I think these are called Titans? They're the factory 850 T5R wheel anyhow. I got a set of these - three were in good condition, one had a bend.
The photos are incomplete because photbucket sucks arse. After years of no dramas, the bullshit "update" now means that only about 50% of my photos will upload, for no apparent reason... And once they've been rejected once, they will never ever upload... Note to all of you IT geeks and their bosses: It doesn't matter how shiny your shit is, it needs to WORK!
Where was I? Oh yeah, wheels...
Here's the damage that I began with:
The first step was to put the wheel in the press and bend down the 'flare' part of the flat spot. 99% of the time, getting rid of the flare will also get rid of the vast majority of the flat spot. When prefessional wheel repairs talk about "re-rolling" rims, they're lying most of the time - in reality, all they do is put the wheel in a press (although sometimes using a jig).
Photobucket didn't like the series of press photos, so here is just one of it after being pressed flat.Two things to note: The flat spot has almost gone, and the crack is now much larger (more on this later).
Bead blasted:
Welded (not by me - this step thanks to my workmate, Bourkie):
Then hit the weld with a die-grinder:
And then with a hand file:
The next step is to hand sand the weld. I took a few photos of this, but photobucket doesn't like them, so you miss out...
Finally, hit the wheel with the bead blaster again, to even out the surface texture"
This is a decent repair, but not a brilliant one, to be honest.
These wheels seem to be made from the same cheese that Virgos are made from - they are
both soft
and easy to crack... When I initially pressed the flare down, I stopped short because I was worried about the whole bit breaking out, which makes the welding a MUCH larger, more difficult job.
The plan had been to get the crack welded up, and then finish straightening the wheel in the press. After it was welded, I made the call that it was acceptable as-is, and went on with the repair.
In hindsight, I think I will have another go, and get that last bit of bend out of it. It is fairly likely to crack again, meaning more welding, more grinding, more sanding, more ead blasting... So maybe I'll stay lazy...
There is also a low point where the TIG left a crater. If I straighten the wheel more, it will be an excuse to get that fixed. If I leave it, a dab of JB Weld (like Devcon, aka metal bog) will do the job just fine.
Also, FWIW, these wheels are bloody heavy. A bare 16x7 Gemini wheel is around 8.2kg each. These must be up over 10kg. So... heavy and weak... lucky they look good!
Haven't decided what colour to paint them... Probably a darker, more metallic charcol colour than the standard.
