Aluminum wheel repair

[MMW]

Going to try to straighten this. I've done one similar in the past. Heated it up and used a shaped wooden block with port a power. Then welded any cracks that may appear. No cracks currently. If this was for a front wheel I would not do it but it is a rear wheel on a dually. It may just turn into scrap but won't know until I try. Matching wheels are difficult to find says customer.

[Don52]

Wow, I am impressed. I have just repaired a few cracks in the rim, which caused an air leak, but never a dent.

-Don

[ryanjones2150]

That’s a doozy!!

[Sberry]

Hide a wheel mismatch on the inside.

[aametalmaster]

Yup fixed one like that off my daughters car

[MMW]

Session one heated to 200-250 and pushed a little at a time while keeping heat consistent to get close to shape. Session two I worked on the edge/lip. Session three fine tuned it. I'm at the point now where I will weld cracks and build up lip. Then I'll sand smooth and fine tune some more. Fourth pic shows close up where kink was.

[tarry99]

What grade aluminum is that? At 250 degrees would you not get some annealing effect ? Is normalizing and heat treating next?

[MMW]

Most (definitely not all) are alloy A356-T6. I am not an expert on this by far, just showing how I do things. I was told by a wheel shop in the past that those are the temps they use. For small bends and dents they and I straighten them cold. I try to stay in the 200* range with 250* being the max. I was taught years ago that as you work the aluminum it work hardens. I have found this to be true as when you screw up a bend in the brake and try to flatten it back it usually cracks. I will also be welding on this which will be at much higher temps.

[ryanjones2150]

I don’t think 250 degrees will anneal aluminum.

I just had a 2022 Subaru wheel land in my shop for repair. The guy tells me getting a new one is like finding a unicorn riding a pink dinosaur. It’s not nearly as bad as what you have there though. Thank goodness.

[Electric4Life]

Heat it like the wheel guys said in order to move the material but know that all those low spots will eventually need to be weld filled and that will bring areas well over that 200-250 range.
If you want soft aluminum (not related to this repair)
Set an Acetylene rich flame and soot the entire area of the area to be softened, adjust to a soft flame (for welding or brazing) and slowly bring the part up to temp until the soot burns off completely. Let stand for 5 minutes & quench in cold water.
I would use 5356 for any build up on the low spots and use clean wax on fresh abrasives (don't be worried about the wax prior to weld, whatever transfer will burn off and only use abrasives once the material is cool

[fabricator]

I would never take the liability for a couple hundred bucks. Sure the customer will say if something happened he wouldn't sue and if he did keep his word what of the victim whos family hires a lawyer and comes after you for when an accident investigation shows a defective wheel rim repair exploded causing vehicular homicide. Sure this is a worst case scenario but for me not worth the risk. Just because you can weld it don't mean you should. Been working in the commercial and industrial side for 15 years quit the residential side years ago, too much risk dealing the general public. I keep 3 million general liability and have not made needed to make a claim yet.

[MMW]

Almost done. Need to do a final clean up and check. I used 4043 as that is what is recommended for this repair. Not perfect, not polished but good enough to use again on a mason dump. I got the diameter within 3/32 at this point and the lip sits flat on my table within 1/16. I may try one more tweak.

[Sberry]

I would never take the liability for a couple hundred bucks. Sure the customer will say if something happened he wouldn't sue and if he did keep his word what of the victim whos family hires a lawyer and comes after you for when an accident investigation shows a defective wheel rim repair exploded causing vehicular homicide. Sure this is a worst case scenario but for me not worth the risk. Just because you can weld it don't mean you should. Been working in the commercial and industrial side for 15 years quit the residential side years ago, too much risk dealing the general public. I keep 3 million general liability and have not made needed to make a claim yet.

You know anyone has been sued over this?

[aametalmaster]

I have been fixing them for 40 years with no issues. I can’t find one lawsuit that was ever filed. I got lots of them in with JB Weld repair and that crap just makes welding harder

[Sberry]

Thats about what I thought.