I have a set of Fikse FM10 forged 3-piece wheels that are all slightly out of round from a couple years of dedicated track work. No dents or cracks, they just don't balance out perfectly anymore resulting in slight vibration in the steering wheel at high speeds. All 4 are out of round.

I know nothing about the process of straightening forged aluminum wheels, how much heat is involved (if any), etc... Is having the rims professionally straightened & refinished an option here? Or can the straightening process result in compromised wheel integrity?

 

You can replace the inner or outer barrels individually ... depending on which one you feel is out of round.
Lots of people on Pelican have sold Fikse parts as they changed offsets !

 

I've looked into this indeed. The cost of replacement barrels from Fikse + shipping + labour to do the work (I wouldn't be able to do this myself) + refinishing the wheels, I am pretty close to the cost of a new quality forged wheel... So my preference would be to straighten & refinish (if it can be done safely), or sell them off and just buy a new set of wheels.

Of course rim repair shops tell me it's no problem, but would rather get advice from fellow experienced track junkies here on RL.

 

Harvey straightens out forged fuchs all day long. Give him a call.

Phil

 

It's not that hard to do ... i ran 17 inch Fikse FM10's on my 911 for 7-8 years when i was doing DE's and replaced two outer barrels , most likely due
to large speed bumps , i can think of the inside of 5A-5B at Mosport where i definitely bent one !

Post on Pelican , like i said , there's a large group of people with Fikse wheels and assorted parts ...
Send Jeff Alton an email , i think he's still involved with Fikse, sometimes they have clearance sales , i got a nice set of brand new FM5's for a steal !

 

Harvey who? I thought this thread was about Fiske and not Fuchs.

 

I'd guess he meant Weidman wheels. Can't hurt to ask if they straighten Fikse wheels. The concept is probably the same.

 

I straighten my own. I have found about 0.40 out and it annoys you. 0.20 you just barely feel that. Once you get to about 3oz of wheel weight you are close to 40 out.

 

Depending upon the nature of the bend, an experienced rim guy may be able to fix it with a hammer. A few weeks ago we found an inner barrel on 1 wheel was bent in. My tire/wheel guy (a former Fikse dealer) was able to use a small sledge hammer to hammer it out and get it good enough. He cautioned that the barrel could crack during the hammering, but at that point I had nothing to lose. The wheel balanced fine and I ran it over the weekend with no issues.

He may also still have spare barrels if you need to replace.

 

BFH (big effing hammer) and a block of wood. No heat required. It’s not really that hard to do yourself to be honest, you just need a way to measure the runout.

 

 

Hey 38D in your photo, did you check out the roundness of those ?

 

Don't let us talk you out of those wheels. Just as most other areas of your car, wheels are a wear item and require maintenance from time to time. Just to be clear, the only "Forged" parts are the centers, It's the inners and outers that bend, they're made of aluminum. Those center will probably last longer than you do under ordinary wear, that is, you don't bounce the car off of a strip of ARMACO.

The inners and outers "wear" over time, regardless of brand, BUT, they'll bend but wont crack/fail. Bending is just normal wear and tear. That's what you want. Get a new set of E88s from BBS, they too will be out of round over time...drive 3 piece on the street with the potholes etc., they'll be out of round sooner than you would want. As a result, my former Fikse 3 piece wheels I bought used off of Rennlist only saw track duty.

Suppose you go to sell your Fikse wheels and buy a set of BBS E88 wheels, a prospective buyers will want to know if the Fikse wheels are straight and true. Now what do you do? That's the dilemma I faced.....I was getting ready to sell my 993, not to include the Fikse wheels, so as a preventative measure, I contacted a trusted vendor, Wheel Enhancement..they have been very good to me over the years, and to many of you as well. Nothing about them is cheap, but they known to be a quality operation. I have been to their shop, first class.

I sent them the right side wheels, one of the bent wheels was there, an inner, did they same thing on the other side, an outer was bent. As per their policy, the they separated the inners, outers and centers, and replaced the offending bent parts, then cleaned and resealed the wheels, put in all new bolts and torqued the bolts to Fikse specs. Did the same thing on the other side.It cost me about $900 including freight, and for that about I knew I had a set of wheels that I could represent as perfect...sold them...as I sold the car and didn't need them anymore. Didn't make a lot of money on those wheels, but I can sleep at night.

Bottomline, you'll never know until what you are in for, until you send them in to Wheel Enhancement, or some other reputable vendor. A new set of E88s, is about $4,000, maybe >.....Dave will be glad to sell you these as well. Wheel Enhancement is a BBS dealer.


Dave Martin
Wheel Enhancement
(310) 836-8908
11014 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90304

 

You should see if there is a local wheel repair shop nearby. Here in San Diego I use US Wheel. They have the equipment to properly fix bent rims, or they let me know if a rim is so bent it needs to be replaced. I've replaced both inner and outer rims on three piece wheels. I have used factory replacement parts and also cheaper aftermarket rims, the factory parts were a lot better fit and finish.

 

I pm you