Curbs damage wheels, not just tires
In city work the wheel takes the hit as often as the tire does, and it is the half nobody inspects.
A curb strike in a tight turn can bend a rim flange, scuff the bead seat, or distort a wheel enough to put it out of round. The tire gets looked at because a tire is what people look at. The wheel goes back on, and six weeks later there is a slow leak or a vibration that nothing explains.
A wheel is a consumable with a very long life rather than a permanent part, and that distinction is worth making before an order for new ones goes in.
Why the leak is usually the wheel
A tubeless tire seals against the rim. There is no inner tube holding the air; the surface doing the sealing is a narrow band of metal on the wheel itself.
Damage or corrosion there prevents a seal regardless of what tire is fitted, which is why a position that keeps going soft after a new tire is a wheel problem being treated as a tire problem.
What refurbishing involves
The national wheel refurbishing page covers the process. After a curb strike the inspection is the useful part, because it establishes whether the rim is bent, distorted or merely marked, and those are three different answers.
Some wheels do not come back. A crack, or damage affecting the structure, ends one, and the inspection establishes that before work starts rather than afterwards.
Timing it so it costs nothing extra
The version of this service with no downtime attached is the one done while the tire is already off.
Renton collects casings for retreading at the Purcell plant in Portland, which is the natural moment: the tire has come off, the wheel is accessible, and nothing is being taken out of service that was not already coming out.
When the vibration is the rim
A correctly balanced tire on an out-of-round wheel still shakes. Tire and wheel balancing is offered at the same address, so the rim can be checked in one visit rather than after a second balance has failed to fix it.
About this store
The Renton store is open Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, managed by Chris Contrades, and also runs OTR services for equipment wheels. Lacey and Monroe offer the same service.
See the national wheel refurbishing page for all 42 locations.