iana Posted June 10, 2019 Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 I need to tidy the wheels on the vitesse, the options I’m thinking of are:- 1- new minilites (and I guess I’d have to change the wheel studs?) 2-a refurb of the existing steel wheels - with the steel wheels I have 3 options i/sand down, mask and either brush / spray the wheel with white paint ii/get the tyres removed, the wheels sand blasted and primed, then paint them myself with white gloss spray (as noted on a previous post this may be easier for touching up damage etc.) iii/chemical stripping, media blasting and powder coating. options (ii) and (iii)are similar cost to buying minilites. Given that the wheels have a chromed hub cap I’m guessing the fixing of the hubcap would damage the powder coating etc. opinions appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted June 10, 2019 Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 Personally, I'm not a fan of minilites, so I'd definitely go with one of the other options. In fact I recently had a set of Vitesse steel wheels sand blasted and painted by a local firm for my Spitfire. Somebody recently posted (I think on here, not the other club's forum) a photo of a Spitfire? steel wheel (same as the Vitesse type) they'd had refurbished in Essex for a very reasonable price, and it looked lovely. Fitting the hub cap may cause some damage to a part of the wheel you can't see. I don't know how much of an issue this is for powder coating. It's not really a problem for painted wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul H Posted June 10, 2019 Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 Assuming you are using original studs you could upgrade to Freelander M12 studs . There are many posts here on the subject . Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted June 10, 2019 Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 I had my steel wheels sandblasted and re-sprayed 25 years ago and they're still looking good. Doing it yourself will be cheaper but may not last so long. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolyberkin Posted June 10, 2019 Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 I just had these completed, they were acid cleaned, sandblasted, primed and painted and then clear powdercoated. I have polished up my centre caps and the chap who did these said as long as you are careful putting them on and off you shouldn't damage the clear coat? I am really pleased with the result. I haven't put the caps back on them yet as just about to have the suspension overhauled so was going to wait until all finished rather than keep taking them on an off. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted June 11, 2019 Report Share Posted June 11, 2019 If you are near birmingham, there is a company there who acid clean/blast and powdercoat alloys for £20 a wheel, an extra fiver for steels (no idea why) If only I were closer....about £50 a pop here. Anyway, depending on how good a job you want, I have had great success in home refurbs on steel wheels. Ideally paint stripper (synstrip, it is the nasty old fashioned one for "professional use only" so use goggles, gloves etc) then a hand wire brush and hose/jetwash off. Next is wir brush in angle grinder and drill. Then if needed a bit of filler for any rust pits/dents and so on. Then prime/paint. Don't forget to give attention to the area where the tyres seal, I usually brush paint something like por 15 or other hardwearing paint in that area. I keep thinking of a trip via Birmingham, I do have a couple of sets of alloys and a set of steels that would benefit from a refresh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iana Posted June 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2019 Ive found a chap who will sand blast the wheels and prime them only - Id need to get the tyres removed and put back on once painted, and arrange to get them painted (or use a spray can white) or an option with a local firm that will complete the whole process but will powder coat rather than spray paint them (about £60 per wheel for either option) [Id be interested in the Birminham company info as we go past Birmingham 5-6 times a year] I then noticed on ebay I could get 4 minilite typre wheels, nuts and centres for less than £250, but not sure how they would look on a wedgewood blue vitesse saloon. My old GT6 had powder coated wheels and they were good for years but the center cap was held by the wheel nuts. I started to get think about the hub cap and the powder coating (it maybe I just have to accept that it will get damaged but will be a huge improvement generally) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bfg Posted June 11, 2019 Report Share Posted June 11, 2019 Just a little food for thoughts .. I used acid cleaning of inner wheel arch panels on my 'other car' and then washed and let them dry thoroughly, before carefully painting them. A year later there's rust colour staining coming out of the sheet metal overlaps. Needless to say it's disappointing as the paint is unbroken and so I can only conclude the acid and subsequent rinse was not 190% dried out of the deepest cracks (panel overlaps). Thinking about this with wheels where the hub overlaps the rim pressing and my reservations may become obvious. However when I did that restoration I didn't have the subsequent experience, and I