# I have made a very bad mistake!



## dcarlock (Jan 28, 2007)

I was driving and I clobbered a nasty pothole in my GTO and I inspected the wheel to discover I have bent my aluminum rim front passenger wheel. Obviously, my car is now pulling to the right. 

My car came with the aluminum, powder coated 17" wheels.

I prefer to keep my car stock, just a personal preference.

So I went and bought a used rim for $50 dollars, but it needs refinishing. 

I am in Italy now for business for four weeks and am not able to answer the question below so some help would be appreciated!

My first question is this, is there a different finish between the powder coating on an 04 and an 05 GTO, such as color or anything else?

Second, I am now questioning if the tire is okay, does anyone have any pointers for me here.

Third, could there be tie rod damage, or any other mechanical damage that could also cause this problem?

Any help is greatly appreciated, it is really bad to be away from the goat, but it is even worse when your away with a problem :/

Thanks!!!


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

dcarlock said:


> I was driving and I clobbered a nasty pothole in my GTO and I inspected the wheel to discover I have bent my aluminum rim front passenger wheel. Obviously, my car is now pulling to the right.
> 
> My car came with the aluminum, powder coated 17" wheels.
> 
> ...


*The wheels are painted, not powder coated. I do believe the color is the same from factory on all GTO's. 

As far as the tire being damaged? You won't know until it is examined. More than likely, the bead seal was broken which caused the tire to leak. 
Without taking the tire off and inspecting it you won't know for sure if it's damaged or not.

It's too difficult to diagnose the damage that was done to the front end without looking at it. You will get a multitude of it could bes. Chances are it just needs aligned. Take it or have someone take it to a front end specialist.

If you got a used wheel that needs finishing, you'll have to take it to a powder coater and have them match the color to the others. *


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