It is very common. If it is a non-critical tube for a support brace, most teams will mig it. If it is an actual roll bar or a critical component like a control arm, steering shaft or frame member, it should be TIG. I know alot of people have done it and gotten away with it. But I would hate to be the one who didn't. You can stress relieve the weld joint with a torch and a 900 deg temp marker. Mark about 1" away from the weld joint and heat with a neutral flame avoiding hot spotting until the marker changes. This will help the joint regain some of it's elongation or flex incase it is subjected to a hard crash. Otherwise the weld will tear or crack.
Stay away from heat treating the entire chassis in an oven. This does change the parent metal and you would lose base metal strength.
Hope this helps
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MIG and 4130 Tubing
I was reading a racing magazine which had an article about MIG welding. I was surprised when I read that you shouldn't use MIG for welding 4130 tubing. Is that true? Would TIG be the only alternative? I would think that 4130 is pretty common in race car fab shops. Thanks for any info
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