sjmcarz Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 My son (floggingmike) recently picked up a set of Comets, a couple of them had some minor bends with one bend more significant so I decided to take on the task of fixing the one with the worse bend. I first had the wheel run on a balance machine to check lateral runout before I spent the time taking out the bend, it was ok. You can also do this by mounting on a rear(for fwd) hub and spinning it, as long as your vehicle is not awd. I've never done this on an aluminum wheel before so I searched the web for ideas. Some videos that I saw show the wheel being smacked with a hammer after heating, while I've done this before on a steel wheel, I didn't want to do this on the alum wheel. I decided to take more of a controlled repair by heating with a propane torch to appx 250-300 degrees and using a bottle jack to push out the bend as best as possible. I picked up an electronic infrared heat thermometer at Harbor Freight with a $27. coupon so that I would know what temp the wheel was at, although with the propane torch you really can't get to over 300 degrees. Forget a heat gun, it's not hot enough, I tried. I checked the severity of the bend by first picking up a length of 5/16th threaded rod, coupler, and nuts. I cut this a few inches short of the id of the back of the wheel, and cut a smaller piece so that once in the coupler I was able to adjust it to make a measuring rod out of it by checking id in several locations around the wheel away from the bend. This was my "control" measurement. I then checked it at the bend to determine how bad it was. This particular bend was in the ballpark of 3/32" I first heated the area, then immediately put the jack in( I used a piece of curved steel over the jack end to make the top smoother)and applied pressure to the bend, heated some more with the jack still applied and let cool first before releasing the jack. I needed to do this cycle a couple of times, checking with my measuring rod occasionally, as aluminum will tend to flex back to where it was. Make sure that you heat the whole area, inside and out and the bead/lip, not just in one spot as the photo shows. The whole wheel will probably flex oblong when you apply the jack pressure, but mine returned to normal after releasing the jack. Just remember, if you go too far taking out the bend, good luck trying to fix it. I didn't have that issue, as it took a lot of pressure to move the bend. Don't try the repair without properly heating it, you will bend out the other side of the wheel where the bottom of the jack sits. You may want to radius the bottom piece of wood as to not make a hard pressure point with the edges. I'd also like to mention that the inside diameter is not the machined side of the wheel, so you won't get perfect measurements but should get you in the ballpark to decrease the bend. If you try this, you do so at your own risk. Wheel bend before repair: Measuring Heating Jack Temp Measure Bend 80% better, not perfect but good enough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnout8488 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Wow, never thought I'd see this as a DIY. Nice job. Since there's no real way to get it absolutely perfect, I'd think a road force balance would be the best way to get these rolling as smoothly as possible, right? Any techs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjmcarz Posted March 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Wow, never thought I'd see this as a DIY. Nice job. Since there's no real way to get it absolutely perfect, I'd think a road force balance would be the best way to get these rolling as smoothly as possible, right? Any techs? Thanks! When I had it checked for lateral runout before the repair, the balance was only off by 7 grams(1/4 ounce). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piston Slapper Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Just out of curiosity, why heat from the inside then put the bottle jack in? Would it work to put the bottle jack in and heat from the outside? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjmcarz Posted March 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Just out of curiosity, why heat from the inside then put the bottle jack in? Would it work to put the bottle jack in and heat from the outside? I first heated the whole area inside and outside the rim and the bead/lip area, put the bottle jack in, applied pressure, reheated and let cool. I should have been more clear on this and edited my post to include this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow95 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Great writeup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DScottM Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Have worked in a tire shop for going on 3 years. We dont have a roadforce machine but I'd say it should balance out just fine. As long as the runout is straight minor inner lip bends have only moderate effects on the balance of a tire/wheel.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnout8488 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Gotcha. In my experience, bent wheels will balance out fine to where they don't vibrate at the usual harmonics. (25-30, 50mph) Whenever I take a perfectly balanced bent wheel up to 90+ though, it always seems to vibrate. But the OP's bend isn't as major as what I've had to deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DScottM Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 3 out of 4 of my lousy 17" pegs have minor non lip bends... The runout isnt perfectly square... On a good balance they have very little vibration at normal speed. 90+ they are quite noticable haha... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D s50r Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 actually there is a way to get them 99.9% straight, we have a wheel guy that comes around and fixes them but u need equipment.... this is a great way to do it tho! beats heating it and taking a rubber hammer to it haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjmcarz Posted March 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 I have another set of wheels, one with a worse bend, gonna try this out on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyb5 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Very nicely done! Awesome to finally see a DIY for this, but I hope I never have to put this into use for myself I'd consider making a jig to do this with the jack on a bench, as to avoid putting extra pressure on the other parts of the wheel. I'm like 99% sure I'm being paranoid about that, but I'd be worried about "egging" the wheel ever so slightly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D s50r Posted March 29, 2014 Report Share Posted March 29, 2014 thats the engineer in you over thinking everything haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mesoam Posted April 4, 2014 Report Share Posted April 4, 2014 nice job, in reality you could have hammered that out no heat, volvo wheels are about as soft as SSR's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt b Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 thats the engineer in you over thinking everything haha No, you're right in pointing out that heat weakens the aluminum and could cause it to bend or even crack easily in the future. OP: nice write-up but consider doing it without heat next time, it really does weaken the metal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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