Fuchs repair

[fuscavw]

Who do you recommend to fix this gouge? I am guessing it would be a shop who is very good at using weld to fill this area. I am able to get the rest of the rash out, but this one obviously is different.

[ALB]

Have you talked to any of the automotive high performance shops or tire stores- someone will know who does wheel repair locally.
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On a lifelong mission to prove (much to my wife's dismay) that Immaturity is Forever!!

[fuscavw]

[slalombuggy]

I qpyld check and see if the wheel is bent before fixing it yourself. There are lots of shops that repair aluminum wheels. Most good shops gave a CNC mill to cut the wheel after it is repaired to restore the outer lip.

[Bruce]

You need to strip the anodizing from around the injury, at least 5-10mm. Otherwise, the anodized aluminum will contaminate the weld.
Then you need to grind away the marks that the concrete curb made, down to clean bright metal. The reason for this is because right now, you have tiny fragments of concrete imbedded in the aluminum. That will also contaminate the weld.

[cew]

Harvey Weidman is the Fuchs repair expert.

Weidman's Wheels In Oroville, CA.

[Crankey]

I've done repairs like this. It's easy.
Clean the area and yes if there is anodizing it needs to be removed. This kind of sucks because there really isn't any job shops that do anodizing like there is for electroplating for chrome, brass etc.

But if the aluminum is raw, just clean the scar with a stainless wire brush and put a few dobs of aluminum weld on there and file it down, shape it to match. I do it all by hand. Blend it out 4-6 inch either side of the repair and continue sanding to the polish your after.

Cast wheels are harder because the casting is porous and it's hard to get out pin holes, real forged or roll formed lips on 3 piece wheels aren't porous so they weld easier.

As far as weld rod choice...yeah the filler rod is slightly different in color of the shine/polish.
I've been told that there is no exact color match, structurally the common aluminum Tig rod is fine, but it's not quite an exact match in color. I don't remember the exact rod number I used but I can find out, or you can Google around for a thread that mentions specific rod.

Find any compatent weld shop that can Tig weld aluminum. Ask if an employee can do it off the books so liability isn't an issue, it's a five minute job to fill that enough to file it out and you can do that yourself if you have some file skill. A small shop would be best, a place with less formal administrative bullshit.

I say this can be done easily by hand because I weld and grind for a living and also hoard wheels.

The thing I keep in mind is if a repair like this is larger your going to affect heat treatment and the lip will be slightly softer in the area. A small ding like this won't be an issue and even larger repairs should be fine but like cracks and bends I wouldn't fix myself because I'd want the wheel checked for bends and warps after welding and I don't have that equipment.