Andrew Jonell wrote:
So I lucked out and found the wheels that I wanted to use for autocross this season fairly early, bad news is that they have some curb damage and one of them has a slightly bent rim. I know that the Wheel Repair Day has been stickied in The Lounge for over a year now, but they are south of Charlotte and I was hoping to find somebody more local. I'm just looking for some minor repair and a wheel repaint.
Has anybody had a good experience within RTP (or reasonably close to RTP)?
Getting wheels refurbed gets expensive quick. If you can't live w/ the curb rash, you can always add some JB weld and shape them back up w/ a file. I've done that in the past and it's turned out decent. You'll have to repaint. In regard to the bend, you can try it yourself. This is something I've also done in the past, but I'm sure I'll have some folks on here tell me I shouldn't have done this. Proceed at your own risk.
Before you start, place the wheel on the car and spin it. You want to watch for the points that are bent and mark the wheel. You'll need a large 2lb hammer and a block of wood you can beat on. Use oak if you can, pine won't last the beatings. The wheel needs to be secured to the point where you can hammer on it. With a propane torch, start heating up the bent section of the wheel. If you have some map gas, this part should go faster. It's going to take some time to get bent section hot enough to start to bend, that wheel acts like a heat sink. Once you get it hot enough, place the wood on the wheel and hit a few times w/ the hammer. From here reheat the wheel and then hit again. This needs to be a slow process. Once you have the wheel straight enough to do the job, hit w/ water to cool it.
I've done this a few times in the past on bad wheels I've bought. Never had in issue autoxing or on HPDE's.
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