The 15 year old (learners permit) dropped two wheels off the side of the road and hit a nasty pothole. Thankfully he did not overcorrect into the other lane. So now the Mazda 5 rides like the Flintstone mobile. There is a noticeable flat spot on at least one wheel. I am tempted to grab a large socket and BFH. Any experience in this?
Steel pound away, aluminum replace
Aluminum may be fixable, but I'd have a wheel repair shop do it and not try to DIY it. It's very easy to crack the wheel instead of bending it back.
I've beat aluminum wheels back into shape before. Let all the air out first. BFH will work, or the back side of my axe. I've also bent them back with a bottle jack and two pieces of hard wood, cut to the same radius as the inside of the rim. Just check for cracks before and after.
I've done a steel wheel with a BFH on the side of the road.
Aluminum is a lot trickier to fix yourself. Ultimately once it's been bent once and then bent back it is probably very weak in that area. Whether that bothers you is a personal thing.
Check the tire, may have broken belts that are causing the Flintstone mobile feel but the bend in the rim is getting the attention.
I have straightened aluminum and steel wheels. The BFH was used on both. I aired down the steel wheel, but only dropped the aluminum to about 10psi reasoning that the air pressure would help stabilize the aluminum and spread the force of the blow. The AL wheel was a $400 Mazda wheel on a $400 car, I had nothing to loose. It was still on the car when we sold it many years and miles later.
on aluminum wheels you can sometimes fix a bend by heating the bend with a torch.
I got a set with a huge bend in one, but i got the full set for cheap. I was gonna buy 1 new one, but then my dad swung by and told me he could fix the bent up one.
he just heated right around the bend on both the inside and outside of the rim. it just slowly worked it's way back to perfect round. I had to repaint it because he burnt the paint off but still.
I've seen aluminum wheels repaired by careful heating with a rosebud tip to evenly distribute the heat. I'd practice on a scrap wheel first to get the feel for it. As mentioned, check for cracks afterwords. It will certainly be weaker after the repair.
I've watched both aluminum and steel wheels be brought back to form. It was done on a metal machinist table with the wheel clamped and a selection of lead and copper hammers. The sage old guy doing it made it look easy, which pretty much ensures it isn't.
I'd be tempted to learn on a set of junkyard wheels before working on anything I care about.
I bent an enkei rim back with a dead blow hammer. Didn't even scuff the paint
Aluminum wheels are usually heat-treated. If you can't get it back in shape with a radiused wood block and an eight-pound hammer, scrap it.
Rims are almost certainly A356 aluminum unless they're 3-piece with rolled rims and those will likely be 6061. Heating either one will soften them initially but they'll air harden over time. Stay under 500f and don't try heating aluminum until it glows (it doesn't!). I've straightened a couple with 2x4's and a bottle jack but they just had flat spots, not a big inverted dent. Just go easy and don't try to do it in one shot. It will have some spring-back so work up to it carefully. Look at the surface carefully and if it has signs of distress (stretch marks or cracking) discard it.
To anneal the aluminum, take a black Sharpie and scribble over the area, then heat with a torch until the Sharpie mark lightens up in color. Let cool and it will be soft. Learned that from watching the bike builder TV shows. Note you have to stop when the line changes color, or fades out a little. Let it go much further and you will wind up with a puddle of aluminum.
Don't mess around! With aluminum and magnesium wheels I always use an expert wheel repair service. If you do it wrong you can end up with micro-cracks and have the wheel collapse at a future date! What is your life worth to you?
A person in the Business has a lot of practice on other Peoples wheels.
Wheel shops aren't ad expensive as they used to be. I got all 4 (18x8 f, 18x9.5 r) of my breytons completely trued and re finished for under $500. IMO not worth the risk if you have nice wheels.
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