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Well, not much of an accident, but I have hurt my poor rim :( I was up in the high desert tonight visiting a friend. I was on a pretty wide street heading toward an intersection with a stop sign. I stopped and then proceeded to make a left...but my car only went half way into that left! Instead, I pushed right into a friggen curb (genic!). I must have been going about 15 or 20mph TOPS since I just came from a stop sign...I slammed on the brakes as soon as I noticed the car wasn't turning. I had just left and the brakes were cold so I don't think the ABS went on (wheels need to stop before it can activate). I still went into it at abount a 45 degree angle with my wheels turned 3/4 to the left trying to get out of it. Damnit! Sure enough I went UP the curb and came to a rest. I have never hit ANYTHING in this car but my brain still was telling me "Crap, you screwed everything up". It felt hard to *me*. I get out and my body kit was perfect, paint was perfect and my rim only had a scrape. But OH what a scrape! I eased it off the curb and got it level again. Turns out I drove through a patch of black ice :( As a native New Yorker, this pisses me off! I'm supposed to know when it's below freezing out that it can happen...guess living in SoCal so long I've gotten soft LOL. So I grabbed my mag light and checked around. As far as my eyes can tell, the rim isn't bent (of course, it still could be). It hit RIGHT on the spoke part which is the strongest and not in the middle patch where theres no reinforcement. I have nice fat 235/45/17's (with a lip so the stick out further than the rim) on the fronts, thank god. If they were 18" rims I probably WOULD have bent it! Also visually the camber and toe look fine (again it will take an alignment to tell). I let it sit for about 20 minutes to make sure no air was leaking out and it's been 4 hours now and the bead looks like it has held (psi has stayed at 36). I still don't know HOW I managed to come out with so little damage. I mean, heading in at a 45 degree angle with the wheels cranked to the left the tire must have went up the curb almost sideways with perhaps the back side going up first. Translation, my rim should be SCREWED...but it looks very optimistic. Check this out :( 
Now, the interesting thing is that I was planning on getting them repolished professionally anyways. I guess now I have more of an excuse since it will have to be repaired. My questions to the masses: A) About how much would something this small set me back? B) Does rim repair take a LONG time? I'd need a rental if so C) Other than getting another alignment and visual inspection, what ELSE should I look for or do? D) Can anyone in SoCal recommend a place? Thanks guys...I'm *really* fortunate it didn't do more damage. I really need a friggen beater in this weather, even though it's wussy weather compared to back east. Ah well... Ryan
www.zheaven.com DOWN TEMPORARILY 02/19/01 -- Down for new internet connection. 
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@!$#! *THIS* is why I don't own 18" rims. My accident>>> - 
