Polishing Magnesium Wheels

[Matt]

anybody here know if you can have a bash at this at home?

my wheels are body coloured, however as my name is not Hans, I have no mullet, tight trousers or white socks and I don't live in Hamburg in the early 1990's, I'd prefer them to be silver....

in my youth playing with old VW's I know that people used to strip the paint off old alloys and then polish & laquer them with stunning results - but I wondered whether the liberal use of nitromors and high speed polishing devices would cause any damage to the RS wheels with them being magnesium...which could be quite an expensive mistake

Anybody know?

cheers

Matt

 

[Mark_Bennett]

How about an alternative idea - rather than ruining what many people desire (painted wheels), why not see if you can find someone to swap a set of unpainted wheels with?

Not sure if they would be magnesium though...

(Now I'd better get out of here as I'm not welcome in the 964RS forum [] )

 

[Matt]

s'nice idea, i had discounted it as the RS mag wheels are relatively rare (and about £1000 each from an OPC if they can find them[]), and I did'nt reckon there would be that many Maritime Blue RS owners in the UK - even fewer who would then want to have body coloured wheels - although I am more than happy to be proved wrong if anyone wants to swap a set of RS Cup 1's in silver for my maritime ones!

the other idea is to get a set of std Cup 1's as I doubt the weight difference will have any noticeable effect on my driving - the lack of ability is more telling []. problem with this is that i don't have the cash to splash around at the moment due to various things...

therefore this led me to the strip them myself solution...probably only the outer rim & keeping the centre body coloured.

Matt

(in the wifes Boxster today, sun shining, roof down, enjoying it hugely - I might come over and start posting on the Boxster forum Mark )

 

[Mark_Bennett]

I might come over and start posting on the Boxster forum Mark

Please do! We welcome anyone! (no friends you see[] )

 

[lee fulford]

Matt

Not sure whether magnesium polishes that brightly but more to the point I do know that it corrodes very quickly and a coat of laquer probably wouldn't be tough enough.

lee

 

[clarkey]

You may as well get them refurbished properly. My were done by Diamond Styling in Wembley (020 8969 9690). They were done 3 years ago and still look good. Only downside is that the wheels will have to be off the car for a while. I think mine cost about £250 for 4, although they were silver to start with....

 

[rskiwi]

I would recomend you have them done at Pristine Wheels Woburn Sands MK. They have a good deal of experience refurbishing Mag nesium wheels for Aston Martin and have done a few sets of RS wheels. You can only use a certain type of stripper and of course no power tools.
Jeff

 

[vic cohen]

Jeff do u happen to know if they will rebuild Speedlines at Woburn Sands ? Diamond styling is very good but at £250 each wheel far from cheap [replacement from fac IRO £1200 each] In fairness they come back annodised and seem to last really well inc track days and salt from roads .

 

[Melv]

Can highly recommend Diamond Styling -you gets wot yer pays for....

Melv

 

[lee fulford]

Pristine wheels refurbished my Speedlines perfectly although the paint on the centres was not hard enough and melted on a track day. But the rims were highly polished and laquered and still look good 2 or 3 years later.

Incidentally who is the guy with the black wheels on a blue RS. They have a fantastic finish on them?

lee

 

[Melv]

ORIGINAL: lee fulford

Incidentally who is the guy with the black wheels on a blue RS. They have a fantastic finish on them?

lee

That'll be Jiff!!

BTW, for a pic of Matt's wheels, se P93, latest (April 04) PP

Rgds
Mel

 

[lee fulford]

Whos Jiff?
Is that really Jeff?
Does he post?
Under what name?

All these questions.

lee

 

[Melv]

rskiwi!!

[]

Milv

 

[Guest]

My mags have been done by Diamond Styling, so that's another thumbs up for them.

I personally would recommend you get them CHROMED, hehe. Not that we'd laugh at you or anything []

It is odd, but body coloured wheels suit a 968CS (love speedgelb body and wheels, and maritime looks good) but it just doesn't work on an RS. Black looks good though, and you don't need to worry about cleaning the brake dust off...

 

[Matt]

i was just being a complete pikey to be fair and wanted to do all four for a £22.49 bottle of nitromors...[]

if i'm going to spend £250 odd then i'd probably look for a set of slightly battered std Cup 1s and punt around on those leaving the mags in the garage with the std factory finish.

i might just spray them silver with a can from Halfords until I 've saved up enough for some 22" chromed big boys and a full underbody neon lighting set....

Matt

 

[Guest]

Remember the neons set off maritime blue beautifully.

And there's all sorts of anodised blue bits to colour code the interior with, LOL.

A spare set of rims (I believe you don't get front brake clearance with Cup 1s, so be careful, maybe the Cup 2s as per the 993?) could be a good idea, especially for track use, gravel traps etc.

Cheers
Dom

 

[Guest]

I refinished my Fuchs by using cutting polish on the rim, and respraying the 'spokes' with Satin Black Hammerite (after a good rub down).

Dead cheap, good finish, about 3 hours per wheel.

ps. I know you didn't mean it, but the 'P***y' word in your first paragraph is considered to be a bit racist nowadays.
OK, so here he goes again, they all say, and they may be right, but.....

 

[Guest]

Hi Vic,

Yes they can rebuild Speedline splits, they did mine last year (Jeff's old wheels on my C2)I paid something like £650 for the lot - and it was worth every penny, they did a fantastic job.
If you come up this way with your wheels, Jeff and I can meet you for lunch or something.

 

[Guest]

Matt,
with respect, you sound like you should have your RS taken away from you and have a battering over the head with a wet kipper!
Your RS deserves more than some cheap Halfords silver paint!!!


what I would add though, is as Jeff has already pointed out, watch out what you put on Mag. it is very porous and if you're not careful with the preparation the wheels will need redoing within a very short period of time.
(This comes from my experience playing with Magnesium bits for racing M/cycles , forks, wheels etc.)

 

[Matt]

in summary therefore:

1. don't touch the mags with nitromors and an angle grinder [8D]
2. Cup 1's might not fit - Mel - you're running them on Cuppie are you not??
3. chromed wheels and neon underlighting are hip on an RS and everyone will be jealous when i turn up at any Porsche gathering []
4. the word p***y is now considered racist and should not be used in everyday parlance....it shall forthwith be replaced with the word 'Chav'.
5. i'll get a refund on the silver spray paint from Halfords and purchase some of their quality wheel trim covers as a temporary measure (they come in a chrome finish too Dom you'll be pleased to hear)

Thanks all for advice, I'm just off to cut a hole in the dashboard in order to fit my new Goodmans 4x30W power amplifier...

Matt