Bought a very expensive set of alloys off Ebay recently at a very good money, due to a couple of them being damaged. Wonder if anyone knows whether or not dented wheels can be repaired, and is it possible to weld up a small crack?
Have a look in some of the bike mags. There are a couple of firms that do this.
But personally I have straightened dinged rims etc myself with heat (and soap) and leather mallet etc. Cracks are nit so good! But it can be tig welded if they are alloys rather than magnesium.. All depends how bad.
Any decent alloy place should offer a repair service. Usually something like £40-50 a wheel. Sorting out scuffs/dents and re-laquering the wheel. I'm not so sure about cracks though...
Make sure it's "normal" soap, I used some pink smelly stuff once and the ally just didn't want to anneal. Turned out the soap was going black long before it got up to temp....
Another slightly important bit of advice! Make sure that its not magnesium. I was partying at santa pod one year and we burned a keith black engine block from a top fuel car to keep warm on the fire. It really burned well, kept going for hours! You wouldnt want a fierce white flaming wheel chucking out tons of white smoke and stuff in your garage...
It actually just suddenly melts before you realise, if anything more suddenly than solder, but at higher temp. Wheels are always alloys of onre kind or another, because pure aluminium is far too soft.
For example add a bit of copper and you get duralinium. Its springy and hard. Wheels are a complex mix of stuff. Some race wheels use mostly magnesium. Hence "mag wheels" ...
Anyway unless its slight and you done this before I would let the experts do it!
Anyway if you do decide to have a go, its not too hard. Dont hit it when hot. Heat it until the area thats bent is hot enough to turn the soap black. (no paint of course!) and let it cool. Now its soft (annealed) and can be belted fairly easily into shape.
You may need to re-aneal it half a dozen times or more because the beating it back part work hardens the metal again.
You cannot bend it back when hard because its too strong and would fracture anyway.
Dont wory about it being "soft" when you have finnished. By the time its repainted and ready to use it will be hardened up again. Temperature changes and time introduce stresses back into the metal that re-hardens it naturally.
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