Calling motor mechanics (or anyone with an opinion!)

[s_zigmond]

Is it any of these?

http://www.wspitaly.com/catalogo-prodotti/Renault.html

wspitaly make oem replica alloys, and I can vouch for how good they are

 

[1210tech]

PS. £400 alloys packages are quite likely to be un-round from the factory, I'm not even sure you can trust some of those fresh from the box. Plus people never give enough consideration to the offsets, you have to worry about more than 4 or 5 bolt fitting :?

Never had a problem and over the years I have bought 5 replica sets for different cars. The offsets and stud patterns are printed on the inside of wheels and sellers provide that information when buying too.

Alloys are easier to buckle than you think especially if you are running low profile tyres....what we pay road tax for I'll never know!

 

[KDM]

Just a quick thought. Is the spare an alloy or a space saver ?

It's unusual for a car alloy to get buckled so lgfs suggestion of a breakers or something like autotrader maybe the cheapest and best option. There is of course many parts search companies around also. Why don't you put up a picture and description in here now and see what the members might be able to find?

Personally if an alloy was bad enough to need a repair beyond just a refurb I would consider it dead.

 

[xerxes]

I'd be inclined to try the breakers.

I'm surprised that you say it's buckled, yet you can't see it, sounds odd. Is it out of balance, can you feel anything through the car/steering?

 

[jimo746]

Have you got a pic of the damage?

And who have you got quote from for the repair?


Generally, small buckles and dings can be sorted quite easily, most reputable repairers will guarantee their work too, so unless it's a real £20 backstreet welder repair job you should have no worries.

But if you can get a replacement wheel (either new or one which is guaranteed straight) for less than the cost of the repair then it's a no-brainer surely??

 

[hamster]

I've bought a replacement wheel for my Saab for little money on eBay. I've just got the same problem on my car (8 year old Mercedes C class) - one pothole unseen, huge bang, damaged rim.
However, for the Benz, eBay ones were the same as my specialist before VAT. For a 20% saving I'd rather go with new.

Breakers are good to try, the Saab was kept going solely on their bits.

 

[Whatleymeister]

Cheers for the thoughts and opinions chaps. Now, to answer the questions that have been asked!...

It is a Clio II facelift version, the one before the current shape. Basically, the one Renault are still shifting but have now called it a Clio 'Campus'. Its a 15 inch alloy so finding them on ebay amidst all the 172 sport wheels is a pain. The ones I have found on there really have seen better days. I have seen those £250 wheel only packages and they are tempting though... :roll:

Silverclaws - how did I bend it. Well, it was when we had the last bout of snowy weather and I was, shall we say 'playing' with the handbrake and I might have inadvertantly introduced the wheel to the kerb square on. Totally silly thing to do, but I clearly couldnt resist at the time.

Magsy, I have every faith that the people doing it know what they are doing. Its a firm that specialise in plant machinery but also do cars. The lad that works there is a Clio fanboy (has two, heavily modified) and is also Renault trained as he worked for them for some time. The buckle in a wheel only needs to be small to take out bearings. A small variance at prolonged speeds puts a lot of vibraitons through the bearings. So I am told anyway, and it made sense to me.

s_zigmond - no, its not one of those. Although the last one is the newer version for the recent Clios. Good find if anyone else needs an OEM replacement

KDM, the spare is a steely. I could run the steely until a straight alloy turns up, but the bearing is shot so may as well at least have matching wheels until I get both bearing and wheel replaced. I dont have a picture to hand of mine, there isnt any visible damage anyway as its not really noticable to the naked eye. It is one of these though, running a 185/55/15 tyre:

xerxes - its a back wheel that is buckled. Definitley buckled as it has been picked up by an independent garage and also at the MOT. Not enough to fail, but evidently enough to destroy a new bearing in a little over 6 months. It was on the front but was moved to the back for reasons I forget now.

jimo746 - not got a picture, the wheel looks fine to look at other than a few little kerb scrapes, but they werent related to the buckling incident. Quote is from an online alloy wheel specialist. Its also a start price depending on the job:

http://www.premierwheelrepairs.com/?gcl ... fAodKnkAAw

These are an example, there are others too. They seem very confident of their work so it seems like the better option. Repair is cheaper than replacement by a reasonable whack, so its whats causing me to mull over the options.

I think thats covered everyone, sorry to ramble on!

 

[drcarlos]

The buckle in a wheel only needs to be small to take out bearings. A small variance at prolonged speeds puts a lot of vibraitons through the bearings. So I am told anyway, and it made sense to me.

I call shenanigans on that, having run slightly buckled wheels for at least 18 months each on two different cars in my yoof and never taken out a wheel bearing I'd put it down to a poor quality replacement bearing, especially as you can't even see the buckle by eye. Can you feel the vibration from it like an out of balance wheel?
As replacements go the cheap Chinese ones last about 1 season if we are lucky (but we buy in a stack of 10 and replace then regularly) in our racing lawnmowers where a decent RHP or SKF will do 3 easily.

Carl.

 

[Whatleymeister]

The buckle in a wheel only needs to be small to take out bearings. A small variance at prolonged speeds puts a lot of vibraitons through the bearings. So I am told anyway, and it made sense to me.

I call shenanigans on that, having run slightly buckled wheels for at least 18 months each on two different cars in my yoof and never taken out a wheel bearing I'd put it down to a poor quality replacement bearing, especially as you can't even see the buckle by eye. Can you feel the vibration from it like an out of balance wheel?
As replacements go the cheap Chinese ones last about 1 season if we are lucky (but we buy in a stack of 10 and replace then regularly) in our racing lawnmowers where a decent RHP or SKF will do 3 easily.

Carl.

Hmm, interesting. I do trust the guys fitting the bearings as like I said, he is a Renault trained tech and also Clio fanboy. The other chap that works there is a good friend too, so not likely to have been stitched up in that sense. Perhaps it was a duff bearing. Oddly, however, the other chap that serviced my car said that a slight buckle will increase bearing wear. This was before the replacement one was fitted. Low and behold, it has gone like he said.

Anyhow, I can feel some vibrations, normally in the pedals for some reason, but I put that down to normal 'road feedback'. Perhaps I am mistaken? Would a buckled wheel that is on the rear be felt through the steering? It certainly doesnt vibrate much, but I wonder whether I have got used to it and just dont notice it? Either way, MOT docket said it is slightly buckled so its defo not quite right.

By the way, I would love to come and watch the mower racing sometime if you want a spectator/fan!! Sounds fun, and you are only down the road from me. I grew up in sandhurst!

 

[Magsy]

Just buy one second hand, tons on ebay and most people don't go round handbrake turning into curbs It can always be sent back if it happens to be bent. With tyres that size they shouldn't bend often


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Breaking-Rena ... 35be95a914

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Renault-Clio- ... 25736220f5

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Renault-Clio- ... 2573622d72