How to do smoothed steelies

[Dom]

Remember seeing a thread about someone smoothing his steelies by welding discs into the holes.

Would it be possible to do this with fibreglass and putty?
Can it effect the balancing at all?
Other ides for getting this sort of effect?

[Deleted]

i wouldnt even think about using fibreglass and filler on wheels to fill the holes.. the wheels WILL flex in use and probably pop the filler out with disastorous results, also as you have already mentioned keeping weight and balance good across the wheel would be a nightmare..
personally think even welding up the holes without some means of checking the wheel for heat distortion is asking for trouble.. so unless you have a large lathe.. i would leave well alone

[Dom]

Right. Thanks for that. Thought it would be a tad dodgy.
*shuffles away from wheels in fear*

[allthingsauto]

The holes are there for cooling the brakes when braking.By welding them up you may find that you get brake fade as the disks and pads will get hotter.

[Dom]

That wouldn't have been a problem. My AX hasn't really got brakes.

[Dez]

is this scaremongering week or something? sheesh......
ive done loads of sets, and am yet to have my brakes fade from running them, or distort a set when welding- 90% of people don't have a welder capable of causing heat distortion on a 1/8" steel pressing anyway!! if youre sensible about how you weld them in i.e. don't do it as one continuous run, youll be fine, which you wouldnt do anyway as youd be getting them lined up and tacking them first.
worst thing about it is it takes bloody ages to do a set, most wheels have about 20 holes, x4, + lots of welding and grinding!!
a mate of mine once did a set of 4 stud beetle rims with fiberglass and filler, i was also doubtful about how long theyd last, but 4 years later, they're fine.
and no, it wont stop your wheels balancing, unless you weld twice as much steel to one side of the wheel as the other
steel wheel tolerances are WAY wider than everyone thinks. most major manufactures factory runout tolerances are 1.5mm+/-.5mm, so they can be up to 2mm out when new!

[cairyhunt]

^^WHS^^

get another set of wheels to use and cut the plugs out of them, right profile and thickness and don't go daft with the welder. but it takes fecking ages.

[Dom]

Cheers. Will have to think about it.
Can't weld though so that's not a possibility.

[Deleted]

This is going to sound really daft now, but humor me!

I don't know how steel wheels are made, BUT i assume they're pressed, then drilled/cut/pressed out?

Howabout finding where/who makes wheel, and asking for a new set to be made, that didnt visit the hole cutting out machine?

More expensive yes, but quicker and easier?

IDK

*goes find flame suit*

[dungbug]

Dec 22, 2009 18:30:37 GMT Dez said:

is this scaremongering week or something? sheesh......
ive done loads of sets, and am yet to have my brakes fade from running them, or distort a set when welding- 90% of people don't have a welder capable of causing heat distortion on a 1/8" steel pressing anyway!! if youre sensible about how you weld them in I.e. don't do it as one continuous run, youll be fine, which you wouldnt do anyway as youd be getting them lined up and tacking them first.
worst thing about it is it takes bloody ages to do a set, most wheels have about 20 holes, x4, + lots of welding and grinding!!
a mate of mine once did a set of 4 stud beetle rims with fiberglass and filler, I was also doubtful about how long theyd last, but 4 years later, they're fine.
and no, it wont stop your wheels balancing, unless you weld twice as much steel to one side of the wheel as the other
steel wheel tolerances are WAY wider than everyone thinks. most major manufactures factory runout tolerances are 1.5mm+/-.5mm, so they can be up to 2mm out when new!

/\ WHS /\ I've seen Bug steels filled with filler & it's lasted, liek alot of things it's all down toi preparation & time I'd say. Be interesting to see how you get on.

[steveo3002]

surley if you preped them ...you could find someone to weld some plates in for beer money?

[will]

Dec 24, 2009 7:57:43 GMT @weblefeck said:

This is going to sound really daft now, but humor me!

I don't know how steel wheels are made, BUT I assume they're pressed, then drilled/cut/pressed out?

Howabout finding where/who makes wheel, and asking for a new set to be made, that didnt visit the hole cutting out machine?

More expensive yes, but quicker and easier?

IDK

*goes find flame suit*

Or, if no joy you could collect the holes from the factory floor and weld um back in thus saving some cutting out time ;D

[rtlkyuubi]

the heat at which wheels get when you do some spirited driving would not affect the filler?? You could buy a set of OEM wheels that have no holes:



I don't know what they're off but they're 4 x 114.3

[will]

Like said, oem wheels do crop up sans wholes, these (shody pic I know) are Transit wheels 14' but huge pcd. May be good for re-drilling though.



No problems with brake cooling here

EDIT; shody pic now vanished. My bad, not much missed to be fair.

[sowen]

If filling the holes with steel plate, do they need to be completely welded in or would it be acceptable to hold them in with say, four small solid welds, rather than fully seemed and smoothed?

Just a thought as it would avoid putting loads of heat through the wheel, sounds reasonably diy-able for most people and if the plates are cut accurately to sit flush, would avoid the need for lots of grinding to smooth out afterwards.

[steveo3002]

id weld all the way around myslef...i recon once filler gets hot it will move around and leave a mark

depends how nice they need to be really

[Implandy]

how about making a sheet metal disc, to sit over the section of rim? easy to attach from the inside of the rim and easy to remove later if wanted?

sort of a variation on a trim ring

[dan]

If I were undertaking this I'd go down the same route as this guy with a 56 chevy panel van and weld each hole properly

67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=342065

[murran]

id never thought of doing this, but that wheel ^^^ looks very cool!

cutting out the discs to weld in would be a right tho.

[DavidB]

Dec 22, 2009 18:30:37 GMT Dez said:

is this scaremongering week or something? sheesh......

I agree. You can fibreglass over holes which have been welded. They don't flex enough to pop it out. If you can use it on a car body which DOES flex, they should be okay. The brakes don't need holes to cool, and won't fade. Steel wheels don't heat up through spirited driving either.

But, I wouldn't do it with fibre glass anyway, surely there's a method of welding and then using lead?