Can You Repair Aluminum Rims

In this part of the country (Mid-Atlantic), cars and wheels especially take a chirapsia during the wintertime. Slippery roads, corrosive salt on the roads, and potholes that could consume a small child wreak havoc on your auto. The price to replace a damaged aluminum or alloy bicycle on a new car can be VERY plush. With classic and specialty cars your wheels could also be obsolete and impossible to replace if you have a damaged wheel. I decided to show the procedure of repairing a badly damaged aluminum aftermarket wheel I have had stashed away for years.

The story of this bike starts with a dishonest seller that told me that the set of wheels I was buying had one with light bends and a small-scale, barely noticeable crack. What I received was a wheel that more than resembled a stop sign than a mag wheel for a car AND it had a TEAR in the rim! The "pocket-sized cleft" was really a large scissure with the the surface existence higher on one side and causing the lip of the wheel to have a high spot where it ripped and aptitude. This was probably close to ten years ago before I could repair it myself, so I sourced another single bicycle (paid out the olfactory organ for one wheel!) and squirreled this one away. Fast forrard and now I'm prepare to repair this wheel and share the basic process with y'all.

I started by sanding the entire piece of work area on the lip downwardly to bare, clean aluminum with 36 grit on the 1/4″ angle grinder. I then lit the Oxy-Acetylene torch upward and began heating the entire surface area that was damaged. The starting time reason for doing this was to attempt and "burn out" any of the dirt, grease, or other impurities that would be on the surface or in the recessed areas that a grinder couldn't easily reach. The 2d reason was that I wanted to "soften" that part of the bike up a piffling and so I could hammer on the cycle to flatten out the high part of the bicycle where it was croaky. By heating the metal it will tend to bend back into shape and not tear further.

Once the damaged area was dainty and hot I used a combination of a brass and a plastic dead accident hammer to level the areas out. This is a bit scary at starting time, wailing on your cycle with a hammer, just it's necessary. Depending on how all-encompassing your damage is and how long y'all're hammering, you lot may need to reheat the expanse periodically. Luckily the harm on my cycle only took a few whacks to get it back into shape effectually the crack.

Next I needed to gouge out the crack on both sides so I could fill the crack and non just lay weld on top. This too lets us grind downwards into fresh aluminum that isn't corroded. I used the angle grinder with a grinding rock and put a groove in the scissure on either side that was about the depth of a 3/xvi″ filler rod. I then drilled 1/8″ holes in the ends of each cleft to keep the crack from continuing later in life. Lastly I cleaned the entire piece of work area with Acetone and allow information technology wink off before welding.

I started by installing a gas lens kit on the TIG 200 torch and turning the gas flow upwards a bit then I could get the best possible gas coverage over the weld puddle. I started on the backside of the wheel next to where I'd be welding and dialed the clearance event in. Every wheel and harm situation is going to be dissimilar and may require you lot to arrange the clearance consequence. The idea is to get the as small and controllable of a weld puddle as possible with the pool staying clean. If you lot see clay floating in the pool or a dark dark-brown or black halo around the weld pool you may be able to bump the clearance issue a little more positive. I found the magic setting on this job was right effectually -3 for clearance result, pedal set to 160 amps max, a 3/32″ imperial E3 electrode, #8 Gas lens cup, and effectually 20 CFH for gas flow.

I chose to weld the backside first as that area is subconscious when done and I knew that if I had any contaminants pop out of the weld seam or settings I needed to dial in, I could get away with a little "uglier" of a weld (that doesn't hateful large booger welds are acceptable!). I did have some contaminates popping out as I began welding, only nothing too major on the backside. I immediately flipped the bicycle over and began welding the front side while I still had some heat in the wheel to assist the pool flow a footling easier. I did notice that I had a very faint brown halo around the puddle on the front side, it could accept been from contaminants that pushed through the seam from welding the other side, or maybe residue from the rag I used to clean the weld seam, but the puddle didn't take any pits or dirt floating in it most chiefly. A porous weld is BAD and Volition fail on a repair like this!

I started leveling the welds out with a flap disc on the angle grinder but to knock down whatever highs and do some crude shaping in the corners of the lip. I then came back with a 36 grit disc on the ane/four″ angle grinder and finessed and blended the weld seams into the bike. This got the major damaged area filled and blended to the point in which you couldn't even tell information technology was cracked before!

The adjacent step is going to vary on how picky you are about the wheel you're repairing. This involves leveling out the surface of the bicycle and repairing any low spots from grinding, adjourn rash, or etc. On this particular repair next to the repair area and i the border of the lip had been deformed when it cracked and after repairing the cleft and blending the seam those areas were a flake low. The edge of the lip wasn't as "crisp" as the rest of the bicycle. This meant I had to add some weld equally to those low spots. I similar to grind the area out a footling bit and push button larger than needed dips of filler rod into that expanse. The idea is to "overfill" the low spots so you have plenty of material to sand back and level out. These item low spots only took one laissez passer of filling and sanding, but yours may take more. It really doesn't matter how many it takes as long as the area is filled and blended in the terminate. I've seen high-end bike repair shops that have congenital up an entire missing portion of a bike lip with filler welds alone!

For this exercise this damaged area is repaired to the point of sanding and polishing or paint/pulverisation. If you have the tools, time, and patience you can take this repair to the next step and put the wheel on a lathe and machine any minor loftier spots down or identify whatsoever low spots that need more than filling. If you take your time with a straight edge, a couple sanders, and a cake with sandpaper, y'all can get the repairs REALLY close without needing a lathe, merely information technology doesn't hurt if you lot have access!

This procedure is the same to repair curb rash, dings, or other impairment to a bike and tin can fifty-fifty be used on a steel wheel you want to save. I take saved a few wheels this way over the years and I've repaired countless curb rash damage before mirror polishing the lips of a wheel and it actually makes the departure, because wheels tin can make or break a ride!

-Matt/EW

****Warning: Practice not endeavor this if you aren't comfortable with your welding abilities. Information technology's always a adept idea to take the repaired wheel inspected and residue checked by a professional before installing on a automobile.******

Can You Repair Aluminum Rims,

Source: https://garage.eastwood.com/tech-articles/how-to-repair-a-damaged-aluminum-alloy-wheel/

Posted by: curtisoblen1994.blogspot.com

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