Post
by X5Sport » Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:09 pm
No idea about the insurance aspect and that may well depend on the company. I suppose they could take the line that a welded wheel does not have the strength of the original wheel due to heating effects but that's an interesting call.
Welding is not unusual and if done properly with the right alloys and heat treatments could be fine in the short to medium term, but the fatigue life will have been changed.
Having had a harder think about this, I think my original post would have had the following added.....
Would you feel safe driving a two-tonne vehicle knowing a wheel had been hit hard enough to cause a crack, and even though the crack has been welded and appears to be absolutely OK, is it? Is there another unseen crack still there? Personally I would not take the chance, and there are others who think the same. But then again, there are plenty of drivers who have no issue with driving on repaired rims so it has to be a personal decision. Our E46 had a rim 'splayed' by a pothole and it was repaired by a company who specialise in repairing rims and have the right tools. They will not weld cracked rims (in our case it wasn't cracked) for safety reasons.
No doubt there is a fairly evenly balanced debate supporting either viewpoint.
Never anthropomorphise computers. They hate that.
not good as a new one from the stealers is £530 inc VAT anyone know of a second hand one or a place where I can get a new one for a sensible price. It's from a 4.8is. 20" 10.5 I think the style is 168. 
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