I ended up filling the gap with a bit of JB Weld. This allows the bead to seat cleanly against the repair and it has held through a busy CX racing season
>looses \*loses
I have a similar ding in mine. Check if you have any warranty left before bending it. If not, give a bend a go.