Mig welding on steel wheels

I have a set of 16"x4 steel wheels that have some heavy pitting on the inside. Would it be safe to use a mig for the repairs after bead blasting? I am decent at welding and have a 185 amp welder. Thanks

 

well if it is pitted the metal will be thin so be careful not to burn through. Make sure you get a good weld and you should be ok with welding it. I have welded on a few rims over the years

 

You're an old school outlaw. You can do anything you damn well want.
But start with posting a picture of what you are talking about. Heavily pitted rims that were repaired by someone "decent at welding" sounds like the final words in an accident report.

 

why not find some 16x4 "hoops and transfer the centers to them?

 

I've done it without issues, if they're blasted extra clean I don't know why not. If the whole bead had a bad pit "ring" in it I don't know if I'd bother, but usually it's just a few inch long area where the car sat in the dirt or something like that.

 

if the integrity of the structure of the wheel at risk why not find some other ones? If pitting is bad enough for holes to be visible does not sound good. depending on what we can not see, you might just want to smooth them and run tubes.

 

I have tig welded wheels before without any issues but like the other guys said...be carefull.

 

I've tig and mig welded wheels with no issues, just take the time to do it right

 

I would say go for it but dont go overboard on the welding and offset what welding you did on one side to the other just to keep the weights down in the long run, Running tubes are always a good idea with these wheels because of really you cant see where all the pitting and rust may have caused more trouble and some leaks dont pop up till the tire is on hot pavement and the psi kicks up a little bit.

 

The pits don't even come close to thru it just looks nasty on wheels that looked really nice with tires on them. I would like to find out where wheel hoops could be found. PM me if you can help.