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Gotway Tesla Dented Rim


OhPardonMe

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Hit a pothole around 20mph. Luckily only superficial scrapes on myself. Thought the same for my Tesla until I took a closer look at the rim. 

There is a decent sized dent, the tire is very slightly bulging but otherwise it still rides fine. Any suggestions as to whether I should try and repair this myself, whether it looks not significant enough to cause safety concerns, or any other ideas welcome.

20180823_185359.jpg

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I hesd a bent rim, but not like that.. :unsure:

tou could look for meepmeepmayers thread about it using a bench vice, but you eould need to take off te rim from the motor i would say... but you could research if you could buy a new rim

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Doesn't it wobble/ride uneven like crazy with such a bend?

If it's bent outwards like for you, you can fix it with a bench vice. Here's my thread about that (Hunka already linked to another thread where the first reply links to it, so nothing new):

Pictures of my damage, similar to yours:

How I fixed it:

Be careful and don't overdo it, but it can be fixed. Theoretically, if it rides normally and you do nothing, that should work, too. No idea how smart that is long-term.

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Thankfully I have not had to fix this issue personally, but if I did, I would put a small block of wood on the backside of the tire/rim where the bend is, and use a C Clamp, slowly tighten it till the bend was out... probably take all the air out before doing it... just my thoughts... good luck.

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All good ideas. It currently rides mostly fine. There is a small "bump" when going over that spot, similar to how it was described in the other thread of going over the crack that separates slabs on a sidewalk. But it is barely perceptible and still feels comfortable at high speeds. 

I like the idea of the leather belt to protect the rim surface. I'll need to wait however until I get the proper tools in hand. Either a vice or C clamp as suggested. 

Anyone know if it is possible to replace just the outer rim without the motor? Seems like in the other thread that wasn't really an option. Since it still seems ridable I don't think it would be worth $400 for a new motor even if I couldn't fully bend it back.

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10 minutes ago, GameKing said:

All good ideas. It currently rides mostly fine. There is a small "bump" when going over that spot, similar to how it was described in the other thread of going over the crack that separates slabs on a sidewalk. But it is barely perceptible and still feels comfortable at high speeds. 

I like the idea of the leather belt to protect the rim surface. I'll need to wait however until I get the proper tools in hand. Either a vice or C clamp as suggested. 

Anyone know if it is possible to replace just the outer rim without the motor? Seems like in the other thread that wasn't really an option. Since it still seems ridable I don't think it would be worth $400 for a new motor even if I couldn't fully bend it back.

I was in your situation, and followed the advice from the other thread (vice grip to bend the dent back into place) and used a pry tool to bend it further after the rough bending was done (this is probably a bad idea). I got my dent mostly back into being round, but my dumb perfectionist self decided to try bending it a bit further with a pry tool and cracked the rim... However it ended up being perfectly round after that (how ironic). I used metal JB weld to fix the crack and I haven’t had any more issues.

I did get a replacement motor though, just in case something bad does end up happening to my ‘bandage-fixed’ motor in the future. Where did you buy your wheel from? I ordered mine from eWheels and I sent an email to Jason about my situation, he was able to help me out and sell me a replacement motor for a discount (since I had barely had my wheel for two weeks before the rim bending). Even without the discount I’m pretty sure the price of the motor would be under $400.

Apparently it’s possible to replace just the rim, but I hear it’s difficult. I would have to look into it more to find out, but it was talked about on the forum (possibly in that thread). 

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  • 3 months later...
On 8/23/2018 at 9:55 PM, GameKing said:

Hit a pothole around 20mph. Luckily only superficial scrapes on myself. Thought the same for my Tesla until I took a closer look at the rim. 

There is a decent sized dent, the tire is very slightly bulging but otherwise it still rides fine. Any suggestions as to whether I should try and repair this myself, whether it looks not significant enough to cause safety concerns, or any other ideas welcome.

20180823_185359.jpg

I actually had a similar situation. Just got it fixed Yesterday. It feels 95% good. like it don't feel it as much(just the fart that I know it's there mostly). I'm rending the video now. Did you end up getting it fixed?

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On 8/23/2018 at 9:55 PM, GameKing said:

Hit a pothole around 20mph. Luckily only superficial scrapes on myself. Thought the same for my Tesla until I took a closer look at the rim. 

There is a decent sized dent, the tire is very slightly bulging but otherwise it still rides fine. Any suggestions as to whether I should try and repair this myself, whether it looks not significant enough to cause safety concerns, or any other ideas welcome.

20180823_185359.jpg

Mine is not has bad as yours but after getting it looked at by a rim guy it feels way way better than the thump I use to feel riding on smooth surfaces. Not sure where you live, but you should be able to bring it to a RIM shop and get it done. First take the tire and tube off though.

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