Picked up some 12 spoke Americans. Hit em' w/ the blaster and some sandpaper and they cleaned up nicely. How do I keep them that way?
1/2 VHT, 1/2 gasoline burnouts will give them a nice patina... Mag wheels are supposed to turn dirty grey so you can tell them from aluminum wheels.
Exactly! I'm trying to preserve the magnesium gray look...but w/ out further corrosion. Gibbs it is. Thanks guys.
Only after it's polished..., then two weeks later they are Dull Gray...!!! No Shit..., I wasted $800 getting My Magnesium Halibrand Quick Change center polished only to see what happens to it naturally in a Small amount of time...!!!
Use ATF ! The silicone in it will pickel the Mag and it will stay a (nice ) color of Gray ,the color that Mag should be. Don't blast or sand a Mag wheel. If you want a shiny wheel get some Aluminum wheels. That is my 2 cents. T
The gold color is from the inspection process that is done on non ferrous metal. It is called Zy-glo made by Dow Chemical co. It is a penatrant dye test When the Zy-glo is developed with a chemical developer it will show flaws or cracks in aluminum or magnesium as a line. When viewed under black light. T
The gold color isn't from Zy-glo, Zy-glo is a process to check for cracks, it does nothing to the color of Mag or aluminum. Dow 22 is what the old Indy car wheels had done to them to give them that "gold" color I have a pair of 18" Halibrand Indy wheels on the back of my roadster if ya wanna see em.
Hi Roy, are your wheels coated? I always thought it was Dow7 that gave that gold look. I'm not real familiar with any of the coatings. I think this Anglia has the coating I'm thinking of, which coating is that?
If I knew of anything better than Gibbs Brand to put on bare metal, I'd be using it. Here's the page I wrote about Gibbs Brand: http://www.roadsters.com/gibbs/ The wheels shown on the top of that page were coated with Gibbs Brand more than two years ago, and each application has lasted an average of eight months. One of the many great things about Gibbs is that it contains no silicone (nasty shit that's not allowed in my shop) but it leaves surfaces slippery and they won't become sticky, which is what my experience with WD-40 on magnesium was. The more you use Gibbs, the more you realize how lousy WD-40 is. Dow 7 is what I was taught to be the pickling process that was used by Halibrand back in the '60s. Without researching Dow 22, I'm guessing it was a later solution that may have been similar. For anyone interested, several years ago I wrote about taking care of magnesium wheels on my site's Classic Racing Wheels page, at http://www.roadsters.com/wheels/ Dave Mann (602) 233-8400 http://www.roadsters.com/
...Dave Mann speaks the truth. I bought some and use it on everything and it is the shiznit to be sure. G.
I had a set of campenello pantera wheels on my shelby for years I only used them for road racing, not on the street. BUt I wanted them to look good on the track. so i had them polished and then clear coated they looked LIKe a million bucks! nothing shines up like magneseum, they would stay polished for about a year fo abuse on the track, then i have em polished and coated every year. to me it was worth it, anyone can have grey wheels!
Now that I have a set of magnesium wheels I want to maintain a controlled state of decay. I don't want to brighten I just want to control the oxidation and keep them in the dark grey appearance... what do I do? Posted using Full box of Crayons on the Kitchen Walls App!
Hey thanks for the link I heard something about Remington gun oil as well... I'm going to check that out! Posted using Full box of Crayons on the Kitchen Walls App!
I've heard horror stories about mag wheels sitting in the garage and virtually melting due to corrosion is that true? Posted using Full box of Crayons on the Kitchen Walls App!
I put wheel covers (like painters use to cover tires when painting) over my rims when I come home and they seem to last a month (or more) before any tarnishing starts. I live in So Cal about 15 miles from the ocean and discovered this by accident. My centers are gray and I just rub some polish lightly on them when I polish the edges and that seems to work for me.
The Jalopy Journal
