SciFly

I don't know metalurgy but I presume that some better alloy wheels are forged rather than cast.

Do forged alloy wheels fail less terribly? I had a Subaru SVX. OEM wheels were forged (( I presume)) because when a tire dropped off the pavement , the tire sidewall got destroyed and the rim lip took a good bend but did not crack.


Do cast rims have that much ductility?

I like steel, yes, because it's never to shatter.

1981 VW Rabbit. I drifted at 40 per hard into a median curb. Hard! The wheel took a bend and the center hub cap popped off but ----the wheel did not collapse----


I wish the same could be said of the model t in the background of the picture with Ray on the previous page. Those "rims" are wooden spokes. 23 inch wheels, 31 " diameter tires.

snap crackle pop. broadside slam: three wheels shattered.

Tomas

SciFly, I've seen some forged race wheels get all bent and tangled up without cracking or
shattering, so I suspect that alloys can be engineered to handle the stresses without
spectacular failure, but the more usual and affordable cast wheels, well........

Then again, one can never tell for sure - I've seen military aircraft wheels either shatter or bend,
depending on the sort of stress, I'd guess. It *seems* as though they bent unless the stress
was large and sudden, an impact.

As to the old Ford spokes, I learned to drive in my dad's '31 "A" coupe. (Yes, that was his daily
driver.) He eventually put newer steel wheels on it - and hydraulic brakes.

djct_watt

Who's box is that? Yours? Do you know how the wheels were prepped before painting? I want to do that in bronze. . . but I HATE sanding.

SciFly

I don't know how that guy did it but I can tell the easy way that I am doing my remaining wheels:

-dismount the wheel of course after pre-cleaning with tire cleaner and a brush. Wash the other side after dismounting.

-get MEK solvent from the paint or hardware store. Use a paper towel or cloth to wipe down the black paint of the steel wheel. This solvent will de-gloss and remove the dirt. Your rag will come off black with a bit of that black paint. Just clean the paint, don't keep wiping down beyond that point.

-mask off your tire with tape or liquid masking

-mask off the ventilation holes from the backside. there is no reason to paint the rear side of the steelie. You sure don't want overspray going through the holes and fogging the reverse side, anyway

-tack rag the surface. wadded sticky tape will do.

-Shake and ready your can of acrylic spray enamel. Follow the directions on the can. Put the wheel on top of a box or garbage can and do this painting under some cover, with -no drafts-

-mist the paint lightly onto the wheel. Fog it.. get the surface fogged and let it set for five minutes, is plenty. Wet coat the wheel as you either spin it or walk around it

-after an hour's time of air drying the paint should be dust-safe and you can put it out in the hot sun to bake and speed the cure and maximize the gloss if you wish.

that's all there is to it.

When the wheel needs refreshing (rock chips, etc), just touch up the nicks. Or if it's time to re-do, just wet sand with 400 grit wet-dry and soapy water, rinse, dry and re-spray. No big whoop and no oops.

Just don't apply more paint than is needed to wet the surface or you might get a run.

The thinner the paint job the better it will last

I think now that I'll look for those RED lug nuts to go on the yellow wheels of mine and get dust caps, too and .... leave off the bB phonedial covers.

have fun!

SciFly

SJ, if you can point out -here- the best trim ring and hub cover that'd be a help!



also-- the best lug nuts? In colors? I am getting behind on following the other threads
but here is the best seen so far: SpecialSauce getting inputs from Sid:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...61246&start=25

-simple links to the answers elsewhere are best-

thanks, all

djct_watt

thanks for the info!

2tone_xB

Yes, does anyone know where to get trim rings?
Besides a junkyard.

wagonbldr

The yellow wheels behind the hubcaps is certainly different. I think it would have looked better if the wheels where the same color as the box. I used John Deere yellow to paint my engine cover. It is almost exact in color. Much closer than the yellow strut bar I got from Scion for my RS 2.0.

SciFly

thanks for that tip. I'll paint my cover, too, in a nod to your great idea!

Yah, that's sharp idea! I'm stoked on yellow.. super bright ideas keep coming

SciFly

updates:

It's easy to change looks with colors or covers.
I had the phone dial covers on for a while, then painted them yellow and like that a lot.
Later on I tried to strip the Krylon Fusion paint from one of the covers using orange-extract paint stripper called CITRISTRIP. Dang it, this attacked the ABS plastic and cracked the plastic. SO, that set of covers was set aside being only three in number now.

I tried the JC Whitney stainless steel "moons" but they are ill-fitting, fall off and don't look so hot as another brand we'll picture later.

In page one here and above you see PAINTED wheels by other guys that look very good.

Another idea, and very cheap, are these super-inexpensive, lightweight snap on plastic covers. Here is a set installed the other day. They don't pretend to be -alloy wheels- and I like this. No fake lug bolts. Clean and simple for this unpretentious go-kart car of mine:

(one moment please for pic taking)

crayonBOX

hey scifly, i didnt see whether or not you panted the bB in yet, but if you do, get some liquid paint that you can fill in the depressed bB so that layer after layer (latex pant works well) so that it's level "filled in" with the rest of the cap...

id do that, but i didnt get those caps.. tho i wished i did

SciFly

Rally brand caps from Advance Auto model 9636
They cost only $20 for a set of four.





the first set of Rally caps I painted with Krylon Fusion Sunbeam Yellow