To Repair or not?

[m1n1man1275]

I Recently Acquired a couple of Dunlop D1 to eventually end up with a good set. One of these wheels has a crack on the rim. is it worth keeping to get repaired or shall i make a wall art clock out of it? would a repair company even entertain it?

Anyone with any experience having wheels like this repaired?

Many thanks John.

[Peter Laidler]

The Dunlop D1's range were made from a very good quality alloy that is easily repairable by welding. That said, small cracks in alloys are never really '.....small cracks..'. As we learned, there's a phrase just made for cracked alloy, that '...it goes much deeper than that...' That's how a wheel repairer man explained a cracked Dolly Sprint wheel to me. Little dings are one thing. But cracks...........

I'd see what the real ally wheel repair experts say. But the cost might outweigh the cost of a good/half decent UN-cracked D1.

Interesting for a nerd like me. I'm not a metallurgist beyond what we learned during mech engineering uni studies but I bet that there;s a few forumers who'd like to know how things panned out

[mab01uk]

I had a Mamba rim repaired by alloy welding/machining a few years ago that looked much worse than your photo. After an impact it had a small part completely missing out the rim edge, similar in area to the hairline crack visible in your photo. At the time it was cheaper than a new rim plus I think original Mamba rims had gone out of production before the reproduction ones appeared a few years later.

[m1n1man1275]

Thanks for the replies chaps, I can get it inspected for cracks at work if i did find someone to have a go at repairing it. i suspect it'll cost more than finding yet more second hand ones.

It does seem they are either badly curbed/cracked or someone has used incorrect wheel nuts and wallered the holes out!

On another note with these they are alochromed and clear lacquered on the back face and inside where the tyre sits from original which may explain the good condition once the crud was removed.

When i get round to painting i might alochrom the shiny bits, i think it will look nice against the black paint. the trick will be getting them all the same though.

Cheers, John.

[richardACS]

John

There's a genius metal welding guy (also a John) very close to where the Shuttleworth museum is located in Bedford.

I don't think there is anything this chap can't do and wheels are his bread and butter. One can drive to him by appointment and he'll do the work while you wait. If this sounds an option let me know and I'll dig out the details...

[m1n1man1275]

Thanks Richard, If i do decide to repair it ill come back to you. that's not too far a drive for me either.

Cheers,
John.