On the 16th of July my wife was rear-ended at a stoplight. The other car (90's jeep Cherokee) hit her square on the spare tire. To give you an idea of the damage, the body shop replaced the tail gate and bumper because the wheel/tire got pushed in so far. But the insurance co will not authorize replacement of the stock alloy wheel because it "balances fine."

I do a 5 wheel rotation so this wheel will eventually end up on the steer wheels. Should I be concerned or am I just overly cautious? I can't imagine these wheels were designed to take that kind of side impact.

I'm worried about hidden cracks. Is there another way to check for hidden damage that is a more thorough then a balancing machine?

Any other thoughts on this? My next step is to appeal it in writing to the ins. company and I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

Thanks in advance,

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2005 Limited CRD

There is a way to check for cracks in Aluminum - a good machine shop can use a dye and look for cracks - that's the way they inspect Aluminum heads. I doubt that anyone's setup for wheels - so I don't know how much it would cost.
I'd be worried about it being bent - a dynamic balancing should detect that - static balance wouldn't.

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2005 CRD
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