Aluminum wheels, brackets, tanks, trailer components and body panels. The material most shops turn away, welded properly here.
4.9 50 reviews from Cleveland customers
Rated with the BBBArc Wheels Welding LLC, since 2023
Black ownedIndependent shop on Cleveland's southeast side
Most general welding shops will not take aluminum, and the reason is not equipment. It is that aluminum punishes shortcuts that steel forgives. It conducts heat away four times faster, so the settings that work on steel put nothing into the joint and then suddenly put everything into it. It carries an oxide layer that melts at roughly three times the temperature of the metal underneath it, so anything less than clean prep traps contamination in the weld. And it gives no colour warning before it collapses.
That is why an aluminum job often bounces between three shops before it lands somewhere. It is regular work here, on TIG, with the prep done properly because with aluminum the prep is most of the job.
Aluminum wheels, cracked at the barrel or the spoke face. These get their own treatment because a wheel has to be trued after welding, not just sealed.
Brackets, mounts and plates where the original part is discontinued, or where a steel version would be too heavy for what it is bolted to.
Fuel, water and hydraulic tanks with cracked seams or failed fittings. Tanks get handled carefully for obvious reasons and need to arrive purged.
Trailer components, ramps and frames on the aluminum trailers that are common in landscaping and towing fleets.
Body panels and trim on vehicles that use aluminum where you would expect steel, which is now most trucks.
Aluminum oxide forms the moment bare aluminum meets air and it will not melt at welding temperature. Weld through it and the oxide ends up inside the joint as an inclusion, which is a crack waiting for a load cycle.
So the joint gets mechanically cleaned back to bright metal immediately before welding, with tools that are only ever used on aluminum. A wire brush that has touched steel will embed steel particles in the surface and contaminate the weld.
Heat gets controlled deliberately, because aluminum has no colour change to warn you. It looks the same right up until the puddle drops through. That is judgement and it is why a shop that does aluminum occasionally tends to produce welds that look acceptable and fail early.
Some cast aluminum parts are porous enough that a weld will never hold cleanly, and some are structural enough that a repair is not worth the risk. Both get told to you rather than attempted.
Yes, and it is common work. The weld is only half of it though. The wheel then has to be trued and checked for runout, because an aluminum wheel that has been heated and not brought back to round will vibrate and leak at the bead.
It needs TIG, dedicated clean tools, and a feel for heat that only comes from doing it regularly. A shop that welds aluminum twice a year produces welds that look fine and crack under load, so most of them sensibly decline.
Only if it arrives properly purged. A tank that has held fuel is a genuine hazard, not a formality, and we will turn away anything that has not been prepared.
The weld itself can be, but the heat affected zone either side is softer than the parent metal. On anything carrying real load the repair gets reinforced to account for that rather than relying on the weld alone.
Most quotes come back the same day the shop is open. Free, no obligation, and if it cannot be repaired you will hear that straight.
