I just found out from the wheel alinement people that my front wire wheels are out of round! They are relitively new after market wheels. Is there anyone (shop) that can straigthen these wheels? Buying new would do it but the price seems too much to pay.
i know theres a shop here that can straighten them out, doesnt help for how far you are but it CAN be done.
Out of round or to they have lateral runout? In otherwords we need a bit more informaton. Are you saying that the front end guy said that the tires are out of round? or when you have the car jacked up and spin the tire that it has a side to side wobble to it or the rim? What kind of wheel and what kind of tire? Sometimes if the tire is out of round on the rim you can break it down and rotate it 180 degrees on the rim and air it back up and get things to work better. That sometimes works for tires that are hard to balance too. And I agree with Thunderbiridesq in that it isn't that difficult for a wheel shop to strraighten a wheel but fixing one that is out of round will be tough at best.
There's a place here in Chi town that does it, I see the truck every now and then, they go to body shops and pick up the collision rims and or rims that get sucked into one of these lovely Chi town car eating potholes. They specifically say aluminum. let me go hunting and I'll repost in an edit my findings. Hmm, www.rimrepaircenter.com, this is in Chicago, but maybe they can answer some ?'s. Come to think of it, if they are wires you should be able to have a motorcycle shop true them up, you could try some of those as well.
There is a urethane sledge hammer that does work in straightening bent alloy wheels. Simply: cardboard sheet placed on floor, unmounted wheel placed down on the sheet, whack! check for movement, place on wheel balance machine and turn it. In three to four hits most bent rims could be "trued". I'd certainly entertain using this method on a steel rim.
Are they still covered by any sort of warranty? If so then contact the manufacturer. If not, then possibly Dayton Wire Wheels can help you out.
I have found brand new steel wheels 3/8" out of round and had the place I bought them tell me that was normal. I had a set on a pickup and couldn't get any more new ones so I did like mentioned, break the tire down, rotate 90 degrees, air up and check balance. After checking the balance at 4 different points, pick the one that takes the least weight.
Front true spoke wire wheels correct? You should be able to get them back in shape with a spoke wrench and a spindle. If you raced dirt bikes you had a spoke wrench or you didn't race for long, hell I would bust 2 or 3 a week. If nothing else you should be able to get them back to relative trueness, then they could balance them. You may want to ask this on Jockey Journal.
Its my experience that most new car dealers have people 'round that do this stuff out of a truck (I'm in Chicago, too, will look when I get back to work). Possibly you could ask if you're friendly with one. Cosmo
Thank ya'll for all the info, not sure what I'll do but I'll need to do something. The rims are kind of oval shaped....... not much but enough to put one-hell-of a shake at hyway speeds. I checked into replacement costs and I'd rather not deal with that. So maybe a dead blow hammer and some serious pounding is next in order. I was just getting my "35" back on the road.
So, are they real wire wheels, or something that just looks like they are? If they're real wire wheels, then serious pounding isn't going to accomplish much. It's been said on this thread a couple of times that they can be straightened by tweaking the spoke tension. I've laced a bunch of Harley wheels, and it takes some time to get them right, but with enough patience you can pretty much get them dead true. Loosen the spokes at the smaller diameter of your "oval" and tighten the ones at the larger diameter.
What brand? Welded spokes or real spokes? I seriously can't imagine making the situation better with a dead blow hammer. And if you could true them with a dead blow, imagine how easily they would deform the first time you hit a bump or a pothole?
Ditto. If real spoke wheels a dial indicator mounted on a magnetic base will show out of round and side to side runout. I don't know what it would cost to have Dayton Wheel fix them, but I think I'd give it a try first myself... I used to work at Dayton Wheel and still have a contact there if you want to go that route.
As others have said,a hammer won't help if they're out of round.I've built bicycle wheels for years,done a few motorcycle wheels,fixed a couple of Brit wire wheels,too.All use the same techniques,and principles,but it takes a lot more force to move car rims back into shape than bike rims.If it has adjustable spokes,it can probably be fixed. It isn't magic. OK,it really is,like I tell some of my customers,first you burn the incense,turn on the black light,and put on the robe.Then you get started.
I didn't actually mean I was going to straigthen out the wheels with a hammer I just want to beat the hell out them. I think I'd feel better about buying new wheels if these were completely dead. Probably won't do that.... just a thought.
Check with a dealer used car manager for a local company that straightens wheels. If the spokes are adjustable you will need a different shop like a motorcycle shop. We have 2 shops in our area that straighten and repair bent and damaged wheels.
Bicycle spoke wheels are an art to get right! The spoke tension and alignment calls for a magic touch. The Hammer was for AL rim faces.
The Jalopy Journal
