Can you weld a steel car wheel to stop a leak?

[Nipper]

Can you MIG weld a steel car wheel to stop a slow leak where the wheel has a bit of rust? Anyone ever do this?

[Blacksmith]

You may find that the heat exacerbates the "little bit" of rust. Generally, at least on car bodies, you have to "cut back" to sound metal before welding.

[MAC702]

The short answer is that, yes, you can weld a steel wheel if you have a hole in it. But it's usually a lot more complicated than that by how the hole was formed, making the repair questionably sound.

[Nipper]

It was so small I needed soap to find it. I deflated the tire, hit it with the grinder and it was solid so I put a tack weld on it. : )
Holding fine! I'm thinking soldering it might have been fine as well since we are only talking 32 psi.

[MAC702]

Sounds good! Certainly worth the attempt!

[Sberry]

Really aint sposed to weld on a wheel with the tire on. Seems maybe if no rubber was behind it ok but there are cases of some delayed exothermic reaction,,,, I dont recall the details or even exact the problem but it can be. I am sure its rather rare but we sw some post or warning on it, been a while rgough.

[Garfield]

I know this is an old post and the OP welded on a rim and nothing bad happened to him.
However welding on a rim with a tire mounted on it can go very wrong.

This last video covers several tire fatalities.
One happened when a man deflated the tire, welded the rim and then re-inflated the tire.

[Sberry]

I always worry when we got to "power" seat them with starting fluid. Air in them is really hot after.