Alloy wheel repair

[Robbie693]

Hi all,

After a second bought of wheel balancing I've been told that two of my alloys are buckled slightly (the rim wobbles slightly when spun on the balance machine).

I was wondering if anyone had any experience of the various companies that do repairs and if it is cost effective, bearing in mind they are available new from Paul Matty for ?94.00 + VAT?

[Jason1]

Mmmm

I would take it to someone else before you disguard the wheel. If you do not get the wheel on the machine dead straight it can look like a wobble.

It could be that he is just works for that company that "you can't get better"? Everytime I go in there for a tyre on the ford they say I need new brakes and shocks. The wife's mini needs 4 new alloys apparently as they could not get them to seal. I wipped the tyre off cleaned the bead with the drill attachment and they seal perfectly.


Jason

[Robbie693]

I know what you mean, I'm pretty sceptical myself when it come to tyre fitters.

The place I had fit the tyres was a chain and they had a few problems getting the balance right. Previously (before I bought new tyres) I got an independant place try and they were getting different readings on different machines and with different fitters!

This time I took it to BMTR who are a independant specialising in racing tyres. They seem to know what they were doing, apart from the usual where do I jack it and stuff, and they commented that whoever had done the balancing prevously hadn't done it very well.

The machine was calling for around 155g to balance it up - way too much, and they asked if I really wanted to bother - I saw them doing it and he showed me the movement at the rim.

I got it done anyway and it is better but still some vibration. Hence the decision to investigate the wheels

[gwnorth68]

I drove my car for a while (an S3 real Elan) with two quite badly bent steel bolt on wheels (since replaced by real magnesium Minilites). I put the two bent ones on the back and the two good ones on the front and really couldn't detect any serious vibration. I'd suggest trying your rims on the car after balancing before doing anything more. (The original steel wheels were painfully easy to bend.)

[1964 S1]

I agree, put them on the rear and feel what happens. I'd try slightly soft tire pressures also.
If it feels ok, then, I'd decide on whether or not to buy two new wheels. (which I'd put on the front)

[Robbie693]

Thanks guys.

I'm going to try them on the rear as suggested - it may work as the balancing is definitely better this time.

However, the reason I had new tyres fitted was because of a vibration from the rear which the car has had since I bought it. It didn't get really severe until I got to about 90mph and I thought it may be a distortion in the tyre as the car had had little use for a number of years prior to me buying it.

Somewhere in the fitting process I lost track of which wheel went where and I must have put them back on in different positions - the vibration came from both ends and started around 50mph, tailing off around 75.

Interestingly, I found a place in Melton Mowbray that do wheel repairs, even repairing rims with chunks out of them. They haven't got back to me with an estimate yet but as I have 5 spare wheels, 4 with damaged rims it may be worth a go

[bcmc33]

Enter "Wheel Repair" into Google - you will find plenty of companies doing such work. There is a good one in Birminghan near to where I live, I'm sure you can find one local to where you are.


Brian Clarke
(1972 Sprint)