MOT advisory explained
“Road wheel slightly distorted”
The pothole advisory. A wheel rim has been knocked slightly out of true, nearly always on its inner edge and mostly on the passenger side. It almost never becomes a failure, and the question that matters is whether the tyre is still sealing against it.
With the wheel spinning, the tester saw that the rim does not run perfectly true. There is a slight bend or flat spot in the edge where the tyre seats. The wheel is secure, the tyre holds air, and the distortion is minor.
Just 1.0% fail on a wheel at the next test, the lowest figure of any wheel or tyre advisory we track. 29.6% are written down again unchanged. A bent rim does not get worse by itself. It stays as it is until the next pothole.
A vibration through the steering at motorway speed can come from a bent rim, but also from a wheel out of balance or a worn wheel bearing. Have the wheel balanced first. It is the cheapest test, and the balancing machine shows a bent rim at once.
A “road wheel slightly distorted” advisory means a wheel rim is slightly bent or buckled, usually on its inner edge from a pothole, but is secure and the tyre is holding air, so the car passes. It often needs no repair. According to DVSA MOT data analysed by PriceMyRepair, only 1.0% of 1.6 million such advisories followed to the next test failed on a wheel, while 29.6% were given the same advisory again.
Where wheels bend, and why there
The inner rim. The note testers add most is “inner rim”, 130,149 times, and “inner bead” and “inner edge” are also in the top five. The inner edge of a wheel is unsupported, it is the first part to meet the far lip of a pothole, and you cannot see it from outside the car. Kerbs damage the outer face. Potholes bend the inner one.
Steel and alloy behave differently. A steel wheel is pressed from sheet and bends when hit. It can usually be dressed back, and carries on working with a slight buckle. An alloy wheel is cast, and a hard enough hit cracks it. A crack is a different and serious finding. If your wheels are alloy and the advisory says distorted, ask the garage to look carefully for a hairline crack at the bend.
What it can cause. Two things. If the bend is where the tyre bead sits, the tyre can lose pressure slowly on that wheel. And a rim that is out of round makes the wheel hard to balance, which you feel as a shake at speed. If you have neither, the bend is cosmetic.
Will it fail next year?
3,910,628 instances are recorded, and 1,628,156 of them can be followed to the same vehicle’s next MOT.
| What happened at the next test | Share |
|---|---|
| Failed on the same component | 1.0% |
| Same advisory recorded again | 29.6% |
According to DVSA MOT data analysed by PriceMyRepair: 1,628,156 advisories followed to the same vehicle’s next test. Rows can overlap.
One in a hundred is as low as wheel and tyre advisories go. A cut tyre fails 10.8% of the time and a tyre near the legal limit 10.0%. Tyres wear out. A steel rim with a small bend is the same next year as it is today.
Nearly three in ten are re-advised, which is what you would expect of a fault that neither heals nor grows. The remainder are mostly wheels that were swapped, straightened, or judged differently by the next tester.
| Advisory wording | Fails on same part | Advised again | Followed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyre has a cut | 10.8% | 9.8% | 2,198,577 |
| Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge | 10.0% | 22.0% | 32,463,345 |
| Tyre slightly damaged/cracking or perishing | 9.2% | 24.4% | 14,917,627 |
| Wheel bearing has slight play | 5.8% | 26.4% | 1,109,766 |
| Coil spring corroded | 5.0% | 39.1% | 4,780,118 |
| Valve stem slightly damaged | 3.5% | 13.4% | 184,267 |
| Road wheel slightly distorted | 1.0% | 29.6% | 1,628,156 |
The older the car, the more potholes it has met, so the advisory climbs from 4.7 per 1,000 tests at 3–4 years to around thirteen per 1,000 in the teens. What does not change is the outcome. The share that fail next time is about one in a hundred in every age band, and never above 1.2%.
| Age of car | Per 1,000 tests | Fails on same part | Followed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3–4 years | 4.7 | 1.0% | 139,592 |
| 5–6 years | 6.1 | 0.9% | 188,524 |
| 7–9 years | 8.5 | 1.0% | 351,913 |
| 10–12 years | 11.7 | 1.1% | 391,656 |
| 13–15 years | 13.7 | 1.2% | 306,114 |
| 16–19 years | 12.9 | 1.1% | 162,342 |
| 20 years and over | 8.5 | 1.0% | 39,344 |
An impact hard enough to bend a rim has also gone through the tyre, the spring and the suspension joints on that corner. The wheel is the part that shows it. The others may not show it for months.
Look at the tyre on that wheel for a bulge in the sidewall, which means broken cords and is dangerous. And if a coil spring advisory appears on the same corner, a pothole is the likely link between the two.
A steering wheel that sits off-centre, or a car that started pulling to one side after a big hit, means the alignment has been knocked out. That wears tyres quickly and is worth fixing on its own account.
