Repairing alloy wheel with timber and hammer!

Villain

Right so my 17" alloy has a fair dint in it bending away from the rim (bloody pot holes I give up asking why we pay VRT and road tax as well as fortune in tax on petrol), anyway the tyre isn't leaking but probably isn't far off.

So I was trying to find out who might it repair it in the carlow area and then my father who is a retired mechanic reckons he can fix it with a lump of timber and a hammer and just beat it back into shape, would I be mad to lt him of try or is this something others have heard of?

I remember reading somewhere that if you kept pouring boiling water on the rim it would eventually get soft enough that you could bend it back into shape using your hand (with gloves obviously)?

Any ideas?

Cheers

Wing Walker

Not sure about your suggested remedy but if the wheel is that badly damaged perhaps you should just replace it. I know it might be pricely but if you hit another pothole it might just fail altogether causing you to have a serious accident!

crosstownk

Beating the crap out of a steel wheel is not too bad - but it's a no-no with an alloy wheel. It'll most likely crack. Best advice is to get a new one. Is it a Laguna Supersport by any chance - damaged 17" alloys are common on them especially 2001/2002 models due to the 45 profile tyres.

Interceptor

Softening aluminium alloy with boiling water is certainly a myth and will only result in wasted time with scalded and bruised hands. If the dent is small enough it can safely be moved a small distance but I have cracked and weakened alloys when straightening bigger dents. Best tool is a copper-faced mallet as it is difficult to be accurate with wood/hammer.

'cptr

Villain

Its off a 01 Subaru Legacy and I wouldn't mind replacing it only the alloys came with the car so it won't be easy to find a replacment and also if I do it will probably stick out.

Someone told me about a guy called Tallon who doesn't live too far away from me who repairs and sells alloys, might give him a shout at the weekend.

Cheers

cargrouch

Saw the local lads do this with a blowtorch and a hydraulic jack (or something like that) the last time I called into the garage.

Aluminium is a hoor of a thing to repair. Bending it weakens* it, and heating can affect it depending on the alloy and heat treatment used to manufacture it.

*Don't know exactly how much it would weaken it.

crosstownk

cargrouch wrote:

Saw the local lads do this with a blowtorch and a hydraulic jack (or something like that) the last time I called into the garage.

Aluminium is a hoor of a thing to repair. Bending it weakens* it, and heating can affect it depending on the alloy and heat treatment used to manufacture it.

*Don't know exactly how much it would weaken it.

In theory - it can weaken it to the point that if the 'repaired' area hits a pothole again it may break causing a blowout and possible loss of control of the car.

If you do get it repaired make sure it always stays at the rear of car - slightly safer than at the front.

Essentially it depends on how much straigtening is involved as to how much it will weaken.

MercMad

remember reading somewhere that if you kept pouring boiling water on the rim it would eventually get soft enough that you could bend it back into shape using your hand (with gloves obviously)?

..........yes that was me. I've done it loads of times no problem, not with my bare hands though ! I have used a rubber mallet with a cylinder of industrial plastic and a chamois over the affected area. the chamois prevents further scratching and also holds the heat against the area.

Obviously if you have a big bend then its not the best thing to do, but a simple flat spot, even on the outside edge is no problem. Again as the lads say place this wheel on the rear just to be safe, but if you use common sense you cane easily determone if it is safe or not !

I've done this on E39 5 series 16" factory wheels, Alfa 155 & 156, Peugeot
15" wheels and Merc 17" never any problems. Recently repaired the kerb rash on our CLK after my wife was literally run off the road, that took a bit more time, to sand, polish and laquer the rim but it is 99% perfect for about a total outlay of €10 !

You could try www.nulukwheels.com though for a total pro job. You will need to phone them though to arrange a collection in Dublin.

armchairninja

I remember my father repairing our alloy a few years back. He was collecting me from a friends house one night and it was out the country so the roads as you'd imagine were not exactly great, needless to say he hit 2 potholes and bent the rim in 3 places!.
The were Low profiles on an escort (the wheel with the triangle type design).

But he repaired it using an oxy-acetylene torch to heat the back of the rim and tap it back to shape, the only problem was that the finish on the rims started to peel and flake in the area where the heat was applied, but they seemed to hold air fine after.

But he is a "Hub Caps all the way" type person now:D

cargrouch

D'oh! in my post replace blow torch with oxy-acethylene.

Alun

All sounds well dodgy to me Just because you can't see a crack in the wheel doesn't mean that there isn't one there, albeit only a minute hairline crack. I think the reputable alloy repair places have equipment that can detect these (ultrasound?) so, even if I had thought I'd managed to repair a wheel in this way, I'd feel better if I had it checked out properly afterwards. The danger of a crack spreading, leading to the wheel breaking up at high speed at an unexpected moment doesn't even bear thinking about.:eek:

armchairninja

cargrouch wrote:

D'oh! in my post replace blow torch with oxy-acethylene.

Maybe, but an Oxy-acethylene torch puts out far more heat than a blow torch, maybe thats a good thing maybe its a bad thing I dont no, I was only offering my opinion

peasant

The simple answer:

Anything that goes beyond buffing it up ...DON'T DO IT.

And if the damage looks pretty bad, just get a new one.

Not worth the risk.

Never mind blowing a tyre ...a wheel could just simply break ...imagine that at 100 km/h.


Never quite understood the fascination with alloys and low profile tyres anyway ...not on these roads.

Rovi

Be aware too, that aluminium and its alloys behave very differently to steel when heated.
It will soak up massive amounts of heat without any apparent change, and will suddenly slump and run away like water. Unlike steel, it doesn't change colour, and there's a very narrow heat range between 'solid' and 'liquid'.

All I'm saying is, be careful with that oxy-acetylene set

smash

irish1 wrote:

Its off a 01 Subaru Legacy and I wouldn't mind replacing it only the alloys came with the car so it won't be easy to find a replacment

Have you tried a few of the scrappage yards?