Division one — Wheels
Cracked Alloy Wheel Welding & Repair
A cracked alloy is an MOT failure and a genuine safety issue — but it is very often repairable. We TIG weld cracks properly, machine the repair back to profile and pressure-test the wheel before it goes anywhere near a car.
Cracks usually start at the rim flange or in the barrel, from a pothole hit or a hard kerb strike. They are not always obvious: a wheel that loses two or three PSI a week, or that has been "balanced" three times and still vibrates, is a classic cracked-rim symptom. Once we have the tyre off and the wheel is stripped, it shows up straight away.
The repair is a proper weld, not a fill. The area is cleaned back to bright metal, the crack is veed out so the weld penetrates the full section rather than sitting on the surface, and it is TIG welded with a matched filler. Then it is machined and dressed back to the original profile so the tyre still seats correctly.
Every welded wheel gets pressure-tested before it is signed off. If it does not hold, it does not go back on your car — we will tell you and, if it cannot be saved, we will say so rather than send you away with something we are not confident in.
What we will not do is repair a crack that runs through a spoke or into the hub face. Those are load paths, not cosmetic areas, and no honest repairer welds them. If that is what you have got, we will tell you the wheel is scrap and why.
Common questions
Will a cracked wheel fail an MOT?
Yes. A crack in a road wheel is a fail — it is a structural defect, not a cosmetic one. We see a lot of wheels arrive the week before a test for exactly this reason.
How do I know if my alloy is cracked?
The usual signs are a slow, consistent pressure loss over days, a vibration that survives repeated balancing, or a visible line at the rim flange. If in doubt, we will take the tyre off and look — that is the only way to be certain.
Is a welded wheel as strong as it was?
A correctly veed and TIG-welded rim repair, machined back to profile and pressure-tested, is a well-established repair used across the industry. What matters is that the weld penetrates properly and that the crack was in a repairable area to begin with. That is our judgement to make, and we make it honestly.
Can you repair a crack in a spoke?
No — and be wary of anyone who says yes. Spokes and hub faces carry load. A crack there means the wheel is scrap.
Book it in
We are on Andersons Industrial Estate in Wickford — two minutes off the A130, twenty-five from Southend, half an hour from Romford. Call or send a photo.