Originally Posted By: Kestas
We actually tried undenting an aluminum rim once, with the press we have at work. It cracked the rim.
With the sort of bend Quattro Pete has I've had better luck using a soft-faced BFH. With a press or a ram it's too easy to just keep moving the metal in the desired direction you want until it cracks. If you use a hammer, you stop after every hammer blow and the metal has a chance to say "Hey, that's enough" as it were. It doesn't talk, of course, but you can see it isn't moving as willingly which is almost as good as talking. It's moving less because it's getting harder and more brittle ancl closer to cracking. You can only go so far and then stop before it cracks which may not be as far as you want but may be good enough. If you find yourself in a spot where you need to try it again, maybe give it a try with a hammer.
Someone who knows their metal can anneal it and continue to work the metal until it's right. I can't do that and I'm guessing you can't either (or you wouldn't have cracked that rim) but there are people who can. An outfit that does alloy wheel repair necessarily has at least one person who knows how. It can be done and the results can be quite good.
