If your vehicle is showing bent, cracked, or severely dented wheel rim, here are the most likely causes and the parts you'll need to fix each one.
Hitting a deep pothole, rock, or road debris at high speeds is the most frequent cause of bent or cracked rims. The sudden impact forces the tire against the rim, deforming the metal.
Scraping or hitting a curb hard while parking, turning, or sliding in poor weather can severely dent steel wheels or crack brittle alloy wheels.
If lug nuts are left loose or unevenly torqued during a recent tire change, the wheel can wobble violently while driving. This stresses the center hub area of the rim, causing the mounting holes to deform or the wheel to crack.
Over many years, severe rust on steel wheels or microscopic structural fatigue on older alloy wheels can weaken the metal, leading to spontaneous cracking under normal driving loads.