Refurbishing magnesium wheels

[Jeroen Booij]

I have several magnesium wheels at the moment that need refurbishing.
They are mildly corroded.
What would be the best way to do this, and where?
I have no experience with them and have heard several different approaches on how to restore them properly, kind of contradicting each other.
Any one out here who has experience with this matter?

[Peter Laidler]

There was a thread running a month or so ago about getting rid of the corrosion and an agreement was reached I seem to think. But as for protecting them afterwards there's only one way to do it so far as I'm concerned. And that's the method used on aircraft and helicopter wheels used at sea. A special paint by Glassurit Beck, that the Navy use

[mini63]

I've just reclaimed a set of 1960s Tec Del 5x10s.
crack testing, soda blasting and alodine dipping.

[mk1]

Its many years since I have bothered with original Mag wheels, but I did at one time.

I used to get them vapour blasted & then assuming this didn't show up any horrors get them x rayed & then chromate dipped. I finished them off with a coat of normal silver paint to allow the wheel to breathe.

If the blasting did show up any issues then I used to get them welded & repaired before x ray etc.

It must be 20 years since I did any but I see them occasionally & they still look OK.

PERSONALLY I would only ever use 50 year old Magnesium wheels as a show wheel, I'd never drive hard on them, although I do know plenty of people who do.

[mini63]

A thread on stripping mags viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19602&hilit=magnesium

I suggest you soda blast any coatings from the rims to expose any significant porosity.
Dont bead blast them, not at least until after you have crack tested them as the process can peen over and mask flaws from dye penetrants. After the cleaning and cracktesting, the soda was able to remove 95% of the any paint and i manually cleaned the tyre mounting surface with a stainless steel wire brush.

From what i've learnt....The alodine isnt a surface finish on its own. It microscopically etches the surface via a chromate conversion and provides a key for priming and painting. I chose to matt clear only the rims to minimise the thickness of the surface treatment.

The scary thing with magnesiums is they have a design life quite unlike a standard aluminium alloy wheel.....unsurprisingly and on top of that, intergranular corrosion can be hidden within the castings if its been allowed to propagate through oxidation.

I intend to use mine for ordinary road use.

[mini63]

http://aimss.com.au/aimss-guide-the-saf ... -castings/

[mk1]

That is a excellent article!

[Peter Laidler]

Brilliant article again. And note the need to paint with a thick coat of paint - like helicopter wheels as used and warships or salted runways!

[mk1]

The reason I said " I finished them off with a coat of normal silver paint to allow the wheel to breathe." was that in the early days I got them powder coated & when the PC was knocked it caused the magnesium to oxidise & run away under the PC. After that I figured it was worth being able to see this happening rather than waiting until the damage was done. Although I can see the logic of protecting with a thick layer of paint, I would personally still rather see any problems developing than have it happen under a thick layer of paint where I can't see what's happening.

This is of course pretty academic for me as I don't use any elderly Mag wheels at all nowadays. I just don't think it's worth the risk.

[snoopy64]

My only experience in the Uk is with Indestructible Paint ( don't laugh) not on wheels but they have a solution specifically for Mag alloy

http://www.indestructible.co.uk/aero/ro ... ealer.html

[Jeroen Booij]

Thanks very much for the replies, Mini63 in particular!
I had a good read at the article and it does indeed seem to crack the myths that I had come across before.
I tink I'll start with giving them a soft blast and see what comes up next. I can keep you guys posted if you like.

[richardACS]

http://aimss.com.au/aimss-guide-the-saf ... -castings/

Would appreciate being able to read this article if anyone might have a link?

Thanks in advance

[timmy201]

http://aimss.com.au/aimss-guide-the-saf ... -castings/

Would appreciate being able to read this article if anyone might have a link?

Thanks in advance

Try this link. A lot of old websites are archived on the “wayback machine”

https://web.archive.org/web/20170219145 ... -castings/

[richardACS]

Thank you for responding - very helpful!

[mk1]

PDF Copy below:

mag-castings.pdf

[Mr Rusty850]

The link below is a very interesting breakdown of what should and shouldn't be done when working on these wheels:

https://stevekouracos.com/restoration/t ... storation/

You'll probably have to copy and paste the link into your browser.

Regards,
Barry

[Polarsilver]

i need to sort out a set of TecDel Mags so this is all good info .. however some say Soda Blast and another states never Soda Blast Magnesium suggesting to use Walnut or Plastic media .. confusing info for this beginner

[251 ENG]

Original magnesium minilites in original finish

[peasantslife]

Great picture, what colour is that gold? I'll take any supplier code/RAL....

[251 ENG]

No idea of paint code but these wheels have been stored in a dark loft for many years .
The new tyres on them have early 1970,s dates