A customer left a Zonda (Italian road bike brand) with me for service.


Both the front and rear wheels had severe runout from a crash.
Since they were wobbling, I can't rely too much on initial assessment, but
both wheels had clearly visible hub misalignment visible to the naked eye.
The rear wheel had worse lateral runout,
but when I checked, there was no rim deformation, so
I was able to do perfect truing and centering work—
actually better than most stock condition wheels straight off the rack.

The front wheel had some dents on the rim's bead hook in one spot,
but since it was minor, I corrected it as best I could, though not perfectly.

↑before repair

↑after repair
There was some radial runout I couldn't completely eliminate in that spot, so
after finishing the work, I actually mounted the tire and test rode it on my own bike.
I rode on smooth pavement without pedaling (just freewheeling),
and even concentrating on the feel of the front wheel contact patch,
I couldn't detect any radial runout, so I think it's fine.

As for lateral runout (or rather, rim bulge),
I rode it with the brake lightly dragging while keeping constant shoe contact,
and there was only the slightest hint of oddness at the deformed spot,
but it didn't lock up hard or make the bike shake back and forth violently,
so this is also not really a problem.
If I didn't know there was rim deformation, I probably wouldn't notice.
I can't say I fixed the rear wheel perfectly like I did the front,
but I think I did my best given the choice not to replace the rim.