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Taking a dent out alloy wheels
Mr Whippy - 7/5/18 at 08:06 AM

A nasty pot hole has put a very localised dent into the rim of my volvo wheel and cut the sidewall of the tyre which will be scrapped.

Cleaning the wheel there doesn’t appear to be any cracks in the metal or overall distortion of the rim as when spun the rest of the rim runs perfectly true. The wheel is an OEM item and not some cheap Chinese thing of questionable metal made from kittens and spoons etc and also seems quite ductile.

If I took the tyre off and just gently hammered the dent back out? (wooden block against another piece of timber) The dent is about 3 inches long and about 5mm max at it's deepest. If it was a steel wheel I’d just beat it straight again…

What do you think? I know there are companies who offer repair services but this looks easy enough for me to sort. The wheel type is quite rare now and not readily available.




[Edited on 7/5/18 by Mr Whippy]

Mr Whippy - 7/5/18 at 12:13 PM

blimey 5 hours and not even your a nob! echo!

CosKev3 - 7/5/18 at 12:25 PM

Pretty sure you will need to heat it up quite a lot, so if it's the outer rim you will probably damage the paint/finish.
Can't see it moving back out cold,it will crack

Mr Whippy - 7/5/18 at 01:02 PM

I was going to heat it up with a large blow torch (obviously trying not to melt it!), their painted black with a can so not fussed about the finish, it's easy to repair that. I'd assumed they'd probably crack too but looking on the web seems to indicate otherwise and repairs so long as they are crack free are straight forward.

CosKev3 - 7/5/18 at 01:13 PM

I had a large flat spot on one of my Golf alloys,used a trolley jack and a piece of wood with the alloy heated up and it made it much better
Pretty sure I saw on YouTube the optimum temp you require.

Mr Whippy - 7/5/18 at 01:58 PM

cool, I'm going to get the tyre removed and give it a go...

MikeR - 7/5/18 at 06:31 PM

Am I to late to post the "you're a noob" post

Personally, id take it to someone. If it fails you're in the poo. Is it worth the risk for a few quid?

(NB I'm assuming it's a few quid, never had to pay someone to do this)

craig1410 - 7/5/18 at 10:28 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
Am I to late to post the "you're a noob" post

Personally, id take it to someone. If it fails you're in the poo. Is it worth the risk for a few quid?

(NB I'm assuming it's a few quid, never had to pay someone to do this)


Totally agree with Mike, you should be able to get it professionally trued up for £30-40 including the tyre removal/replacement. I've had this done a few times now and it's worth every penny in my opinion.

Mr Whippy - 8/5/18 at 06:46 AM

quote:
Originally posted by craig1410
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
Am I to late to post the "you're a noob" post

Personally, id take it to someone. If it fails you're in the poo. Is it worth the risk for a few quid?

(NB I'm assuming it's a few quid, never had to pay someone to do this)


Totally agree with Mike, you should be able to get it professionally trued up for £30-40 including the tyre removal/replacement. I've had this done a few times now and it's worth every penny in my opinion.


Well I would, if it wasn't the fact that I'm up in Aberdeen and there's sod all of that kind of thing around here. If the whole wheel was buckled and not running true I'd not touch it. Cleaning it down last night the damage seems very minor and very local, getting the tyre removed today and will sort it this evening. Going to heat it up with the big blow torch first, got some temp wax sticks from the workshop so as not to overheat it.

nick205 - 8/5/18 at 09:08 AM

That's a bugger!

I've had a tyre damaged beyond repair from pot hole before. Fortunately the alloy wheel itself wasn't damaged so a new tyre sufficed.

Echoing the comments above I'd find a specialist who can properly check and true the wheel. Worth the money as a damaged wheel wrecking another tyre (or worse) just isn't worth the risk.

Alternatively how much is a 2nd hand wheel? Could be a cost effective option.

nick205 - 8/5/18 at 09:09 AM

Final thought - use this service to report the pothole.

https://www.fillthathole.org.uk/hazards/report

I've used it several times to report local pot holes and they seem to get repaired withing 2-3 weeks of reporting.

907 - 8/5/18 at 01:12 PM

quote:
Originally posted by nick205
That's a bugger!

I've had a tyre damaged beyond repair from pot hole before. Fortunately the alloy wheel itself wasn't damaged so a new tyre sufficed.

Echoing the comments above I'd find a specialist who can properly check and true the wheel. Worth the money as a damaged wheel wrecking another tyre (or worse) just isn't worth the risk.

Alternatively how much is a 2nd hand wheel? Could be a cost effective option.






I payed £35 for a matching alloy for my '53 plate E class Merc as it came with a skinny spare.


Thats got to be better than heating and bashing something safety critical.
If you have no regard for yourself then at least think of others.


Paul G

mcerd1 - 9/5/18 at 06:04 AM

I've had an OE alloy sorted by the pro's after a similar incident for around £35

It was done cold with a special hydraulic machine, it looked good afterwards but it took about 7 weights to balance afterwards so it was demoted to a winter wheel / spare ( it had a huge flat spot on the rim though)

If you can find a good s/h replacement its probably a better option in the long run...

Mr Whippy - 9/5/18 at 06:09 AM

oh well that turned out to be very easy after all, took about 30 mins of careful hammering... not much harder tbh than sorting a dent in a steel wheel

Took quite a bit of heat as the wheel is like a heat sink and by the time I'd finished the wheel was just getting to the point it was too hot to hold. Only the outer rim had been bent so wasn't straightening the spokes etc which I think would have required a hydraulic tool. I managed with just a large hammer and a block of wood. Paint needs sorting so will use a flapper wheel tonight and repaint it with a can

Good result well chuffed