How do you tell if a rim is bent or warped

[radibob]

I was considereing putting some used mini lites that look fine on the Sprite and thought to myself how do I tell if they aren't straight. Any ideas?

 

[dklawson]

The way I have done this is to take the wheel and bolt it onto the front hub of the car that you want to use it on. I use a dial indicator on a clamp-on base to measure the run-out on the rim as I rotate it by hand. As long as the hub is running true this will give you a good idea of what condition the rim is in. If you don't have a dial indicator, a piece of wire used as a pointer will at least give you an indication if the wheel is seriously "bad".