Can a Damaged Wheel Hub Be Repaired?
2 Answers
Wheel hubs can be repaired. Below is relevant information about automotive wheel hub repairs: 1. Surface Damage: Primarily involving wear and scratches on the hub surface. Repairs only address the surface and generally do not affect the main load-bearing structure of the original hub, having minimal impact on the hub's reliability and safety. 2. Hub Deformation: This refers to the hub becoming deformed, twisted, or out-of-round due to external forces, which can be forcibly corrected. However, even if no fine cracks are visible to the naked eye, from a scientific perspective, the metal structure in this area is entirely different from that of a normal hub. 3. Fracture Damage: When a hub suffers a severe impact, it may experience varying degrees of fractures or chips. Although fractured hubs can be repaired through welding, their safety performance significantly decreases.
Of course it can be repaired! Last time I scraped my rims while driving on a mountain road, I took it straight to a professional rim repair shop. They first used equipment to check the true roundness of the rim—deformations within 5mm can be corrected. For brushed surface rims, they can even re-machine the finish, and aluminum alloy cracks are fixed using argon arc welding. However, after repair, it's crucial to perform a dynamic balance test. But do note that if the rim spokes are broken or deformed beyond the safety limit, or if the edge is severely cracked, it's safer to replace the rim entirely. Repair costs range from 200 to 800, which is much more economical than buying new ones. After repair, they can last normally for three to five years without issues.
