Buckled alloy - chips away mobile any good?

[Zippee]

We have a minor buckle on one wheel of the 21" wheels my wife's xc90. Given work etc is difficult to get to a repair centre, are chips away any good for this sort of thing? I know they advertise it but it's it more specialist to repair a buckle?
There's no refurbishment required as it's otherwise in perfect condition.

[robinessex]

I don't personally recommend 'repairing' buckled alloy wheels. The wheel material has been loaded way past its yield point and is now structurally unsound. Replace it. Bitter pill you have to swallow, replacement wheels for my XJR, list price is £650 each. That's if you can find any.

[trickywoo]

Whether or not you are ok with a repaired buckle (can of worms) chips away aren’t the people to fix it. It’s quite a specialist job involving heating and hammering the wheel. Obviously that’s tyre off etc. I don’t think chips away remove tyres at all for their repairs.

[Zippee]

Thanks both. It's booked in at a professional wheel place tomorrow. It's a minor buckle but a lot of vibration.
It's also worth trying a £90 repair as a new alloy is just under a grand... 😞

[robinessex]

trickywoo said:

It’s quite a specialist job involving heating and hammering the wheel.

That's butchering. Wheels are usually made from LM25 aluminum alloy or similar when cast (not forged). Permanent deformation leads to microcracking, and all the bashing of the wheel with a hammer and ruining it by heating it won't make a secure fix. Heating that alloy to anneal it reduces its strength properties by 50%. Not something I'd be happy about doing 80mph on a motorway with all my family on board.

Material properties, wheels are treated to LM25-TF, the strongest. See:-

https://ahead4-hadleigh-castings.s3.eu-west-2.amaz...