# Cracked Wheel: Repair or Replace?



## TLo (May 1, 2013)

I have a set of Mavic Kysrium K10's. During my annual bike tuneup the mechanic found a crack in the rim of the rear wheel near a nipple. He says I should not ride on it, even though i probably have been riding on it for sometime. He contacted Mavic and they could send a new rim to repair the wheel. The cost would be about $350 (Parts and Labor). The downside he says is that Mavic is very slow and it could be a couple of weeks before it's ready.

My questions are the following:

Has anyone had any experience repairing a cracked rim?
Did you notice a change in the quality of the ride?
Do you think it makes sense to repair the rim vs. investing in a new wheelset?

Thanks for the input

TLo.


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## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

All rims crack, given enough time.
If you true it up and ride it, it will go out of true as the crack enlarges. Eventually, the nipple will pull through and the wheel will really be out of true.
This may make the bike unrideable and force you to walk home.

Replace the rim.
.
.
.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

TLo said:


> I have a set of Mavic Kysrium K10's. During my annual bike tuneup the mechanic found a crack in the rim of the rear wheel near a nipple. He says I should not ride on it, even though i probably have been riding on it for sometime. He contacted Mavic and they could send a new rim to repair the wheel. The cost would be about $350 (Parts and Labor). The downside he says is that Mavic is very slow and it could be a couple of weeks before it's ready.
> 
> My questions are the following:
> 
> ...


The ride quality won't change assuming the shop knows what it is doing. You may be able to ride the rim for months as the crack slowly propagates, or it might fail on your next ride. If it were me I would ride it and watch the progress of the crack while looking at far better choices for wheels than MAVIC. Go to the Wheels & Tires forum and you'll find all kinds of better choices.


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## eflayer2 (Feb 15, 2002)

*i just went through this with a custom built wheel on an older Stans 340 rim*

I decided to go for a new rim. I was thinking the potential for a catastrophic failure was minimal, but then I thought about a 40 mile an hour descent and hitting a pot hole and having that be the moment of truth. Who the hell knows really when the nipple will decide to pull through the rim?


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## bmwjoe (Jul 15, 2012)

I have had this happen a couple of times with 10k+ miles on the front rim. I attribute it to the miles and that I ride all year and the salt dust is not good for the aluminum. I replace the rim when most of the nipple holes have cracks.
View attachment 280076

This one shows the cracks as they appear on the rim.
View attachment 280077

This one shows the cracks enhanced with dye penetrant, so they are easy to see. The wheel was still true and did not feel wobbly. These were strictly cracks, there was no bulging of the metal. I figure after all of the miles the wheels do not owe me anything.

Ride Safe,

Joe


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

Ouch. $350 for a rim? Personally for that money I'd pony up a little more and get another different wheel all together. But I don't care if my wheels match so I guess if you do and want to keep the price down you're kind of stuck. I'd at least surf the net and see how much getting the entire same Mavic wheel is. I'm assuming your wheel isn't a 2013 model so you might get lucky and find the entire wheel for not much more than $350. 
It's not that I think there's anything wrong with replaceing a rim that has me saying this (assuming the shop knows what they are doing).....it's that I'd feel violated paying $350 for a rim when I could get a similar quality rim, hub and spokes for not much more.


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## hamsey (Aug 16, 2010)

Joe,

Did you do the PT yourself? Never thought about that to check rims. Not a bad idea maybe once a year give it a check.


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## bmwjoe (Jul 15, 2012)

Yes, I did the testing myself. Dye Penetrant testing is fairly easy. They sell kits, but all you really need is a can of the dye and developer. Dynaflux or Magnaflux are two brand names. I learned how to do it at work, but Youtube will show some how-to videos. You can get the materials in spray cans at:

Industrial Supply Equipment from MSC Industrial Supply

McMaster-Carr

Ride Safe,

Joe

PS: I believe this would work on carbon fiber too to detect surface cracks, however I am not sure if the solvents would harm the resin.


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## hamsey (Aug 16, 2010)

Thanks for the info. I do PT at my work. Checking aluminum welds


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

bmwjoe said:


> I have had this happen a couple of times with 10k+ miles on the front rim. I attribute it to the miles and that I ride all year and the salt dust is not good for the aluminum. I replace the rim when most of the nipple holes have cracks. This one shows the cracks enhanced with dye penetrant, so they are easy to see. The wheel was still true and did not feel wobbly. These were strictly cracks, there was no bulging of the metal. I figure after all of the miles the wheels do not owe me anything.


All what miles? My current front wheel is approaching 90K miles (Velocity Aerohead, 32 spoke, 15/16 DB DT Swiss spokes 3X, Campy Record hub). I would be pi$$ed beyond description to have a front wheel last only 10K miles.


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## bmwjoe (Jul 15, 2012)

My expectations for a $70 wheel are not that great. I don't ride that much so I figure throwing a new wheel on every 2-3 years is not such a bad thing. I can't get that excited about it.

Ride Safe,

Joe


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## Fogdweller (Mar 26, 2004)

Jay Strongbow said:


> Ouch. $350 for a rim?


Mavic's gig is that the only thing you get back from the original wheel is the hub shell, everything else is replaced, rim, spokes, nips, axle, cartridges and a the cassette carrier if it's a rear wheel. I've been through it twice, once on a set of ES wheels and a second time on the rear wheel when the replaced rim cracked. It was a good jumping off point so I sold them and stick to hand built 3x now. I think the whole program is a rip-off and the number of Mavic hubs on eBay at any given time seems to support this.


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