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[pauls]

I buckled a wheel last week on my travels tried to straighten it but it split about 2inchs on the inner edge. I found a place that would weld it up for me. Picked it up today and all looks good.

question is anybody had one done and did it last.

[05omegav6]

There is a question mark over the longevity and the rights and wrongs of welding a wheel back together... but it does depend very much on the quality of the weld and the damage involved

[TheBoy]

I'd always use a specialist to straighten the wheel in the first place. It will most likely need specialist rolling to get it straight anyway.

[serek]

I buckled a wheel last week on my travels tried to straighten it but it split about 2inchs on the inner edge. I found a place that would weld it up for me. Picked it up today and all looks good.

question is anybody had one done and did it last.

I weld wheels every day, do you know if they cut where was cracked or they just weld over crack and then grinded off? if they only weld over then will crack soon again
main problem is piss poor alloy quality what they use for wheels

[pauls]

It was a place that only does alloys and repairs so looked good. I dont know how they welded it. Only thing I did notice when there fitted it back on was the amount of weights on it. I am going to take it to my tyre man and see what he thinks

[chrisgixer]

I'd personally never "fully" trust a welded wheel.


By that I mean, trust to the fullest extent of the performance of the car. I hope you understand the wording, if you know what I mean.

I'd happily use as a spare or up to sensible speeds though, if I had seen or fully trust the repair/repairer.

For me, it's like a repaired tyre. The plug "could" fail at anytime. But won't if driven sensibly.

[Andy B]

I'd get A N Other wheel 

[hawke113a]

i had one done on my old escort cossie....lasted till i got rid a couple of yrs later....

[Marks DTM Calib]

As long as the end of the crack was drilled, the crack ground out and then TIG welded on both sides, no issues at all with a welded alloy for me. 

[chrisgixer]

Yes I've seen Serek Tig weld wheels. He leant me a mask so I could see the technique. And clearly molten alloy is molten alloy. Be it wheel or welding rod. They become one and the same. So the theory is sound, and I 've learned from watching him it is obviously a perfectly acceptable process.

But for me, there's that Niglling doubt, however unreasonable,  at the back of my mind. As said for normal use, no problem. But any more than that....

Purely a personal thing, and not a reflection on the process in any way.

Serek does a good job if you ever need a wheel welded.

[Nick W]

A properly welded repair isn't a problem for me, although my alloy welding isn't good enough to count.
I would need to survey the rest of the wheel to decide if it's worth repairing. After all, if you've hit it hard enough to crack it, that's unlikely to be the only damage.
And on a common readily available wheel, would usually replace it.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Yes I've seen Serek Tig weld wheels. He leant me a mask so I could see the technique. And clearly molten alloy is molten alloy. Be it wheel or welding rod. They become one and the same. So the theory is sound, and I 've learned from watching him it is obviously a perfectly acceptable process.

But for me, there's that Niglling doubt, however unreasonable,  at the back of my mind. As said for normal use, no problem. But any more than that....

Purely a personal thing, and not a reflection on the process in any way.

Serek does a good job if you ever need a wheel welded.

Nothing to fear 

Thing is there could be an inclusion in the casting of a brand new wheel which would be far more structurally damaging than a weld. 

[Freebird]

I have welded several cracked wheels over the years, so this does not be a problem to me. The crack needs to be fully ground out, and then welded. 

[05omegav6]

The critical point is to drill the end of the crack, as it's the only way to stop it speading. That applies whether you weld or plate the crack

Obviously you won't be plating a wheel to repair it...