For the last couple of years we have been importing & selling alloy wheel straightening machines. They're not everyone's cup of tea but for those that have them, they love them. At first they look intimidating, people wonder will they be able to use them correctly or will they create more hardship than it's worth. Will they get the work to pay for it or will it just sit in the corner gathering dust ? Well, they do need a bit of TLC in the beginning but if you search Youtube, you will see guys repairing rims really fast with no problems at all. What I always suggest to people is that they go and get a few old rims to practice on. If you drive the ram up through the rim and completely destroy it, then at least you won't have a customer to worry about

Alloys do need to be heated before hand or you run the risk of cracking them, a simple blow torch is all that's required. Always heat the rims from the inside, if you heat the outside i.e. painted surface you could tarnish the paint and the wheel will look terrible afterwards. The ram responds really well so when you're pushing the buckle out, you can push slightly, then a bit more and so on until the wheel is straight. Obviously pushing hard on the ram will cause the ram to go out through the rim. Some suppliers advertise machines that can return a rim back to a better tolerance than what it was when new. This might be possible but not practical, as you would need to stay at the rim for a very long time to achieve such results. The thing to go for here is to be able to get the majority of the buckle out which can be done quickly, get the tyre back on the rim so there's no leaks around the bead, balance the wheel and away you go. 

We are now importing machines from K-Mak, the original manufacturer of rim straightening machines. They currently have 5 models to choose from. You can go from a basic manual hydraulic unit up to a computerised unit that actually measures the buckle in the rim electronically. We sell our machines with 12 months parts AND labour warranty and training comes free. We will probably thrown in a blowtorch for free if you ask nicely We will also deliver the machine to your workshop and show you how to use it for FREE. They're not the kind of machine you ship without at least some basic training. If you would like more information on rim straightening machine, please contact us on 086-1727569 or email info@autoquip.ie or just reply to this thread. All comments welcome...

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