I had an adventure yesterday. While in my favorite wheeling area quail hunting, I aired down as is my new practice based on the other thread I started to air down or not.

I have been airing down to 22psi which makes the tires nice and squishy and greatly softens the ride. This wheeling area is primarily granite and lava rock, with ledges, drop offs, and large rocks in the road. While going at what I don't think was an unreasonable speed (I can almost walk that fast) I hit one of the above obstacles with my passenger side front tire. I heard a clunk, followed by whoosh, pause, whoosh, pause.

I thought I had a puncture and retrieved my puncture kit. I quickly learned that the puncture kit was not going to help me as the inner lip of the rim had taken a rock strike and was bent. As the tire would deform at the bottom of the rotation, air would bleed out. The impact point was about 3" long and would seal if the weight of the XK was on another part of the tire. Even with the weight on another area, the tire would only hold 15psi before leaking enough to be heard.

I found the rock the rim impacted, but was unable to tell if the rock
a) had just missed the tire and caught the edge of the rim
b) hit full on compressing the tire and then damaging the rim
c) any other potential scenario

I drove to a flat area, pulled the tire, and took a hammer to the inside of the rim. I was able to bend the rim back far enough to make the bead seal when the tire aired up to 50 psi. Luckily, it was the end of the day and the repair lasted until I got home. It is still inflated and even under submersion is not leaking air. As best I am able to tell without pulling the tire off the rim, the tire is undamaged.

I have never had this happen while wheeling before with any vehicle. I am unsure if it related to airing down, or just coincidence. Now that I am beyond this, here are the things I would like feedback on - what did I learn?

Was this just a freak thing likely to never happen again?
Was I going to fast?
Did I air down too much?
Was that the recommended repair?
Should I replace the rim or is it all good if it continues to hold air?
Are all repairs on the trail just a question of if you have a big enough hammer?