My rear wheel becomes extremely out of true every two or three weeks, riding an average of 100 miles a week. The roads i ride on mostly are poor quality with bumps, potholes, manholes, tracks, and everything else to knock the wheel out of true. Also i am carrying some loads, but nothing over 15-20lbs on a daily basis.

Today i didn't even want to risk riding in with the wheel like that because it makes the ride very unstable, especially when descending with a lot of speed.
I am getting tired of constantly taking it to the shop to have it trued. It is still on the one year fee maintenance plan, so it isn't the cost, it is just becoming a pain.

Could the wheel be shot if i have to true it this often?

Should i just get some new wheels?

Sounds like a spoke tensioning problem. I had a wheel that I was having to true almost every day. I only have the skills to maintain lateral true but if I am doing that every day, sooner or later that lateral true was coming at the cost of round, dish or spoke tension. Because it was a rim and hub that I really liked, I took it to a shop that TRUSTED and asked them to give it a "real" major true job including checking the tensioning. I basically told them that they could do anything including re-lacing the wheel. I don't know what they did ( I am assuming they just did a full true job) but I got it back true as an arrow and it has not budged a millimeter since. Total cost: $20. The key is having someone work on it who really understands tensioning. If you can't find someone local, and love the wheel, I might recommend sending it to the guys I took it to here in Boise.

On a side note, they did tell me that my rim was basically shot because of a flat spot but I cannot see it with my naked eye and certainly can't feel it. As far as I am concerened, they fixed my wheel.

Oh, you might want to ask the guys on the mechanics forum. They are pretty sharp.

Possabilities (Assuming you are not over loading it by design or conditions)

1) Rim shot (egged/flat spot or otherwise bent)

2). Spoke tensioning (i.e. spoke tension about the wheel is not consistent) whihc can often be the result of #1.

3). Exceptionally crappy wheel

What kind of wheel is it? How many spokes does the wheel have? How much do you weigh?

Alex ACE18 alloy double-wall /eyeletted rims, 700c, 32H, with Shimano Road 2200 hubs,14g stainless steel spokes

I weigh 175lbs, and i carry a maximum of 40lbs in the rear.

That wheel shouldn't go out of true.

I doubt your shop knows what they're doing. Find a new shop. Look for one that sponsors a racing team - they usually have better mechanics.

I suspect that you have a cracked rim. Either at the eyelets or, if you remove the rim tape, around the spoke holes.

+1 This would be my guess, too. If possible get a Sun CR-18 rim as they're cheap/strong and have your lbs build a new wheel using the old hub and DT Alpine 3 spokes. A Mavic A719 would be better, but 2-3 times the money. You may be running your tires @ too low psi which will lead to rim cracks, truing issues, etc. given the description of your terrain.

I had a similar problem once...wheel constantly going out of true. I kept bringing it in for truing and they kept charging me $15-20 for a 5 minute job. I finally figured out the LBS mechanic either didn't know what the hell we was doing or he was intentionally ripping my off because the spokes were way undertensioned. By that point, however, the spokes were fatiqued and the rim was shot. I learned to build-true my own and haven't had a single problem with wheels since.

Would this wheel be better suited for the conditions I described, plus some heavier touring applications?

2007 Shimano XT M760 Front and Rear 36 Hole Hubs laced to Mavic A719 Double Eyeletted Rims using Stainless Steel DT 2.0 Straight gauge spokes with DT Brass nipples.

If properly built, either of these wheels should work fine for you.