Jump to content

Widening alloy rims


R100

Recommended Posts

the only place I could suggest to try would be Wheel an Frame in cambridge, I dont know what they do in the way of widening though

Thanks, anywhere is worth a try, maybe they can point me in the right direction.

Google searched and found there contact details. Will call them monday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm fairly sure Howat engineering in lower hutt do, i took some steels in there to be widened and they were working on some alloy wheels at the same time, might depend on the quality of the wheel as to whether they can/will widen them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hmmmm

I guess its possible - most anything is possible if you throw enough money/effort at it. But I'm guessing it means cutting the rim and either welding in a band, or welding on another new widier "half". But welding to cast aluminium for something quite structual is usually a bit of a nono (although not as bad as cast iron) it will reeaaaaaly depend on exactly what type of aluminium the wheel is made of, how it was cast and what heat treatment It has had.

Personally I would advise against it - and if you do go ahead I would not be putting them on any car I planned to be giving a hard time at all.

It is possible someone has developed a good process to do it and has proven it to be reliably sound - but it would surprise me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, anywhere is worth a try, maybe they can point me in the right direction.

Google searched and found there contact details. Will call them monday.

They are good at straighting out just about everything (do my quad rims), so even they dont do it i would say they will atleast be able to tell you if its possible or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Practically any rim can be widened, plenty of places in the USA do it. They widen them exactly the same way as they widen steel rims. Just cut and put a alloy band in them. As long as the alloy isnt too crap it can be done. Wish i had the gear to do it, need myself a large lathe and a tig welder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Practically any rim can be widened, plenty of places in the USA do it. They widen them exactly the same way as they widen steel rims. Just cut and put a alloy band in them. As long as the alloy isnt too crap it can be done. Wish i had the gear to do it, need myself a large lathe and a tig welder.

I think the only doing it with spun alloys was a matter of convenience more than anything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What Testament said "it will reeaaaaaly depend on exactly what type of aluminium the wheel is made of, how it was cast and what heat treatment It has had"

I am confident it can be done. Just wanting to see if anyone has had it done and could possibly direct me to a place thats done it. I do have an engineer friend who i will go and see tommoro as i think he may have a lathe big enough. I would rather take the mags to somene who specialises in this sort of thing as i may end up with a set of cut up wheels only good for the scrap man :o

If i do go a head i will let you all know how it goes, will have a talk to cletus regarding the legalities of certification. No doubt they will have to be exrayed for cracks or something.

Below are some pictures of widened cast alloy rims.

23082009681.jpg

23082009686.jpg

img0395v.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It still seems like alot of effort for the risk invovled in cocking it up. I would have thought you could buy something awesome as wide as you wanted for comparable cost to the work involved in doing this. Do you have the wheels you want widened already? do you want to widen the front or the back of the rim? most styles of cast alloy rim would probably dictate that you can only do this with the back side of the rim (like in those photos) which doesn't change the outward appearance much. I guess you can get more stretch on for fitment maybe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It still seems like alot of effort for the risk invovled in cocking it up. I would have thought you could buy something awesome as wide as you wanted for comparable cost to the work involved in doing this. Do you have the wheels you want widened already? do you want to widen the front or the back of the rim? most styles of cast alloy rim would probably dictate that you can only do this with the back side of the rim (like in those photos) which doesn't change the outward appearance much. I guess you can get more stretch on for fitment maybe.

Yeah, wouldn't it make the offset severely positive? unless you have bucket loads of inner clearance or plan on using massive spacers..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went and saw wheel and frame this monring when I dropped a rim off. They can widen alloys with no issues and its about $250 per rim to do it.

Essentially what the do is cut your rim off as close to the inner bead as they can, and cut a similar rim off close to the outer bead, then join the two togther with one weld.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went and saw wheel and frame this monring when I dropped a rim off. They can widen alloys with no issues and its about $250 per rim to do it.

Essentially what the do is cut your rim off as close to the inner bead as they can, and cut a similar rim off close to the outer bead, then join the two togther with one weld.

But will they give you some signed document that its safe to use on the road that a certifier/NZTA will accept?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...