[bluebullet]

thats a small scratch compared with what Ive seen come into my old job. Some guy had a 3 piece Lowenhart wheel on his M45 that he ran into a curb with and bent the lip 90 degrees....big triangle lookin thing and the wheel was trashed.

Since it is a cast wheel, I would have it dismounted and check for cracks in that area. You might not be able to see them with the naked eye, but filling the wheel with air and putting it in a tub of water will reveal any cracks (air bubbles will start coming out). Ive changed a tire several times on one customers car due to the fact that he didnt want to buy a new wheel (yet he bought several expensive tires each time one ran flat and destroyed the sidewall). After filling it with air and putting it in the tub, he finally realized that the wheel was indeed cracked and bought a new one...

btw whatever you do. If someone says they can straighten it DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO SO!!!. After a cast wheel has bent, it will have to remain that way. Trying to straighten it will only crack the wheel. Forged wheels on the other hand can be straightened, due to the fact that when they are made, the grain orientation of the metal is all in the same direction (think of it as a wood grain..all the lines go one way). Therefore, if it bends, it is easy to bend back. They resist being made to move to a point where they dont return to orginal shape.

Cast on the other hand, has no grain..the metal crystals are pointed in all directions. Once they bend, the grain changes and it it stuck that way. An attempt to straighten a cast wheel will break the grain and therefore crack the wheel.