[zavy70]

Took my rims in to get sandblasted so I can paint them... notice one rim has cracks about an inch long from two of the bolt holes.
Can it be repaired or is it junk?
Hate to get rid of it since it's original to the car.

[RamAirIV28]

trailer queen or driver?

[zavy70]

Show quality driver...
Was thinking of using the rim on the spare tire?

[Sirrotica]

V the cracks out and have someone that can weld, weld them on both sides. After welding you can smooth up the welds. I would leave the welds bare of paint for awhile to verify the cracks aren't starting again and after a reasonable amount of watching them you can paint them again

There is no need to throw the wheels away since the center is welded to the band from the factory. There is no temper to worry about since they are made from cold rolled steel.

If you want to reinforce them you can have someone in a machine shop make a 3/16" plate for the backside. I have seen it done on corvette rally wheels to make them stronger for dirt track cars before racing wheels were commonplace. Welding them is probably plenty strong enough for 99% of the people on this forum. The cracks may be caused from someone getting overzealous with an impact wrench at some point.

[zavy70]

Thanks for the feed back...
I'll get it repared and use it as a spare.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Sirrotica

V the cracks out and have someone that can weld, weld them on both sides. After welding you can smooth up the welds. I would leave the welds bare of paint for awhile to verify the cracks aren't starting again and after a reasonable amount of watching them you can paint them again

There is no need to throw the wheels away since the center is welded to the band from the factory. There is no temper to worry about since they are made from cold rolled steel.

Agree 1000%.

K

[GTO JOHN]

x2 on Brad's post. One of the most in depth and informative posts I have read lately.

[Andre]

I'm fairly certain that your life is more valuable than an original wheel on your car. So, I ask you this. If the wheel has started to develop cracks that you can see, wouldn't it be prudent to have it examined by a professional to find cracks that you can't see? Not sure what process they use now? Magnaflux? Black light? Sonogram?

I would also take the other wheels in and have them done at the same time for piece of mind.

Cheap insurance.

[steve v]

Wasn't there an article 10-15 years ago (by John Sawruck?) about the additional stress on a factory rim that was designed for bias tires & was now running radial tires? The lateral force on the rim is much higher w/a radial tire & IIRC he said the stock wheels were unsafe to use with modern radials.

While rim failure is rare on a street driven show car I gotta agree with Andre, check your other rims & don't take a chance with them.

[Old Blue 66]

Originally Posted by steve v

Wasn't there an article 10-15 years ago (by John Sawruck?) about the additional stress on a factory rim that was designed for bias tires & was now running radial tires? The lateral force on the rim is much higher w/a radial tire & IIRC he said the stock wheels were unsafe to use with modern radials.

While rim failure is rare on a street driven show car I gotta agree with Andre, check your other rims & don't take a chance with them.

Agreed.

Yes, I think there was. It was topic at a GTOAA meeting too a while back.

[b-man]

Hang it on the wall in your garage, it's now a display piece.

Buy another one that's not cracked.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by steve v

Wasn't there an article 10-15 years ago (by John Sawruck?) about the additional stress on a factory rim that was designed for bias tires & was now running radial tires? The lateral force on the rim is much higher w/a radial tire & IIRC he said the stock wheels were unsafe to use with modern radials.

Originally Posted by Old Blue 66

Agreed.

Yes, I think there was. It was topic at a GTOAA meeting too a while back.

Yes - My perception was that the majority of folks believed John was over-reacting and being alarmist.

K

[Sirrotica]

Keith, I believe that also, because in the early 70s when you could order either radial or bias belted tires there was no difference in wheel options. While the radials do have a higher traction coefficient it isn't that high of a percentage to exceed the design ratings of the wheels.

If you autocrossed your vehicle 50 times a year then maybe after severe treatment week after week you could see a design deficiency. BTW, when a wheel fails due to side loading the raised area surrounding the outside of the lugs is where they fail not around the lug holes. This is caused by the dies they are formed over make this the tightest bend and the thinnest portion of the center section making that portion the failure point. Being around dirt track most of my life I have seen multiple factory wheel failures due to side loading. As I said before the cracks on the OPs wheel are most likely started by a inept tire jockey and a over torqued wheel stud and nut.

