Truing a front wheel with warped rim

--LOS--

I was in a bit of an accident recently and my bike came out pretty unscathed aside from a warped rim. It is not particularly visible to the eye but still enough to cause rubbing against the brake pads. I was speaking to a guy from my LBS and he said I would probably have to get a new wheel. This should be covered by the driver's insurance, I'm just wondering is this kind of damage to the rim really that serious that it can't be repaired by truing?? Obviously I would rather take the new wheel since the driver was at fault and the cost will be covered but I wouldn't say no to having my old one spare either.

gman2k

I'd listen to your LBS, especially if they have seen the rim.
If the rim itself is actually bent severely over a small section, no amount of truing will fix it. Not all buckles are fixable.
If you have a turbo trainer you could try and straighten out the wheel as much as possible and just use it on the turbo.
I bought a damaged Dura-Ace 7850 rear wheel in nearly new condition. The orig owner's wife had reversed a car onto the wheel resulting in a broken spoke and a badly warped rim. A new spoke, some rebending with a knee and a mallet and blocks of timber has resulted in a wheel useable for the turbo, but not the road!
You could get the wheel rebuilt with a new rim, but it may not be economical depending on the value of the wheel.

cdaly_

A wheel rim that has warped due to a crash is likely to have stressed / strained spokes so they might end up weaker and more likely to snap in the future. That said, it would be worthwhile using the wheel as an exercise in truing wheels. You could consider replacing the affected spokes after inspecting the rim for cracks / damage.