Has anyone ever attempted to weld a bead on the inside of a 16.5 ALUMINUM rim, I have some 16.5x9.75s, and want to weld a bead along the inside edge of the inner and outer sides. Will this mess up the finish of the outside of the rim. Will this affect the structure of the wheel (these are hot die forged I believe)?????

it will burn the clear coat on the out side of the rim. it takes a shit load of heat to weld aluminum, [with a tig set up]because it disperses it so well. if you did it with a wire feed it would not be as bad but i bet it would still show.

Originally posted by jslamerman
Has anyone ever attempted to weld a bead on the inside of a 16.5 ALUMINUM rim, I have some 16.5x9.75s, and want to weld a bead along the inside edge of the inner and outer sides. Will this mess up the finish of the outside of the rim. Will this affect the structure of the wheel (these are hot die forged I believe)?????

If the wheels are M/T which i belive are hot forged they will be polished without clear coat and a lot thinner then a cast wheel and will weld a lot cleaner, and if you are good with the tig torch on aluminum I dont belive you will have any problems.

I would see if you can get some one to laser cut some 16.5 rings like gunracer1 made and weld on your own beadlocks.:D

rich

The bead idea should work to combat the main problem with 16.5" rims--the rim bead area is angled steeply down towards the deep area of the rim around 15 degrees! Let us know how this turns out.

Jason :)

Yeah, I got these rims cheap cause the lip on the outside edge was a little scarred on two of em, probably cam off of some posers rig!!! I think I am gonna call Rockstomper and see about some beadlocks from them, theyll make some I can weld on, Im sure of it. I think I am not gonna worry about the discoloration and just weld the beads as well, its worth it, Ill try to polish out the stains after(with what, I have no Idea!!!)

Called weld, they said they are cold forged, and welding on them will make them brittle??? Any metalurgists (sp?) around care to comment?????

Cold forged but which grade Alu , and heat heat treat? Without this info it is impossible to help.
I dont know if I think its a great idea ONLY becuase it is probably going to need a heat treatment (depends though) after the welding to get back to the level of strength it had prior to welding. Also if you dont have access to a tig (atleast 300 amps) this will cost you $$$$ plus the heat treat will also cost big dollars.
OH , and one more thing I WOULD NOT USE MIG for this unless you have a REAL GMAW-P machine, and really knows a bunch about aluminum.
hope this helps,
weldpro

Weldpro is absolutly right, another thing that alot of people forget when welding on aluminum is that is oxidises (similar to rust on steel) You need to prep your material first using a clean wire brush to remove the glaze works alright. That is if the material is clean of dirt and oil. Aluminum needs to be extemely clean to weld on if not you will get lots of porosity and weak welds.

Originally posted by jslamerman
Called weld, they said they are cold forged, and welding on them will make them brittle??? Any metalurgists (sp?) around care to comment?????
Brittle? softer maybe but not brittle.

I have welded a lot of aluminum wheels and never had a failure with any of them and most where for dirt modified circle track cars and the wheels take a beating on the short tracks.
I have seen wheels that I had repaired mangled and bent into scrap from crashes and the repaired area held up well.

But like weldpro said you would have to know the alloy and heat treat # to to bring it back to original strenght.
I wonder if champion or even weld heat treats after installing their beadlock rings. :question:
I say get some 4043 wire and go to town it works for me.
rich