Don't bend a wheel!!!!

[Torry Skurski]

Just a little lesson I just learned.  Back in December I was in Minnesota,
and the first real snow fall of the year, I had to go somewhere at like 9am,
and I drove up a hill that was unplowed.  Well, I lost traction, spun
around, and slid down the hill, hitting my right front wheel against the
curb.  I was pissed.  I pulled over to take a look at the damage, and saw
the wheel scraped up badly.  Well, it also caused bad vibrations at about 70
mph.  On top of that, the alignment was slightly off.  It didn't pull either
direction, but the steering wheel was a few degrees off center (not much,
but noticeable).

I drove back down to Georgia with the vibrating wheel.  I took it to the
dealer there, and said I needed the right front wheel rebalanced, and the
car aligned.  When they put the wheel on the balancer, they discover that it
is bent and can not be rebalanced.  So they don't align the car either, and
I leave.

Because I'm a broke college student, I waited around for my financial aid
check to go through for this semester so I could afford to fix it.  It just
went through this week, and the convention is next week.  And I also just
moved to Florida, so I have a far drive and have to leave no later than
wednesday morning next week.

So anyway, two days ago, I overnighted my bent wheel to Wheels America to
have it straightened.  I just talked to them about an hour ago and found out
one of the spokes is bent and they can't straighten it, so they are shipping
it back to me :(  This is a huge dissapointment, because the OEM wheels
retail for $663 a piece, and nobody has them in stock (Spec V).

I'm supposed to have my car aligned saturday at the dealer, so I need my
wheel fixed by then.  Also, I need to start packing up the car for the trip
to AZ.  So anyway, I just called Courtesy to have one overnighted to me.
Well, it's out of stock, go figure, so I have to pay for overnight shipping
twice, as well as saturday delivery.  Luckily, through Courtesy, it is
*still* only costing me $533 (including all the shipping).  But that is
still a stab in the back at the spur of the moment.

Oh, and just out of curiosity, I checked the price of the wheel at the local
dealer, and they told me it was like $750 or something.  What kind of crazy
crack do they think I'm smoking to pay $750 for a wheel.  Not to mention it
wasn't in stock.

So anyway, assuming Fedex doesn't screw up, Courtesy saves they day.  I just
wish it was cheaper.  And I hope I get the right part.  I think it's right
though considering the price.  I can't imagine a GXE wheel costing $663!

Torry
02 Spec V, riding on spare at the moment