Bicycle Mechanics - Hit by car. bent rear wheel

I was hit from behind by a car and it bent my rear wheel. It's bad enough that it feels like I'm going over a bump at every wheel rotation. The rim is lateral and radial out of true. It's a 700c aluminum alloy rim.

Is it repairable by hitting it with a rubber mallet and spoke tensioning?

If I buy a new rim, how long does it take to remove old rim and install a new one? What kind of tools do I need besides spoke wrenches?

You may be able to get it true enough to ride but the strength of the wheel will be suspect. Better to replace it.

Replace.

The issue is: Is the rim actually bent or has it just been tweaked out of line? If it's the latter, banging the wheel downward while you are holding the two high sides with your hands should spring it back into line. If the aluminum extrusion itself has actually been bent, there is no satisfactory repair short of replacing the rim.

At least half of the job of replacing a rim consists of acquiring the right replacement parts. Once that's done, it takes me about an hour to relace and tension a new wheel but I've had a bit of experience doing it. For your first one, plan on 1/2 a day.

Replace it. I'm no metallurgist (sp?) but a bend surely has weakened it?

If the car hit you from behind..... have the owner of the car buy you a new wheel. I don't understand why you are even concidering other options.

I was hit by a car a month ago and it barely tweaked my rim... the spokes kept breaking and so I ended up having them all replaced... now the drive side is super tight and the non-drive side is so loose I don't think it is supporting any weight. So I got a new rim. Your spokes are going to be damaged to, particularly where they meet the hub flange.

always get a replacement. it
's not worth your safety to go cheap when someone hits you....don't milk the driver, but be fair.

When my old wally worl bike got nailed, I didnt even ask and the driver gave me $50 for a new wheel. That was $3 less than the bike, but he insisted so i took it. Turns out teh wheel was only $35...bonus! but that was a craptacular steel wheel, so it was gonna be cheap.

If the car hit you from behind..... have the owner of the car buy you a new wheel. I don't understand why you are even concidering other options.It happened at night and I did not have any reflectors. It could've been much worse I guess. I'm just glad I didn't become road kill.

You can repare it, but i recommend to replace spokets and rim. There can be som invisible defects in material of the rim. I think it's better to fit it in service, if you're newbee in this, just buy rim and sprokets.

it all depends on how bad it is and/or how broke you are. One time I was rear ended by a car (on purpose!) and I merely retrued it. Mind you, if you don't know really well how to retrue a wheel, then you won't have a good idea of what is out of true and what is damaged. I also like to live dangerously...