I myself took 2 1973 15X7 honeycomb wheels and removed the polycast centers and used them for 5 years no modifications to increase strength, just as GM constructed them on the outside (Right) wheels on my dirt track 67 GTO and my 69 GP stock cars with no failures. Anyone that follows dirt track racing knows the RF takes the most side loading followed by the RR wheels. As I said 99% of the people on this forum will never stress a wheel like I did in that racing application, leading me to believe a properly welded wheel would be fine for it's intended usage no matter what tire design was used with it. There are very few members on PY that ever race any type of events that would cause enough severe side loading of any wheel to put it in a failure mode. The picture below shows how a honeycomb looks with the polycast portion removed on my 69 SJ GP, these are the wheels run for 5 years in severe side loading situations without any failures. I ran them on my 67 GTO pictured in my signature for 2 years before building the GP. They are on the right side so they aren't visible in this picture.

The Cragar S/S wheels with the cast centers welded to cold rolled rims bands are a lot more likely to break in a side loading incident than a stock rally I wheel, even if it was repaired IMO. I have seen these wheels fail in street duty and have never liked the way Cragar assembled them. Yet thousands of cars run them on the street every day with no cares whatsoever.

[400 4spd.]

Originally Posted by b-man

Hang it on the wall in your garage, it's now a display piece.

That's exactly what I did with a Rally I. I painted it, put a non-correct trim ring on it and a center cap. But I also have lots of extras.

[GT182]

Originally Posted by b-man

Hang it on the wall in your garage, it's now a display piece.

Buy another one that's not cracked.

I'd do the same. No original rim that's cracked is worth saving only to you and your car bodily harm down the road.

Use it to hang your air hose or garden hose on it. Or as a base stand for a buffer or grinder.

[Sirrotica]

You guys seem prone to throw out serviceable parts, and that's your prerogative.

Myself I'd weld the cracks and run it, and never give it a thought. If anyone is worried about anymore cracks that may be there, heating the metal up with a torch in the suspect area will expand the metal and show cracks not visible without heat applied. I wouldn't worry about magnaflux etc. This is how people found suspect weak areas before there was such things as magnaflux or dye crack detection on materials that wouldn't become brittle by heating such as cold roll steel.

I guess that makes the difference between a mechanic and a parts changer. A mechanic can repair almost anything, a parts changer can't do anything but replace parts. They don't have the background to know what can be repaired or rebuilt. To quote Harry Callahan, "A man has to know his limitations."..........................

Anyone that thinks that bent or cracked wheels should be discarded, look at how many wheel repair services are shown in a quick Google search. They do bent cracked and out of round wheel repair for a fraction of new price.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bent...client=firefox




OP you asked for opinions and you have plenty of them, you have to decide what works for you.

[400 4spd.]

Are you an arrogant know-it-all ass all of the time?

[Birdguy]

Like every other Ohioan I've ever come across.

[Sirrotica]

Are you always so insecure and envious of someones knowledge?

To answer your question Just when I know what I'm talking about, I don't follow the leader like most sheeple do and because I don't, some people don't like it, like you.

I could give a rats ass whether you like me or not, I however didn't get personal by name calling, as you have.

The man asked for opinions and because I disagree with your opinion, now I'm an ass? You might notice that someone complimented me and thanked me for my input. I'm surprised you didn't throw the Yankee thing out there too.

Does my knowledge intimidate you? Make you jealous?
Most people are happy to have someone knowledgeable here to help them, get over it man.



BTW, until you felt the need to attack me, with personal derogatory remarks I wasn't speaking to you.

Birdguy, I'm not from Ohio, I just happen to live here at this time, So much for your stereotype. And I wasn't speaking to you either, even though you feel the need to come to the aid your buddy.

I probably have more experience on repairing Pontiacs as well as other mechanical knowledge than both of you together, I HATE IT FOR YA!!!!!!




Have a nice day............

[400 4spd.]

Your answer appears to be yes. I'll accept that.
Thanks for answering.