I have this wheel that needs to be fixed. It was bent pretty bad and i bent it back with a rubber mallet. It looks straight enough but was thinking it could either be JB welded closed or if i found anyone with a welder, it would be fixed for good.



I'm painting the wheels if i dont sell them anyways..

Any help will be appreciated.

 

JB Weld will not hold air pressure. You may be able to get the lip welded on both sides of the crack, but the material strength has been compromised slightly already.

 

I would buy a new wheel,it's a safety issue.

 

I brought it to a machine shop and they said they would be able to fix it.

but it wont be done for a few days.

 

The ONLY place I would take a wheel like that to be repaired is a shop that specializes in fixing wheels and has the experience with proper repair techniques. NOT a machine shop.

 

+1. Don't forget to tell them you tried fixing it with a mallet first.

 

well the machine shop is 30, wheel "specialist" is 115-150 for a 100 dollar wheel.

if it messes up, i'll buy another one. but until i have a wheel that costs more than it costs to fix it, i'll be going to this machine shop for welding.

 

So you have a choice between (a) wasting $30 on a wheel that probably won't be fixed properly and could be a safety hazard, (b) spending $115-150 to get it fixed right, or (c) spending $100 on a new wheel. Sounds to me like you're making the wrong choice. But hey - Charles Darwin would approve! Maybe you'll win one of those nifty Darwin Awards!

 

yeah because wheel specialists will do so many different things to the wheel... like weld it.

 

Actually, they have experience in repairing wheels, so they use a lot of techniques - including welding, gentle heating, etc. They also have special machines which can gradually bend the metal back into shape. And they have a lot of experience from repairing thousands of wheels, so they know what kinds of conditions can and can't be fixed - everything from bends and cracks caused by potholes, to further damage caused by owners who think (often erroneously) that using a mallet on the wheel will help, rather than hurt, its ability to be repaired safely.