hi guys
just a quick question,has anyone ever had their alloys welded due to cracks in the alloy,if so did the weld hold or was it a waste of time,....seeing more and more welded tiger (a.k.a overfinch ) alloys on fleabay and as im after a decent set i thought id ask you lovely people first,rather safe than sorry..seeing the ff weigh nearly 3 tonne and so many pot holes popping up everywhere due to non draining surface rain water im sure that contributes to the alloys cracking or does it..???
thank you all
regards steve

If they crack once, they are going to do it again.

The only time it might be worthwhile is if you were going to use them on a lighter car.

Welding a cracked alloy?

Not a chance would I... it would be going in the bin and I'd be buying a new and/ or as it left the factory one.

Take this in the well intentioned manner it's posted but such a repair must surely be akin to driving a cut and shut car and must surely also represent a significant safety risk to you and other road users?



Last edited by pld118 on 9th Feb 2014 10:10pm. Edited 1 time in total

dont do it Steve its not worth the risk..

Ok, there is welding and there is welding......... We use "pristine wheels" to (processionally) referb wheels. They offer structural welding and X-ray as a repair service, i would use one of their repaired wheels, but would certainly not use 3/4 of the crap i see repaired on eBay!!!

Hope that helps

To be honest I don't think a reputable wheel repairer would touch one with a crack. I have had a couple of motorcycle wheels repaired (this is a long time ago), but they weren't welded, and the repairer said he could only fix very light damage - otherwise they're scrap. Fortunately mine had very light damage.

When you weld aluminium you weaken it. Unlike steel the weld is always weaker than the parent metal.

Repaired alloy wheel = overpriced scrap metal

 Where do you go after one of these . . . ?

cheers guys... i shall avoid them like the plague...

Had a 19" wheel welded up on a vxr Astra, the weld leaked air

The only successful weld is as Craig said if the weld is ultra sounded afterwards to ensure there r no voids in the weld

I have had alloys repaired before, admittedly they were for a BMW.. It was a waste of time, ultimately the crack will return and potentially damage the tyre.. Meaning you get hit been more (cost of repair,cost of new tyre, and inevitably the cost of new alloy).. I spoke with a chap at local tyre dealership and he confined repairing alloys is only a matter of time before it fails again... I should add that this is in pothole capital of the world (Edinburgh) so the alloys tend to take a hammering

Not read the above, but there is absolutely no way I would put welded alloys on any of my vehicles - never. They spin at several thousand rpm and disintegration at 80/90/100 on the motorway just does not bare thinking about.

Repaired alloys are expensive scrap - somebody is selling them for a reason - they don't want to risk it themselves !

Craig's on the money as usual. IF you can find someone who will do the job professionally, including X-Raying the weld to ensure it's sound then happy days, but that normally costs more than replacing the alloy with a good S/H unit.

I have had a wheel repaired in the past but only because it was extremely rare and I couldn't find an undamaged one anywhere, not even new (my old Delta Integrale) so I really had no choice. That repair cost me over 300 quid and that was back in the 90's.

If I could though I'd always avoid repairing at that level because it is structural and can't be done properly for 50 quid a wheel.

You also need to factor in the reason it cracked in the first place, i.e. was it just nasty low grade metal which is only going to crack all around a decent repair? My 'Grale wheel was my own stupid fault in a minor kerb bump but the base metal was high grade whereas plenty of these Chinese copy wheels are made of junk metal in the 1st place.

I would strongly advise against this, I spent a considerable part of my career doing failure investigations and inspections of alloy aircraft wheels. If you weld a forged alloy wheel you can make it so that it will be solid and not leak, there are many skilled welders out there but you will not have the original grain flow and structure and the wheel will retain a weakness in the same spot (likely the most highly stressed area) that it cracked the first time. X-Ray and ultrasound will confirm that the wheel has no cracks or porosity only.