Free Wheel Inspection

At Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists we take wheel safety very seriously and because we take wheel safety so seriously we offer free wheel and tire inspections. There are many reasons to bring your wheels or vehicle in for the free wheel and tire inspection some of those reasons may be tire leaks, vibrations or maybe you hit something in the road and just want the peace of mind that your wheel are still safe to be on the road. During the inspection there are many areas of the wheels that we will inspect.

We will check the lug nut holes to make sure they are no out of round holes. The most common reason lug nut holes get out of round is from leaving the lug nut loose. If the lug nuts are not properly tightened or become loose and the vehicle is driven like that the hole will become out of round due the force accelerating and deaccelerating put on the lug studs and the nut lug holes. This type of damage is not repairable and should not be repaired. There are companies out there that will say that lug holes can be repaired but beware. Our company has had all the types of repairs we preform tested by a third party wheel expert and lug hole repairs have yet to pass any of that testing. There is a lot of engineering that goes into the lug nut hole area/hub of a wheel and that area should never be altered or repaired for any reason.  

We will then inspect the wheels for cracks. There are many areas of a wheel that can get cracked and we will inspect them all. The common areas for a wheel to crack are the back beads, front beads, the spokes, in the back hub, in the barrel, near the lug nut holes and near the valve steam holes. The most common place for a wheel to crack in in the back bead area and if we find a crack there most of the time the crack can be repaired. The other areas that are listed are common places for cracks but it would be rare to find a crack in those areas unless there was a major hit taken by the wheel. If there is a crack found in an area other than the beads most of the time those can not safely be repaired. Again just like the lug nut hole issues there are companies that will say they can repair areas of a wheel that we deem unrepairable. In some rare cases that may be true but we take the safety of a wheel very seriously and unless we can prove that a safe repair can be done through third party testing we will not preform that repair. A quick note about crack inspections. Sometimes we can not see cracks in wheels unless the finish of the wheel is stripped. A wheel can have a hair line crack under the finish that is impossible to see unless the wheel is stripped. We do not strip the finish off wheels unless we are refinishing the whole wheel and therefore it is possible to miss a crack in a wheel during the free wheel inspections.      

The next process in the free wheel inspection after the wheels are checked for cracks and lug nut hole problems is to check the balance of the wheel and tire. We will install the wheel and tire on our balancer and measure to see of the wheel and tire are out of balance. At this time we will visually check the wheel for a bend and measure the wheel if necessary. If the wheel checks out good but the wheel and tire assembly are out of balance we would then visually check the tire for problems. We are not tire experts but sometimes we are able to see that there is a tires issue. If you have a bad tire we have the ability to get a new one for you. If the wheel checks out good and we believe the tire is good but the wheel and tire are out of balance we can at this time rebalance the wheel and tire for a small fee.

The Last step in the free wheel inspection process is to dunk the wheel and tire assembly in our dunk tank to check for air leaks. There are many reasons wheels and tires leak other than the most common nail or object in the tire. A wheel and tire can leak from a crack in the rim, corroded beads on the rim, a bent rim or a bad wheel casting. Most of these issues can be repaired with the exception of the bad casting. Dunking the wheel and tire assembly in our tanks is also our last test to check for a crack in a wheel just in case it was missed during the visual inspection. If we find an object in the tire we unfortunately do not have the equipment to repair that but we are able to recommend many great tire stores to get it repaired at.

At Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists we take wheel safety very seriously so please stop by today or call and schedule your free wheel inspection. Weather you have a vibration, tire leak or maybe just purchased a used set of wheels and just want peace of mind. We would love to inspect your wheels and tires for you today. Please note this is a free inspection and we although we will be inspect every wheel thoroughly and there are some cases we will miss problems in your wheels or tires. There are also some problems in wheels that can not be found unless more through inspections are done by stripping the wheels finish off. We do not strip the finish off wheels during the free wheel inspection but this is done in some of our other services. Please contact us with any questions.