I knew this was gonna happen eventually. It's happened once or twice before but it was always just small rubs.

I was making a right turn on a red and by not paying attention, made the turn too tight and hit the curb with my rear right wheel. Unlike my past experiences, this one felt pretty bad and my drink in the cup holder even spilled over.

I pulled over and did a visual inspection. So far the allignment seems to be fine and I didn't really nothing anything different during my drive back home. The plastic hub cap was completely bent in, in the area of the tire that hit the worst. But once I removed the wheel and re-seated everything, it seemed to flex back.

The actual wheel does not seem visually bent and the only real bit of damage I see is a small chunk missing from the sidewall. The interesting thing is there is a small buldge on the sidewall right above where the missing chunk is. Looks almost like a mosquito bite, if that makes any sense. I just googled for people who have done the same thing and many people end up with rims that are completely bent in. I'm hoping I got a bit lucky this time.

I'm not feeling too great right now especially since I have a 300 mile drive coming up soon.

My question is what kind of damage should I typically be worried about/look out for in these types of accidents?

Here is a pic of my wheel and I pointed out where the chunk is missing. I tried to get the bulge too but it's kind of hard to make out from the picture.

Thanks

 

Replace the tire.

 

x2

 

Go back to drivers ed.

 

Doesn't look that bad. If the tire holds air fine and the wheel is not bent don't see a problem. But to be on the safe side replace tire.

 

Don't be rude, accidents happen.

 

He also said there was a bulge. That tire is done.

 

Ah yes replace asap OP.

 

Yeah, I was only joking.

 

Replace the tire.

 

Thanks for the replies. It felt really bad, compared to how it looks in the pics. I hope it's a good sign that it doesn't appear so bad in the pics compared to other pics I've seen. I just looked up sidewall bulges/bubbles and it looks like it is a known thing to cause blowouts. Seeing that I have a 300 mile drive on Wednesday, looks like i'm gonna get a new pair of tires tomorrow morning.

Not sure what brand to go with but I just want something comparable to factory/oem. Most places around here have to order tires but it looks like Pepboys has the Falken Ziex 329's in stock. I heard they are good tires...Anyone have any input? I'm planning to just replace the rear pair and do the fronts at a later time.

So aside from the tires, are there any other known potential issues I should look out for?

 

You will find out if you bent the rim when they try to balance them

Just watch out for those curbs! They will win every game of chicken.