My son (floggingmike) recently picked up a set of Comets, a couple of them had some minor bends with one bend more significant so I decided to take on the task of fixing the one with the worse bend. I first had the wheel run on a balance machine to check lateral runout before I spent the time taking out the bend, it was ok. You can also do this by mounting on a rear(for fwd) hub and spinning it, as long as your vehicle is not awd. I've never done this on an aluminum wheel before so I searched the web for ideas. Some videos that I saw show the wheel being smacked with a hammer after heating, while I've done this before on a steel wheel, I didn't want to do this on the alum wheel.
I decided to take more of a controlled repair by heating with a propane torch to appx 250-300 degrees and using a bottle jack to push out the bend as best as possible. I picked up an electronic infrared heat thermometer at Harbor Freight with a $27. coupon so that I would know what temp the wheel was at, although with the propane torch you really can't get to over 300 degrees. Forget a heat gun, it's not hot enough, I tried. I checked the severity of the bend by first picking up a length of 5/16th threaded rod, coupler, and nuts. I cut this a few inches short of the id of the back of the wheel, and cut a smaller piece so that once in the coupler I was able to adjust it to make a measuring rod out of it by checking id in several locations around the wheel away from the bend. This was my "control" measurement. I then checked it at the bend to determine how bad it was. This particular bend was in the ballpark of 3/32"
I first heated the area, then immediately put the jack in( I used a piece of curved steel over the jack end to make the top smoother)and applied pressure to the bend, heated some more with the jack still applied and let cool first before releasing the jack. I needed to do this cycle a couple of times, checking with my measuring rod occasionally, as aluminum will tend to flex back to where it was. Make sure that you heat the whole area, inside and out and the bead/lip, not just in one spot as the photo shows. The whole wheel will probably flex oblong when you apply the jack pressure, but mine returned to normal after releasing the jack. Just remember, if you go too far taking out the bend, good luck trying to fix it. I didn't have that issue, as it took a lot of pressure to move the bend. Don't try the repair without properly heating it, you will bend out the other side of the wheel where the bottom of the jack sits. You may want to radius the bottom piece of wood as to not make a hard pressure point with the edges. I'd also like to mention that the inside diameter is not the machined side of the wheel, so you won't get perfect measurements but should get you in the ballpark to decrease the bend.
If you try this, you do so at your own risk.
Wheel bend before repair:
Measuring
Heating
Jack
Temp
Measure
Bend 80% better, not perfect but good enough
