Buckled wheels

[sleepyf1]

Hi everyone,

My question relates to the 17inch wheels on the 04 Alfa GT V6

About a month or 2 ago during the big wet in Sydney i buckled my two front wheels running over two seperate massive pot holes. There was bad steering vibration so i got them fixed and the steering vibration is now gone. The mechanic and I had a suspecion from visual inspection the right rear had also buckled slightly, but decided not to fix it due to the possibility of uneven tyre wear which my rears are suffering from.

Recently I went to get a check after convincing myself that there is some vibration coming from the rear by way of feel through the seats. I went this time to a local tyre dealer (mechanic charged too much the first time) and had them check not just the rears but all 4 wheels. To my shock they told me that the 2 fronts and left rear were actually buckled, with the right rear being fine. They showed me one of the front tyres on the balancing machine and it is clearly visible the wheel was hobbling.

Now, I find it very strange that my front wheels have buckled again, just a month after being repaired. I conclude 2 things, 1) The first repair job defintely fixed the steering vibrations but not fix the wheel to 100% or 2) I have buckled the wheels again. I live in a newly developed area with crappy b-roads with plenty of pot holes. I have hit 1 or 2 since but much smaller ones.

My question is, are the Alfa wheels very prone to buckling? If anyone can give me further insight into this that would be great. My tyres are due for replacement so I'm I was planning on just biting the bullet and getting all 4 wheels repaired and scatches fixed up. However if this is likely to keep happening, it might as well be more economical to just buy 4 new after market wheels. Let me know what you all think.

cheers,

[shiny_car]

I don't rate the original wheels as being particularly soft. And are stronger than cheap aftermarket alloys.

With your fronts, I wonder how badly they were buckled the first time, and whether they were unable to make them 'perfect'. So is what you're now seeing simply the best they could achieve, or is it a new problem?

How were they fixed? When my wife had one of her Subie wheels repaired, we elected not to have them resprayed. So it is quite obvious the patch where they heat-treated them, and re-rolled them. Do your wheels have signs of where they were repaired? If so (even if resprayed, you may be able to tell), the tyre place may be able to determine if the buckle is in a different spot, or the exactly the same spot (and therefore probably not repaired to 'perfect').

Anyway, if you like the style of wheels, then check how much it will cost to repair back to as-new, then weigh that up against the option of completely new wheels. But then, avoid cheaper wheels, because these can be soft. Stick with a namebrand. Having said this, it doesn't mean they can't be buckled!

Are you in VIC? Cos I have my original wheels I could sell. They had about 5000km on them before I changed to 19s, and original Bridgestone RE050 tyres with 90% tread.

[kanga]

Buy Shiny's wheels, they are never as strong once they are heated up and repaired.

[igtvi]

Buy Shiny's wheels, they are never as strong once they are heated up and repaired.

Yep they're either softer or more brittle.

[sleepyf1]

I asked the mechanic not to respray the wheels so there should still be evidence of where the repair was. Repairs were made on the inside of the wheel so I'll have to get a jack from a mate seeing how the GT only has a repair kit. =)

Shiny I live in NSWs unfortunately but I'll PM you anyways.

[hongwei]

i have a set of supersprints, minor edge scrapes for sale.

[hongwei]

$450 and i live in nsw.

[sleepyf1]

Not sure what they look like.

Have you go any pics of them?

[sleepyf1]

Hi all,

in the end I decided to just repair the wheels and get 4 new tyres (which I needed anyways).

I took it to Bridgestone select at liverpool and they looked after me really well. Cost me $100 per wheel to fix. They knocked off $40 per wheel because i was buying the tyres as well.

They said that from the repair scars, the previous repairer only fixed inside of the wheel and not the inner rim. Who knows but at least me teeth dont ache anymore due to the vibrations.

Thanks all who helped out.

[shiny_car]

Good work, and seems a good price. Nice.