I was on my way home last night and hit this HUGE pot hole with my front passenger wheel All the rain we've been getting must have washed it out because it wasn't near that big yesterday morning. Here's a pic of whats left of my rim...

 

Ooh... ouch. At least it is just a steelie and not something fancy.

Call your local (city or county) govt and report the location of the hole and that it bent your rim. If you gripe enough they may offer to help pay for the damages.

 

Yikes!!!

Watch it now, I hit something like that 1.5 year ago (my rim wasn't even bent, thanks to my 65-profile winter tires) and it caused other damage that only came out in the following 6 months: shock, end link and some other suspension bushing.

Yves

 

I called in and reported the pothole to the city a few minutes after it happened and they sent a police officer over to look at it. He told me that since it was newly formed and hadn't been there for at least 72-hours, that the city isn't responsible for any damages tat may occur

 

Yes, and a new steel wheel will be relatively cheap ($$) to replace compared to a stock HHR aluminum rim. I wonder what an HHR aluminum rim would look like after a hitting that same pothole? It might've gotten through it better because of the larger diameter (17" compared to the 16" steelie). P.S. What about the back wheel on that side? No damage?

 

I would also be suspicous of damage to the tire, with that severe an impact. Thats assuming the tire didn't blow.

 

HHR_style: The back wheel made it through just fine. Since the damage to the front wheel was on the inner lip, I pulled the rear off today just to check and it looks fine. I've priced a replacement steel wheel and they run anywhere from $35 to $75 depending on the age, quality, and whether or not they have a tire.

Laco: You can't see it in this picture but the inner bead of the tire has a gash in it about 3" long.

 

And I thought I had a big gap with the 16's on it

 

you can bring it to firestone or Superior Tire & Wheel‎ and they can fix the rim .
Had a bent rim on my 74 vw bug and Superior Tire fixed it .

 

Man it is true everything is bigger in Texas. Including the holes in the road.

If you have a Big Texas size hammer you should be able to bend it back in. Most time they will flaten out with no other damage.

But there are times it will not and you may need to replace it. We used to get a lot of there kind of bewnt wheel with a curb near where I worked that would take two at a time.

Tire damage is a crap shoot here. Odds are it is ok if it does not have damage showing yet but keep an eye on it. Also with FWD like stated you could have damaged an nother part on the front end. They don't build them like they used too.

Wheel are cheap and unless it bends right in a new wheel would be the best option.

I once had a Lincoln with 4 wheels like this come in after hitting a chunk on concrete on the highway. He had air coming out of all 4.