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Ahhh...I love a bit of nostalgia, the forum time machine has just transported me back 4 years.
- Thread starter Gizmo.Y
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BrokenBiker
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it always boils down to an arguement...so i may as well throw my 2p in as well...when i was an apprentice doing my basic MMA course the guys doing the course had a little sideline doing wheel repairs and they had god knows how may tubes of 4043 on the go.
we were also regularly sent out to them to buy some rods cheap if our welders forgot to order some in or couldnt count properly and they would always give us a generous handful of rids from the same tube they were using on the current wheel repair and they always had 4043 stamped onto them...
ive had 6 wheels repaired by them now and have recomended god knows how many people to them with no complaints so they must be doing something right
we were also regularly sent out to them to buy some rods cheap if our welders forgot to order some in or couldnt count properly and they would always give us a generous handful of rids from the same tube they were using on the current wheel repair and they always had 4043 stamped onto them...
ive had 6 wheels repaired by them now and have recomended god knows how many people to them with no complaints so they must be doing something right
Richard.
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I want one of those time machines waz to take me back only a few days to the last lotto results.Ahhh...I love a bit of nostalgia, the forum time machine has just transported me back 4 years.
Crater Creator
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^^^^ this ^^^^
Absolutely! Modern low profile tyres are the main cause of cracked alloys. And there is no benefit to having low profile other than looks! Have you noticed any racing cars running rubber-band type tyres?
Two of my last cars's alloys cracked (Mercedes E class), and on my current car I have changed the wheels to the highest available profile (still only 40 profile 18 inch), and I am just waiting for the day when a wheel cracks.
I actually had a slow puncture the other day and got a couple of tyres changed, I was actually very surprised to find it was the tyre and not the wheel.
Richard.
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3 choices.Ive used 4043so then.... what does one use with unknown wheels?
1) repair with the consumables you feel fit and roll the dice
2) scrap it and buy another
3) give it to a wheel repairer (painter as hotrodder calls them) and again roll the dice.
C
Chris Stevens
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I would agree 100% that repairs are most certainly a case of rolling the dice in many cases, especially so regarding cheap aftermarket wheels which are made using melted down coke cans etc (these in my view are not repairable, and should be scrapped).
But chances of a lasting job can be increased substantially using the most appropriate filler materials and preparation methods.
I guess though the majority of those doing repair work arent interested in doing the best possible job, as if a wheel fails say a month or so down the line, they may well be able to charge for a second repair job?
But chances of a lasting job can be increased substantially using the most appropriate filler materials and preparation methods.
I guess though the majority of those doing repair work arent interested in doing the best possible job, as if a wheel fails say a month or so down the line, they may well be able to charge for a second repair job?
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Richard.
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It's a good point and a big part of the reason I won't as a general rule do them myself . People want a cheap fix. They don't realise that a crack test before and after takes time and cost. Research on the material type and correct filler again a cost and time involved along with actual welding, finishing and getting it balanced and after all that the truth that it can still fail again and won't be as good as new, Id simply price myself out of the work because I wouldn't cut any of those stages out.
Also I'm quite proud of my track record of zero returns dispite the number of repair jobs ive carried out on various difficult to weld items. I don't know enough about wheels to want to compromise that. I did a cast aluminium brake drum off a classic race car a good few weeks ago that had a huge crack right through it.
1st thoughts were "you couldn't pay me enough to this properly" I was wrong.
Took me a day with a battery drill and a file to tram track it wide open both sides and crack test the rest of it.
Second day to heat it right through to 100c and weld it from both sides with Si12. (4047)
Slow cool and retest.
So far it's been good but I don't weld for £50 and that's what people want. This was an exception due to the owner understanding the fact it's not a certainty and happy to pay for it.
C
Chris Stevens
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When I started doing wheel repairs 15 years ago, I had a very badly damaged and repaired wheel NDT tested, but worked out very quickly that no one would be prepared to pay for proper testing, and have found over the years its not needed anyway, unless the person doing the welding is not a lot of good, and likely to have defects in their welds.
WorkshopChris
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Some of the outfits repairing wheels i have seen wouldn't know what was needed to crack test, even if they tripped up the cans on the way into the workshop.
Richard.
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Do you know the reason why ndt testing is done?
Are you saying if the customer gives you a kerbed wheel regardless of whether it's been repaired before you wouldn't crack test it before repair?
C
Chris Stevens
Guest
Quite so.............I have seen repairs carried out by welding either side of crack, and simply linishing down where tyre bead goes!
C
Chris Stevens
Guest
NDT testing all damaged wheels before any repair work carried out means the repair in many cases would cost more than a new wheel, and take several days. In the 15 years I have been repairing wheels never in all honesty come across a situation where I would have said NDT testing was apppropriate or needed.
Some customers want while you wait repair carried out, and while its not something I do a lot, its impossible if I needed to have NDT testing carried out.
WorkshopChris
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Without getting to far off topic shouldn't crack testing be the 1st stage before prep in lots of repairs,
As already said:-
If you just weld up whats visible your repair could be sitting right next to the next part give up.
As already said:-
If you just weld up whats visible your repair could be sitting right next to the next part give up.
Richard.
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So how would you determine that kerb damage has not propagated into a hairline crack? How would you determine you haven't made that crack longer by putting heat into the repair of you don't crack test after.
They don't always jump out at you.
They can not always be seen.
C
Chris Stevens
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Wheels crack in one of 3 ways, either a straight single crack running from outside of rim toward the centre, or single crack with 2 or more other cracks branching off from the main one. Main cracks are always easy to spot visually, and smaller cracks are easily seen when welding commences, if they cannot be seen visually. The only other sort of cracks are radial, which generally invlove a crack round the corner of the bead seat................
The more damage they cause and the more risk they run the happier they are..haha
C
Chris Stevens
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Been doing them for 15 years now, and up to now not come across anything that isnt visible when welding is being carried out.
BrokenBiker
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Really? 15 years and not a single no visible deformity? I'm buying my next set of wheels off you then if you can determine quality with the naked eye...
Question I have to ask though is if you haven't had them crack tested, how do you know there isnt anything there that is too small to see normally?
