I've got a pair of old Halibrand magnesium wheels that I'd like to get your feedback on. Everyone's heard the stories about magnesium damage, but have you seen it? One wheels is in great shape, but the second wheel was not protected in storage and has significan pitting on the front & rear. I am positive that it will never polish out, these are deep pits. I have uploaded a couple pictures of the bad wheel so you guys can provide thoughts & feedback. Question - Is this pitted wheel safe to run on a rat rod? - Or is this wheel now garage art? Thanks, Andy
Those don't look bad as far as deep pitting. You can try a light polishing and then let them haze up again, I wouldn't chase the pit too much, we all know they are the real deal and we like the patina.
That's their natural finish! I've seen worse in Ford prototype "mag" rocker covers for the 5.4L and 4.6L engines.. The last company I worked for did some machining on those. We also had to make sure they didn't leak..
They are pitted, but not as bad as you think! The original finish on these wheels was a VERY course sand cast natural. Most of the wheel were polished, so the rough gets sanded away, and smoothed out. I used to regularly start with about 60 grit paper when I was polishing these. I wouldn't have any problem running them.
The pitting on those looks superficial to me. If they are fairly true I don't see why you couldn't run them. Some polished mag takes on an almost golden undertone; magnesium is a beautiful metal, but the polishing is too much. If you do polish, clearcoating might be a help.
I've seen a lot of guys do a light bead blast on them and powdercoat em in an off gray. Polished magnesium is a pain in the ass. To answer your question though they don't look pitted enough to where you'd have a problem running them..
......... And don't wash those with hot water... They'll turn black in a heart beat.... I learned that the hard way...
Thanks everyone for your feedback. I will have the wheel professionally checked for cracks before doing anything with it. How much material is typically removed in the polishing process? Is it more or less than .005"? How well does powdercoat stick to magnesium wheels? Is there any way to fill minor scrapes & pits in the powdercoat process? Thanks again, Andy
I have seen worse, much worse, on cars still running drags. Those are fine. No clearcoat, no powdercoat. Just leave them bare.
Magnesium can be powdercoated if done properly. It's a whole different process than an aluminum wheel. Follow the link. <DD class=summary>There are a lot of companies that do wheel powder coating, but if you what your magnesium wheels done, find a company that has a lot of experience with ...</DD><DD class=source>http://www.panteraplace.com/page41.htm - </DD>
Don't think that is all too bad. But do yourself a big favor and pay a bit of attention on here and you'll see that Rat Rods are Persona Non Grata and you should really go here http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44274 and do an intro as required by the board.
Im painting mine ,The color of my 98 chevy truck ,Some mettallic silver ,I painted mine and ran for 20 years ,On various cars and only painted them once ,Powder coating is way overated