My LGT came with a bent alloy rim. I keep it on the back and it's not really a problem but I was thinking about taking a stab at beating it back into shape. I've got a nice sledge hammer and some disposable blocks of wood to protect the rim. Anyone else try this? I did this with some steelies I had once and it turned out fine. And yes, I know cast al is much more brittle than steel.

It's on the inside and probably a 1/4" out of round.

 

Don't even try. It will be out of balance and probably just make **** worse. I'd say take a look around and find a shop that can fix bent wheels.

 

This will not end well.

 

 

You can do a very half-assed job of it, but you may wind up making it worse, I'm with the others who say take it to a shop that does this stuff professionally.

 

Just get a hammer and use one of your non-bent rims as a guide so you know when the bent one is back round.

 

This is just terrible, terrible advice.

 

grap my tired... parnet... something?

 

If you have to try it on your own, use alot of heat, and I mean alot...burn the paint were the bend is and dont start to tap until you see some smoke come off of the wheel. Then clamp the wheel down to a table or bench. Like I said before, tap the wheel to see how the metal moves, and only use a raw-hide tipped 3lbs. hammer. If you want to repair the runout, you need some serious shop tools. Good luck, and if you crack it thats the way it goes sometimes....hope you can tig weld.

 

So the shops that bend rims heat them up?

 

it's cast, you try to beat it back it's just going to break or crack

 

Robosaurus fixed mine:

 

It doesn't work. I tried the hammer in the past and it will not work. It takes significantly more force. You cannot fix bent wheels at home.

 

This is an interesting video:

http://rimandwheelworks.com/

They don't even heat it up enough to scorch the paint/powder coat.

In this video they are doing it completely cold:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr0mLRP4UTM

I think if you heat it up you run the risk of ruining the heat treat of the wheel and making the wheel brittle.

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=151053

According to the above thread, cast aluminum wheels are heat treated at 325 F. The guy in this thread that seems to know the most about powder coating wheels thinks that 400 F wouldn't affect the heat treat, but at that low of a temperature I doubt you are softening up the aluminum much.

This guy must know what he is doing because he has a Subaru t-shirt on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr0mLRP4UTM

I like this technique since it's more controllable than the sledge hammer but the thing I can't figure out is how he is mounting the wheel in his vice. It must just be a scrap hub or something.

 

HAMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Head on!