With the state of the roads on the east coast, here at Precision Wheels we have been a huge influx of bent, buckled and crack rims
There is nothing worse than driving along and in a lapse on concentration for just a sec and bang you hit a pothole and hear that sickening thud. You get out to check the damage and sure enough, you’ve buckled to hell your pride and joy alloy rim, the tyre’s deflated and hanging off. It’s a sad sight. Don’t feel too badly though, it’s a common story of woe for those of us that live on the coast. The good news is that you can return that sorry-looking rim back to as good-as-new condition.
Precision Wheels the premier Alloy rim refurbishment factory located in West Gosford, Central Coast NSW can just about repair any alloy rim from minor scratches through to a full born re engineering of the rim
Inspect the Damage
The very first step in determining whether or not your rim can be repaired is to thoroughly inspect the damage. Rims that have been bent level to near the centre section are repairable, but beyond this it’s likely that the entire wheel has been buckled – which means you’ll have to replace it with a new one. In most cases, the lip that extends outward from the rim and forms its outer edge is the part that gets bent first.
For an alloy rim, damage on the back face (not the spoked face, front face) is generally repairable. The boys at Precision will inspect for any micro cracks and will advise on the suitable form of repair.
Repair Step 1
The first hands-on step in restoring a rim to its former glory is to spin the rim up and clearly indentify where the rim is out of round and by how much.
Alloy Rims require a gentle heat prior to pre-bending; our engineers know exactly how much heat to apply to ensure that the original metallurgical properties are maintained.
Too much heat and you will damage the structure of the alloy (evidence of this is paint that looks like it’s been BBQed) and to little heat with not be enough to allow the rim to bent back to shape without cracking.
Precision Wheels uses top of the range infrared remote heat guns to ensure that the heat level is right and is distributed evenly over the area to be re shaped
The pre-heating of an alloy wheel is achieved by applying a heating torch to the affected area and steadily warming it to around 120 degrees Celsius. It gets tricky here because different alloys require slightly different amounts of heat, and it’s important not to over-heat it. Another trap for the uninitiated is any alloy wheel that contains magnesium should not be heated at all. Those alloys that have been heat treated also become discoloured in the heated area, but this all gets shaved off later so it’s no problem at all.
Press Process
The rim is placed into the press jig and the larger (visible bends) are taken out. This step takes the rim visibly much closer to its original shape, it is then put onto the round up machine which is equipped with a dial gauge, the rim is examined for high and low spots marked and then re pressed
Prettying and rounding up
To ensure the rim is within tolerance for round and run out the rim goes for a ride on the spin up gear. This ensures that the rim is
- Fine tuned for round
- Ensure the tyre sits neat on the bead.
This part of the job should only be performed by precision wheel technicians and is quite time consuming. The profile should be reshaped to allow the tyre bead to sit neat on the rim as to avoid any leaking or potential tyre run off.
Final Step
The rim now is essentially as good as new. At this stage it is only the customer’s choice of cosmetic finish that remains on the job card. Precision Wheels can remove all of the cosmetic damage such as
- Scratches
- Curb rash
- Deep gouges
We can then refinish to the original finish whether that be Machine faced, silver or black Chrome or original painted finish.
The Final Product
We are proud to say that any repaired wheel out of the Precision Wheels factory is as good if not better than the original rim and all our work is unconditionally guaranteed.
What’s the dent? To Your Wallet that is…
Precision will generally repair a back-face buckle for around $195 additionally we can a refit and dynamic balance your tyre for $35 incl GST
So if you’re ever unlucky enough to bend a wheel, take it in for surgery and you’ll probably save yourself a heap of cash over replacing the rim with an original
For all your alloy wheel refurbishment needs contact Precision Wheels (02) 4323 7557