Volk wheel repair

[NateCrisman]

I'v got a set of Volk CE28N wheels off a parts car, I'd like to somehow salvage these things as they are stupid light (something like 9lb each).

The car was run off the road and the pass rear wheel hit a rock/curb or something. Two of the other wheels seem straight, but have some edge rash. One is pretty much perfect. Online I'm seeing these at $499 to $550 a wheel, so I'd really hate to have to pony up for one replacement to make a set.

They are 4 x 114.3 bolt pattern. +43mm offset. 15"x7.0"
Black in color. (I'v only been able to find bronze or silver for sale new as well)

I'm not sure how sellable these are going to be with the curb rash, and Im sure a wheel repair place will ruin the coating in the process of trying to straighen that dent if it's even possible.

Best wheel

Second best wheel with some minor rash

Worst Rash, but looks straight

Dented...obviously needs professional repair

Anyone have any advise? That dent look fixable? If so any recomendation for a wheel repair shop to take/send it to?

I'm thinking the rash could maybe be sanded.smoothed down by hand to be a little less noticable then spray the outside 1" lip of all 4 wheels to look the same. If all 4 hold air and are straight, I'd put 4 lug hubs on my DSM and use these wheels if I can't sell them for some good $ due to cosmetics.

 

[Whoodoo]

I've got a buddy that has a wheel repair business. He charges $100 per wheel for minor to moderate rash repair. The worst rash might cost you more than that, but its not too hard to get your wheels looking like new. As for the busted one... I couldn't tell you if its possible or not, but you'll definitely be paying out the ass for it.

 

[JSchleim18]

I called a place to have a bent wheel straightened. It was going to be $80. If it's under $400 to fix all the wheels, I'd say do it. These will fetch $600+ for all 4. Great set of drag wheels right there.

 

[jepherz]

If you aren't afraid to do the work yourself, then get the tires off there, and go at the rash with a file and different grade sandpaper until it's all even. You can go around the entire wheel to make it look even.

As far as the bent wheel goes, I'm sure there's someone pretty local to you that can do it. There are usually guys in box trucks that have appointments set up at dealerships. They show up a day every week and do all sorts of repairs, including paint matching.

 

[Polish]

I had a bent wheel fixed for like $80 a few years back, it had a bent lip but not as bad.

 

[NateCrisman]

I guess tomorrow I'll get this shell up on the lift, pull the wheels, dismount the tires (two of them were punctured in the crash). Then Ill run all the wheels on the balancing machine to see if they are straight and true. The one with the dent might be wasted anyway if it's not straight anymore. I would just hate to shell out $400 or so for one new wheel in order to make a set in which two wheels are nice and two have rash.

But yeah, they would make a kick ass set of drag wheels with 15" slicks, that was kind of what I was thinking rather than trying to sell them. I couldn't give a rats anus about the rash when it comes to track wheels. I'll just file/sane/paint them myself.

GVR4 4 lug hubs will be strange on a 1g too...haha /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif

 

[Terrance362]

click
maybe this can help.

 

You can definitely get that fixed. My previous Talon got t-boned and one wheel had chunks out of the rim and was all scraped up. They're lightweight Enkei's and I couldn't find another single wheel to replace it. I took it to a local wheel shop and they sent it out to have it repaired. Cost me $160 but it came back perfect, no trace of any damage. The guy at the shop said they can repair wheels missing up to eight inches of the rim.

 

[mountaineerjeff]

I know an easy solution, just leave them the way they are and sell em to me cheap. Ill just run em on my dd,that away I can actually have a set of volks that im not afraid of the girlfriend destroying.

 

[ApexHunter]

Repairing bends in forged wheels seems like it would be easier than with a cast wheel since forged are less prone to cracking. VR wheels (formerly RB Wheels) has a repair service and they deal in high end wheels but i've seen mixed reviews about them and have no personal experience with them.

 

[curtis]

If that was cast it would have a piece missing, I fixed a cobra r for a friend Sunday almost as bad as that, Its not real hard to do but never tried to fix a lip that messed up in a forged wheel. Usually you can heat it with map gas and take a hammer and a block of wood to it and get 90% fixed. I've found companies that widen wheels that could kick the lips out to the width you want but anyone should be able to fix it as for the rash and this sounds crazy but you can put a car on jackstands with no tires and can usually make them look perfect with a 90 degree diegrinder and a 3m pad. Have some one give it some gas and slowly touch the pad to the wheel as it spins. Or the safer route is find a tire shop that would let you take a file/rasp or sandpaper wrapped around a block of wood to the wheel on the balancer. Spin up the wheel and turn the machine off and as the wheel is slowing down get to it. I know it sounds nuts but as long as your safe about it and hold the sand paper in the direction of travel and not try to push against rotation your fine. I actually helped a friend build a set of drag wheels for his VW rabbit truck. It had a VR6 with a turbo in it and wouldn't hook so we took 4 old steel wheels and used a brake rotor machine and cut the wheels straight and welded them back together. Took about 3 hours to do but he ended up with 9 or 10 inch wide fronts with slicks which still didn't hook but looked damn cool spinning those big things all the way down the track. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif

If anyone does my insane little tricks above be damn careful, short sleeve shirt, long piece of wood and keep your hands well away from stuff spinning that fast, even if your spinning the wheel 5 miles an hour if your shirt gets caught your arm will be missing very fast.

 

[NateCrisman]

I pulled the wheels off the car today, dismounted the tires. Three good nearly new tires (Kumho Ecsta MX), one tire was sidewall torn. Both pass side wheels had bends, the rear as shown and the front one had a dent on the inside lip. All four ran true on the balancing machine without a tire (other than the two dents obviously) so none of the wheels took a hard enough hit to bend the spokes, egg shape, or twist the wheel. All 4 balanced within .25 ounce too (irrelevant).

My grandfather, who owns the tire shop, sent the two bent wheels out to a repair place today. Should cost $130/wheel to repair the dents and fix the rash. I should know either tomorrow or friday if they were both fixable or not. They said they could fix the rash on the straight wheel, but it would cost the same $130. I decided to hold onto that wheel until I see what happens to the other two: if they come out perfect and look real nice, Ill consider having the last one fixed up for cosmetics vs sanding/painting it myself.

So, I'm crossing my fingers that I'll end up with a set of 9.75lb (on my shipping scale with metal valve stem) Volk wheels to run with slicks for a grand total of $260 invested. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif