I just bought an 09 JCW from a non-mini dealer. Very nice!
But it had Blizzaks on it so I bought new shoes and the wheel shop showed me that 3 of the 4 wheels (JCW Challenge) had bends. They were on the inside rims. There weren't so bad that the tires wouldn't seal but the road force measurements were not in the acceptable range. (no I don't remember the measurement unfortunately.) The bends were obvious when looking at the wheel rotating.

The wheel shop said the wheels shouldn't have passed inspection. Of course the dealer said he can't see that there's a problem since his inspector didn't indicate any problem.

So does anyone know if non-catastrophically bent rims should pass inspection?

 

You'd have to check what your non MINI dealer purchase agreement says- if it is buy as is then you are out of luck once you pay for it. If they offer a limited warranty then you need to read the fine print, maybe get them to pay for the wheel repair and you can claim that you can't balance the wheels since they were bent which means you will wear out your tires.

 

If it winds up on your shoulders, here is a company that does very good rim straightening. I've had work done by their local guy twice. Expedient while I waited and very well done at a reasonable price.

http://www.mobilewheelrepair.com/

 

I've had success with a block of wood and a dead blow hammer. I can't even tell where the rims were bent now.

 

Thanks for the responses.

I talked to a shop I respect about state inspections (I'm in MD). They said that unless the car doesn't track straight or the steering wheel has a vibration with a movement of some number of degrees because of the bends in the wheels, the dents will not cause a failed inspection.

So I'm having them straightened. My previous car had two dented wheels and after a while the tires deformed slightly to the dents and even when the wheels were finally straightened, the was a noticeable vibration from the tires.