scoobastevesdad,
there isn't a carbon or hardened contact on the 'wiper' part of the rheostat.
Bending it only delays the day when the edge of the hole worn in the foot will catch one of the resistance wire windings and pull it all apart.

However, some careful work with a soldering iron will bridge that gap and give the sender a new lease of life...

i started off writing down milage with lily, almost a year ago now, each time i'd put petrol in etc, see what milage i was getting from a couple of gallons etc, then i err forgot one day... then it was guesswork as to where i'd been, how many miles i'd done etc etc, not that i've ever ran out couple of days later we dropped the tank and sorted the sender, fuel gauge was good as gold ever since

something really odd that i now find hilarious, the wobbling from side to side when turning corners, i was in my dads car and kept looking at his fuel gauge waiting for it to move from one side to the other, then realised modern cars dont do that :/