RE: Bent Wheel Repair

[raf40@oes.amdahl.com (Richard Funnell)]

It would be interesting to know how badly their wheel was bent.  If the
wheel has undergone work hardening, annealing could fix it.  If's its gone
beyond that you're in big trouble.  Personnally, I'd rather have a
specialist shop work on it.

The shop I used for repainting my wheels, and a very minor straightening on
one, has pictures of one wheel they had fixed that looked incredible.  I'd
have sworn it was way beyond repair, but they claim no problem with the
finished product.  The insurance adjuster I worked through had a very high
respect for this shop's knowledge as well.  If anyone cares about the name,
I could dig it up.  The shop is in Campbell, CA.

>Not sure if that's correct. Crap & Drivel (tm) did a long term test of
>the new WMB M3, and bent something like 5 (!!!! hear that, Mike?)
>wheels. They sent one off to a wheel straightening shop, got it fixed,
>then had some metalurgy Einstein have at it. Seems the metal was good,
>not work hardened, not weakened.
>
>Ian Duff, New Bedford, MA, USA
>1990 Coupe Quattro 20v
>
>>----------
>>From:
>>       treilley_at_BANKMARK@conseco.com[SMTP:treilley_at_BANKMARK@conseco.com]
>>
>>Sent:  Friday, June 21, 1996 3:02 PM
>>To:    quattro@coimbra.ans.net; esw5@cornell.edu
>>Subject:       Re: Bent  Wheel Repair
>>
>>     Personally, I don't trust any type of alloy wheel repair.  Most
>>alloys
>>     are nonresilient.  This means that when they bend, they are
>>damaged
>>     and bending them back only damages and weakens the wheel more.
>>This
>>     could be your life if it fails.  Buy a new wheel.
>>
>>     Tim NJ 90CQ, 77Spitfire
>>
>>
>>______________________________ Reply Separator
>>_________________________________
>>Subject: Bent  Wheel Repair
>>Author:  esw5@cornell.edu (Ernest Wong) at Internet
>>Date:    6/21/96 12:49 PM
>>
>>
>>Called Wheel Collision Repair Center in Pa. (they advertise in the back
>>of
>>EC mag). Rough quote was from $75-$110 for a straightening (Curvening
>>since
>>road already straightened the rim) job. Plus tire needs to be
>>dismounted
>>before shipping.
>>
>>That's more than the price of a decent 15" alloy.
>>
>>This has me thinking that maybe I should venture into how well a
>>hydraulic
>>press will be able to push the rim lip back to the plane of the wheel
>>rim
>>since the repair person didn't mention any heat-treating to retemper
>>the
>>aluminum alloy.
>>
>>Any thoughts on self repair? Rim lip is pushed out. Wheel doesn't seem
>>to
>>be obviously out of round.
>>
>>The joys of riding on winter all season tires in the heat of summer.
>>
>>
>>When's the first AA meeting?
>>
>>
>>

Richard Funnell,
Strategic OEM Programs
Amdahl Corporation, OES                 Tel:    (408) 992-2265
1250 East Arques Avenue, (M/S 316)      Fax:    (408) 746-7633
Sunnyvale, CA 94088-3470, USA           Email:  raf40@oes.amdahl.com