Aluminum wheel repair

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: Tempest
Originally Posted By: Kestas
It's true that cracks in aluminum wheels grow. The critical areas are the rim lip and the hub center.

Could you drill out the ends of the crack in a non-critical area for at least a temp fix?

No, it's not an acceptable fix. This is a safety critical part.

 

[Ga129]

Can anyone please answer the original intended question? Should I rotate the slightly warped wheel to the back? It's only slight enough to give a little shake in the steering...can they fix something like this?

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: Ga129
Can anyone please answer the original intended question? Should I rotate the slightly warped wheel to the back? It's only slight enough to give a little shake in the steering...can they fix something like this?


Yes to both.

 

[durallymax]

Originally Posted By: Ga129
Idk what their process is but they weld it with real welding material and equipment, not jb weld or some rig that could fail


I'd sure hope so. Regardless, when you weld on the wheel you still stress it, overtime it will want to crack again.

There is a reason hundreds of wheels are pulled out of service daily on commercial vehicles. They cannot be repaired, its illegal to weld on them for any reason. Just not worth the risk.

Being in the trucking industry, I tend to go a little hard on car owners. Why? Trucks are blamed for most of the accidents they are in because they generally result in severe injuries. The issue is that many of these accidents are caused by cars. Obviously distracted driving or even the insurance hunters are a big part of this, but improperly maintained vehicles are also an issue. Say your wheel failed going down the road and it sent you in front of a truck, you wont win the battle, but now what? Now there are plenty of bad truckers out there, it just seems the good ones get targeted for every little issue. Just recently we had 2 different people try to get free windshields out of us, they claim rocks came out of our trailers, the only problem is that we haul animal feed which will do nothing to a windshield.

Whats the purpose of my rant? Maintain your vehicle properly. We get put out of service if we cut corners. Why? Because if they let us, lives are at risk. I would be tickled pink if more car owners were forced to keep their vehicles in safe condition but at the same time I'd hate to see what that would do to the govnts budget.

I'm not trying to come down hard on you, but if you cannot afford a new wheel to fix your vehicle properly for the safety of yourself and others, you cannot afford to drive your vehicle. That's what they teach you about tires and oil changes, same thing goes for vital components. Save the cheap repairs for the radio or something.

You may feel I am being unreasonable and the probability of an accident is very low. It is low, but it only takes one time.

 

[AboutTires]

So many opinions on whether to weld wheels. Here's mine: Maybe.

To weld, or not to weld, that is the question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the Wallet to suffer
The outrageous cost of New Wheels,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of potholes,
And by Repairing, end them: to weld, to leak
No more; and by a weld, to say we end
The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks
That Aluminum is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To weld a crack,
To fail, perchance to Crash; Aye, there's the rub...

http://tires.about.com/od/wheel_safety_maintenance/a/Welding-Wheels-To-Bead-Or-Not-To-Bead.htm

 

[Ga129]

Bringing up a dead post, but wanted to share with everyone. I replaced my tires a little while back with some Michelin Defenders and decided to use the stock steel wheels. The tires were cheaper for that size and the aluminum wheels had gotten really unbalanced.

 

[dlundblad]

Funny this was brought up. About a month ago, my GF's front tire was low. I filled it for her and attempted to change the oil (long story). A few minutes later, it was low again.. come to find out, it had a huge crack on the back of the rim. She said she hit a rough pot hole on the way over, but it looked like the actual crack had been there a while judging from the amount of corrosion around it. The pot hole was just the straw that broke the camels back. I'm glad I found it when I did.

After seeing the first few posts, I think it was wise to just have her get a new re-finished wheel. Her dad wanted a friend to attempt to weld it.

The rim was $120 shipped.

 

[asand1]

Working at a tire shop, I have seen many Weld wheels (two pieces, welded together from the factory) that were cracking at the weld. While I would have a rare wheel repaired for show purposes, I would just replace it for a DD.

 

[Ga129]

Definitely better to get the replacement. I wish I could have had that option originally, but what do you expect when you buy used wheels.

 

[Ga129]

+1

 

[KitaCam]

Originally Posted By: Ga129
Definitely better to get the replacement. I wish I could have had that option originally, but what do you expect when you buy used wheels.


...which is why I jumped on a deal of FIVE used alloy wheels....nice to have an extra...