I acquired a set of 6" X 15" wheels, they have been in dry storage for about 20 years.
How can I refinish them, who can do it and what are my choices of finishes?
I acquired a set of 6" X 15" wheels, they have been in dry storage for about 20 years.
How can I refinish them, who can do it and what are my choices of finishes?
Send to Harvey. they will be perfect .
Have them magnafluxed if you plan on using them. Whatever you do to them they will oxidize and go dark-that is why many paint them-for protection. Campys and some others came with a DOW 7 finish that protected them until they could be painted as the D7 finish doesn't last. AREs and Minilites were usually painted. Some refinish with a light soda blast, slowly anneal them from 450 degrees(reduces stress) and coat with Gibbs every few months to slow oxidation. I custom mixed paint to replicate the D7 finish that is found on some mag parts/wheels. Protects and looks pretty good. I also mixed up a paint that approximates the lightly oxidized finish that wheels attain pretty quickly-again, to look correct and protect.
67 911 , 69 911S, Ford V Ferrari 906LH, 85 Carrera...and-gasp! a bunch of Corvettes, Musclecars and Italian crap(330GTC,GTA/M,308GTB)
EarlyS # 603, GroupV #2
Pretty sure that magnaflux doesn't work on magnesium.
We start with a super cleaning and then dye check with a magnifier.
It helps to look in the "usual" places.
H
Last edited by Harvey Weidman; 04-12-2016 at 06:10 AM.
And what about liquid penetrant testing?
Olivier.
The dye check that we use is liquid. As with most things, the prep is the most important thing....
And knowing where they usually crack.
A while ago, I was checking quite a few old Formula 1 wheels for vintage racing and a customer had just heard of me and he wanted me to paint his wheels after he had them inspected by a 'lab".
When we opened the boxes, two were clearly cracked on the inside lip. I asked him if the inspector just looked for the tiny cracks or did he look for big obvious ones?
The next set of Formula wheels were sent to me first, instead of the "expert lab".......
I don't have much faith in X-ray type or other see through technology on used wheels. They usually don't know where to look and if it has an internal flaw, I have the opinion that it is usually found when it the wheel is new.
JMHO.
H
These wheels could very well be worn out. I would send them to Harvey.
You're going to want them painted since magnesium is real trouble to maintain. I polished my fan. That lasted about 1 day.
Richard Newton
Stewardship
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