I think on the eclipse, I had something like 205/55r16 tires on them, so not much meat...but you could tell when you smacked it hard enough to bend a rim...it sends a sound/crunch through the chassis. the one common thing though is that the rims are aluminum alloy...so they'll bend much easier than steels.

I got a funny report from National Tire & Battery. Tech came back and said a rim was bent on our old Grand Am. I know how hard you have to hit something to bend one, so I just looked at my wife and asked what the hell happened?!? hehe She then proceeds to tell me a story that begins with, "Well...I was going to tell you a few weeks ago...but I forgot.." She smacked a curb pretty hard. You had to look closely to see the scratch marks, but you wouldn't have noticed it at a glance.