Need wheel advice (badly) - a tad long

[kcollins1@socal.rr.com (Kevin Collins)]

Jeff Toomasson wrote:

> Is it worth it to have bent rims straightened? How much does it
> typically cost? 

I've had 3 or 4 bent BBS rims reconditioned by Wheels America over
the years (www.fixrim.com) with excellent results.  The cost is about
$109 flat - for that they are straightened, any curb rash is repaired,
they are refinished and lastly re clearcoated.  Basically you get a 
brand new wheel back, at least it looks like one.

There are a lot of inexpensive options out there.  I paid $300 for my
full set of Ronal R10's, and Gary at Ronal even mounted and balanced
them at that price (I live minutes away from Ronal).  Their full list
price is not too much higher than that.  ATS also has some inexpensive
and decent-looking rims available through Discount Tire (www.tires.com).
Both of these are German-made choices, natch.. :D

As for locking up, I went into a nasty full lockup a few years ago
exiting LAX and flat-spotted a couple of my tires pretty badly, they
never did "round out" again and there was a noticeable thump at low
speeds.. so you may well have some tire issues.  I don't seem to have
any noticeable problem from MY lockup (right in front of you, heh)
at RITF.

-- 
Kevin Collins
Huntington Beach, CA
'86.5 16V 2.0
'02 GTI 337