Exact wording on your certificate
Two wordings share the code, one for the wheel as a whole and one for the bead rim specifically. The failure uses a stronger adverb.
| Line on the certificate | Result | Code |
|---|---|---|
| Road wheel slightly distorted | Advisory — pass | 5.2.2 (c) (i) |
| Wheel has a slightly distorted bead rim | Advisory — pass | 5.2.2 (c) (i) |
| Road wheel badly distorted | Major — fail | 5.2.2 (c) (i) |
The nearside front alone is 32% of all instances, twice the share of the offside front, and nearside positions together come to about six in ten. Potholes and broken edges collect along the kerb side of the road, where water drains and the road edge breaks up first, and the nearside wheels run through them.
| Position written by the tester | Share of all instances |
|---|---|
| Nearside front | 32% |
| Nearside rear | 19% |
| Offside front | 15% |
| Offside rear | 12% |
| Nearside front inner | 7% |
| Nearside rear inner | 3% |
From 3,910,628 recorded instances. Testers can add their own note after the standard wording. The most common on this advisory: “inner rim” (130,149), “rim” (50,475), “both” (26,273), “inner bead” (24,853), “inner edge” (18,710), “outer rim” (15,606), “inner bead rim” (10,800), “both sides” (10,798).
Is there anything to pay for?
Usually not. We do not publish a range for wheel straightening or replacement because it depends entirely on the wheel: a second-hand steel wheel for a small car costs very little, and a large alloy can cost hundreds to repair properly. If the tyre is losing pressure or the wheel will not balance, get a quote for that specific wheel. Other prices are on the repair costs index.
Can I still drive with this advisory?
Check the pressure in that tyre every couple of weeks for the first month or two. If it drops faster than the others, the bend is breaking the seal and the wheel needs attention. Get it looked at promptly if a vibration appears at speed.
Enter your reg to see your full MOT history. The same wheel advised several years running, with no tyre problems, is a bend you can stop worrying about.
Which cars get this advisory most?
The all-vehicle rate is 9.0 per 1,000 tests. A few very common small cars are far above it.
| Model | Per 1,000 tests | Vs all cars | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Fiesta | 43 | 4.8× | 15,017,429 |
| Peugeot 107 | 37 | 4.2× | 1,292,695 |
| Renault Clio | 37 | 4.1× | 4,086,721 |
| Citroen C1 | 34 | 3.8× | 1,686,560 |
| Ford Ka | 25 | 2.8× | 2,120,213 |
| Renault Megane | 24 | 2.7× | 1,634,315 |
| Volvo V70 | 23 | 2.5× | 542,743 |
| Volkswagen Scirocco | 22 | 2.5× | 497,694 |
| Peugeot 108 | 22 | 2.5× | 609,329 |
| MINI (all models) | 21 | 2.3× | 3,449,907 |
Model families are grouped by the first word of the DVSA model name, so “Transit” covers every Transit variant. Only models with at least 60,000 tests are ranked.
The Ford Fiesta gets this advisory 4.8 times as often as the average vehicle, and with more than fifteen million Fiesta tests in the data that is not a fluke. The Peugeot 107, Renault Clio, Citroen C1 and Ford Ka follow. These are small cars that have mostly run on steel wheels with plastic trims, and steel wheels bend where alloys would shrug off the same hit or crack.
They are also cars that spend most of their lives in town, which is where the potholes are.
What to do next
- Watch the tyre pressure on that wheel. It is the only test that matters at home. Steady pressure means the bend is harmless.
- Have the wheel balanced if there is a shake. The machine will show how far out the rim is, and whether balancing can mask it.
- On an alloy, ask for a crack check. A bend can be lived with. A crack cannot, and the two often sit together.
- Move a bent steel wheel to the rear. If you feel it through the steering, swapping it to the back axle often makes it unnoticeable, at no cost.
Distorted road wheel advisory FAQ
What does road wheel slightly distorted mean on an MOT?
A wheel rim is slightly bent or buckled and does not run perfectly true. It is secure and the tyre holds air, so it is an advisory and the car passes.
Will a slightly distorted wheel fail the next MOT?
Very rarely. According to DVSA MOT data analysed by PriceMyRepair, 1.0% of 1.6 million such advisories failed on a wheel at the next test. 29.6% were simply given the same advisory again.
What causes a buckled wheel rim?
Potholes, in most cases. In DVSA records the most common tester note on this advisory is “inner rim”, and the inner rim is the part a pothole strikes. Kerbs tend to scuff the outer face instead.
Is it safe to drive with a slightly buckled wheel?
Yes, as long as the tyre holds its pressure and there is no vibration. Check the pressure regularly at first. On an alloy wheel have it checked for cracks.
Does a distorted wheel need replacing?
Not usually. A steel wheel with a slight bend can carry on or be straightened. Replace or repair it if the tyre loses pressure, the wheel cannot be balanced, or an alloy wheel is cracked. Any prices we publish are estimates and final quotes come from garages.
Why is it usually the nearside wheel?
The nearside runs along the kerb side of the road, where potholes and broken edges are most common. The nearside front is the most frequent position for this advisory in the DVSA data.
How these figures were calculated. According to DVSA MOT data analysed by PriceMyRepair, from the DVSA anonymised MOT test results (Open Government Licence v3.0): 350,943,111 tests. This advisory was recorded 3,910,628 times; 1,628,156 of those were followed to the same vehicle’s next test between 180 and 730 days later. “Fails on the same part” means a failure at that next test under the same defect code and naming the same component, on either side of the vehicle. Testers do not always name a component the same way twice, so the figure is a floor. Method and how to cite.