There was a jerk in San Jose with an orange '29 Roadster Pickup that would meet 'new talent', wine & dine them, then invite them for a Saturday 'picnic'. The 'picnic' included a brief lesson in hand polishing his Halibrand magnesium wheels, in exchange (entry) for a trip to a Sunday (next day) rod run with him. Needless to say, each wheel required more than just one polishing...
I find that tech post comparing aluminum and magnesium funny because the quality of aluminum wheels (from at least from the late 60s and on) was VERY hit or miss - especially with the inexpensive wheels. I have no problems comparing materials but that's no determining factor the for wheels we're chatting about. I'm biased, of course. However, I've spoken with guys a lot more knowledgeable than me, guys who've run them for decades and guys who still run them on the street thousands of miles a year, cross-country even. They chuckle at the fear-based chatter and cautions because while anything is possible, there's a lot of mythology involved.
Agreed, if your wheels somehow catch on fire you may have bigger problems. I know brakes can lock ant get crazy hot but I'd imagine anyone remotely into cars would feel that before it gets to that point. Pretty much Any wheel can break or bend enough to be useless under the wrong sort of circumstances regardless of the material it's made from. So what other problems? Some dick bag steeling them but that can happen with others as well.
I bought a '53 F100 project years ago that had those white Jackman style wheels on it with roller tires. When I got it running and took it to my friends tire shop for new rear tires, he found one wheel had a wobble to it. The weld holding the center in place hadn't penetrated on the band side and had broken on about one half of the full weld circumference. The rust indicated that it had been broken for a while. So, like the man said, any wheel can fail. Our local wheel place had two 15x8s with the Ford truck bolt pattern and they even gave me credit for the old wheels. Bolton Wheel.... man, I miss having a cool old place like that right down the street to deal with when I need wheels.
Mike - I think my father learned that "trick" from Joe ... or maybe it was the other way around ??? In the '70s, it was my "job" to polish the MAGNESIUM American Torque Thrusts on the coupe ... the week before any rod run or car show. When they got really oxidized, I wet-sanded with 600 grit and/or emory cloth ... All the polishing was done by hand ... though I did jack up each corner so I could "spin" each wheel. For the final polish, I always used HAPPICH SIMICHROME POLISH: In 1980, I had my own car project ('29 hiboy on Deuce rails), a job, & college to keep me busy ... so without his "free slave labor", my father bought a set of polished Aluminum Halibrand look-a-like rims (FISH) for the coupe.
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