Wheel repair

[JHerscher]

I have a magnesium OZ wheel with a crack on the outside flange on the inside of the wheel. See pictures.

Can it be repaired? Or is it another expensive hose reel?
If it can be repaired, who can repair it? I'm in Florida if it makes any difference.

Thanks
John

[Skip Weld]

It can be welded. Just have to find the right guy. Tim Takash in Orlando used to do well with that
Skip

[TedV]

Please find the right guy!! At one time, being the guy mounting tires, I was thankful the "repaired" section fell out of the rim before any significant pressure from mounting the tire made the rim a bomb in my face.

[John LaRue]

Save yourself some money and throw it away. There is a guy in TN that does a good job of straightening mag and he welds some as well, beautiful work. I've had some trued up, but not welded.

[Rick Kirchner]

I had a similar crack welded up 15 years ago. still working fine. my welder just turned up the gas and did it on his bench.

[DanW]

I had a similar crack welded up 15 years ago. still working fine. my welder just turned up the gas and did it on his bench.

I've seen some miracles worked by some very skilled people on vintage warbirds. If they were good enough to pass muster with an FAA inspector, a wheel can be repaired.

[billtebbutt]

I've had much worse than that repaired, will no ill effects. But I am lucky to have a shop within 10 mins of the house with two guys who are amazing welders....

My query is more the "Why did it crack there?" sort. No obvious impact from what I can tell in the photos. Pretty much every cracked wheel I have seen is the result of an impact, and the impact tends to "fold" the outer rim - the crack runs perpendicular to the crack on your wheel. If there's been no impact, I'd be doing a close inspection of the rest of the wheel (and maybe the rest in that set).

cheers,
BT

[S Lathrop]

I have done some repairs on alloy weld. It can be done successfully and is not all that difficult for an experienced welder.

The biggest issue will be finding the correct welding rod to repair the wheel you have. You can do that research and see if you can find the correct filler rod for the alloy the wheel is made from. This is critical and more so with magnesium. If you can, you should try to get in touch with the manufacturer of the wheel you have.

[JHerscher]

Thanks Steve, great advice. If I am able to get an answer from OZ, I will post it here for the community's reference.

[DanW]

If OZ doesn't respond, you may contact a metallurgical inspection company or code weld shop to perform a positive material identification using a hand held device. PMI will tell you the complete chemical composition of the mag alloy.

[pooch776]

Dr. Rim in Orlando can fix it.

I just had them repair a magnesium LeGrand wheel.

Cheers, Joe

[t walgamuth]

It all depends on where the crack is. I had a crack in one of the wheels of my cobra in the inner flange. It looked very good when he finished but it was slightly untrue and the wheel wobbled. A slight bend on the inside becomes something about 5 times as big at the rim.

[JHerscher]

A couple of weeks back I visited OZ’s website and sent an inquiry about the type of magnesium alloy the wheels were made of. Only after I sent it did I notice a note in one of their FAQ pages that they didn’t recommend repairing. So I assumed I wouldn’t hear back since this question had already been answered. Today I received this:

quote

Good afternoon,

Magnesium wheels may not be used for more than 3 or 5 years after their production depending of course on their condition, their use and maintenance. For this reason, we regret to say that this wheel cannot be used any longer. Furthermore, the magnesium wheels cannot be repaired/welded. We kindly ask you to take what above into consideration as the wheel can be absolutely dangerous.

Many thanks for your understanding

end quote

I’m not surprised by this response. But it sure make me wonder how many of us are running around on “expired” wheels! I reckon around 90% of us?

drive safely everyone!

[pooch776]

I guess my LeGrand wheels "expired" 45 years ago