Straighten out rim dent or leave as is?

[weaponsgrade]

I put a tiny little ding in my mtn bike rim from smacking the edge of a sharp rock. Some sealant sprayed out, but it eventually sealed up. The wheel is still true. It's now been a few days and the tire is still holding air. But I like to mess with things and I'm tempted to try straightening it out with a crescent wrench. Is it better to just leave it?

[ultraman6970]

You can hammer the dent out but since the wheel is still straight and sealed just fine I would not touch it. Many times what happens is that the rim goes wacky and then tension goes all over the place, if you dont have that problem just ride it till you consider it needs to be replace it (unless you have like autism and it needs to be perfect).

There is a slight chance that after the fix you might need to really start working out the rim and the spokes to get it right. Because ive seen it :/ and sucks hehehe

[cmbicycles]

Is it an inny or an outie dent? If you like messing with stuff you may want to look into a rim wrench. The original was made by Paul Morningstar but there were some remakes on ebay for a while too. It works OK on the couple rims I've used it on so far, not perfect but still pretty useful.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190705/1c28d580ee9172b42ebec2588723351e.jpg

[vqdriver]

Ime al doesn't like to be bent back and forth. Leave it

[Peter P.]

If you're using rim brakes and the dent causes pulsations when braking, then put the jaws of an adjustable wrench on it and, in Richard Sach's words, "show it who's boss".

Otherwise, leave it alone. Aluminum weakens very quickly when it's tweaked. Denting it already tweaked it once...

[dddd]

If you're using rim brakes and the dent causes pulsations when braking, then put the jaws of an adjustable wrench on it and, in Richard Sach's words, "show it who's boss".

Otherwise, leave it alone. Aluminum weakens very quickly when it's tweaked. Denting it already tweaked it once...

Doubly true with better-quality rims having the equivalent of a more heat-treated hardness.

And cmbicycles asks a good question.
If it's an "innie" dent, then the braking surface needs to be faced/protected with thin planar metal such as a cone wrench when flexing the rim hook outward using an adjustable wrench.
The adjustable wrench will not serve for flexing the rim hook inward at all, perhaps best to use a bench vise with a narrow strip of firm protective material centered on the defect.


I cracked my long-serving Cane Creek CX wheelset last season only after attempting to pull out an "innie" dent, wish that I hadn't bothered!

[tombtfslpk]

I cracked my long-serving Cane Creek CX wheelset last season only after attempting to pull out an "innie" dent, wish that I hadn't bothered!

I've had the same experience happen to me.
I once purchased a complete mountain bike with a set of tubeless rims that were horribly disfigured, but with the assistance of copious amounts of sealant, functioned fine.
That said, I wouldn't use a sketchy setup in conditions where failure would be dangerous or cause me difficulty getting home.

[Bisquik]

I concur with suggestions to leave it alone. I've always used sandpaper/Emory cloth on 'outie' dents to smooth the surface so as not to chew up the brake pads. If you run disc brakes then it matters very little.

[weaponsgrade]

It's an innie on a WTB KOM rim. Running discs so braking not a problem. I've left it alone. Am I correct in understanding that carbon rims are generally considered stronger and less susceptible to dents like this? I keep thinking about that video from Santa Cruz showing MacAskill bashing his carbon wheels.