I know that there are no guarantees and that you, without seeing the wheel can not know, but what has been your experience with having cracks welded in aluminum wheels.I'm asking because my front wheel was split (hit a paving stone) and now, while awaiting the new front, my rear (on the same side has gone flat).I can't remove it to look now, I'm HOPING since it has taken over a week to lose air, it's just the tire. SO, if any of you have experience along these lines, let me know! NO I CAN'T JUST BUY A NEW WHEEL! IF I could, I would not be asking! THANKS ALL!
It can be done, but it takes a really good welder to do. I got lucky and have a friend that has done it for me. I wouldn't be surprised that he could weld jello if he wanted to.
I had an OT wheel repaired by these guys, I know they’re too far away to help you. But if Renton has one around there’s got to be one close to you. I know the bulk of his business was repair for the dealerships and used car guys (his shop is surrounded by them), so maybe you’ll find a search of your area helps. Didn’t cost much either, for an out of production wheel, I would’ve been looking at 4. https://www.dependablewheelrepair.com/
I managed to damage a knock off wheel on my 64 Vette when I hit some black ice and ended up in the ditch. I took the wheel to a local shop where they built aluminium boats and had them weld it. The weld encompassed a 4 inch piece of the bead area, and was about 1 inch wide. They did such a beautiful job, that it was virtually impossible to see where it had been welded. Bob
x2 on Eric Vaughn. He does awesome work, however, his website says he's not taking in any new work until Dec. 1. http://www.ericvaughnmachine.com/Home_Page.html
Only experience I have is with Semi truck Al wheels that show a crack, NO ONE will repair them or even try, due to maybe DOT reg's? To counter that, I've have steel wheels that I've welded up the cracks out from the lug holes, but never considered using them in a vehicle, just trailers only, and never had a problem.
Welding wheels back together was my job for about a year. It was amazing to me what could be repaired when I first got into it. It's usually a backside crack. Sometimes a dent and a crack. We would push them back to as close to round as we could, then weld the cracks. Then turn on the lathe. When heating to bend a neat trick was to put carbon on the aluminum with just the acetylene, then with a neutral flame heat until the carbon burnt off. That's just the right temp to push it back to shape. Now welding the crack. Find the end of the crack... It important it's the end. And drill about a 1/4 inch hole in it. That's the nice round area your going to weld to to spread out any stresses. Gouge out a lot of the crack...I liked to cut right through. Then clean clean clean. Adjust Tig for lots of cleaning, you should see frost. The castings have a lot of junk in them. Allow lots of time for stuff to float away. When welding watch for cracks that you missed, they pop up when it's really hot and are easy to see. If you see one stop and grind it out. If the rims not bent you can even get away without the lathe. Nic Sent from my Nexus 6P using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I had a cool aluminum wheel on my OT car that cracked and bent the lip when I hit a giant pothole. they were old and I could not get another, I had it fixed at ET Wheel ?? in San Leandro Ca. they welded it up and bent it back in shape
The Jalopy Journal