did my wheels the same way. Painted with Hemple's two-pack paint. Again I have blots of staining coming through the off white finish. Again it's most disappointing after having put a lot of effort into making them look very nice. NB. almost non of the spray-can paints are ' waterproof '. Regarding sand blasting.. Perhaps you are using the term generically, but sand blasting erodes the metal away. Any decent blaster should know to use bead blasting or shell which takes off soft surfaces (like paint and rust) but then peens the steel's surface ..which leaves a much stronger wheel. Again you may be using 'powder coating' as a generic term. Personally I don't like powder coating because it is thick and more often than not the finish is not smooth but is a bit orange peel or blobby. Its thickness implies more protection but I personally don't like the loss of finer definition. Admittedly these details show up much more so on the black powder coated surfaces I see on motorcycle parts. But worse still is - should it get chipped then the coating tends to lift at the edge (perhaps that's because the coating is effectively heat-shrunk onto the metal and so it's pulling back ?). Whatever the reason.. this allows moisture in / under it. And because of the paint's thickness and otherwise quite impervious nature.. the moisture then cannot dry out ..and so corrosion occurs out of sight, progressively creeping further and further under the plastic coating. Even if you catch it when first chipped, then the coating is so thick that any touching up is quite visible, so then it's a matter of multiple coats of touching in or else fine filling before touching up - simply to make it invisible. NB. for obvious reasons, where wheel nuts tightened down should not be a thick layer of coating. Similarly be sure the tyre valve's hole is not closed up with paint. Most sandblasters offer the service of priming what they've blasted clean. In my (most humble !) opinion that's very often a cheap cosmetic finish (although not always if the company is slipping your job in with a high end contract) to make their work look nicer to the paying customer, and to offer very short-term protection from surface corrosion instigated by moisture in the atmosphere. If it is an etching paint then it may serve a purpose, but it is not something to rely on as the best of protection. Being on the other side of the country to yourself there's no point in my recommending the company I use, but I might add - on the same industrial estate is a paint shop which they often work with ..and this is something you might want to ask your own contractor about. For my vintage motorcycle frame I had it bead-blasted and from there it went across the yard to the paint shop who primed it themselves before finishing it in two pack paint to my specification (ie., not too wet looking, so they added a percentage of matting agent). I can't say it was cheap, but then it wasn't silly money either, not least as I want it to last another sixty years and yet the finish is for a concourse vintage motorcycle. Should this paint get chipped then it will not leave such a hard edge which tends to lift, and is also much easier to touch in again. I hope that helps. Pete Sitting in the bath ..only for the paint to harden, as in the winter that is the warmest place in this old farmhouse. (they are from a '74 Citroen Ami-super, which I now have for sale ..to fund a Triumph 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iana Posted June 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2019 Thanks Pete, definitely things to consider. Yes I was using sand blasting in it’s generic term, in fact the company that does the powder coat option raised the point that their blasting may not be aggressive enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 11, 2019 Report Share Posted June 11, 2019 1 hour ago, Bfg said: Regarding sand blasting.. Perhaps you are using the term generically, but sand blasting erodes the metal away. Any decent blaster should know to use bead blasting or shell which takes off soft surfaces (like paint and rust) but then peens the steel's surface ..which leaves a much stronger wheel. Again you may be using 'powder coating' as a generic term. Personally I don't like powder coating Most sandblasters offer the service of priming what they've blasted clean. In my (most humble !) opinion that's very often a cheap cosmetic finish Three points for my sixpenny worth: I blast with aluminium oxide; but for any metal if it's rusted then that's metal that is now effectively dead and needs removed. Any form of blasting will therefore need to blast away dead metal; if you're only removing paint then a softer medium is fine, but to remove rust other than light surface rust it will take a fairly harsh abrasive, or a lot more time with a softer medium, and the end result is the same in any case - the rust is removed back to bare metal. If it doesn't remove rust there's no point in doing it in the first place! It should not weaken metal unless it's amazingly thin, and in many cases the initial blast of very rusted metal is sufficient to leave it requiring only repainting every so often in later years so it's not as if it will eat right through wheels etc. If it does, they were unsuitable for reuse in the first place! Powder coating I dislike - personal opinion of course - but my first GT6 had full powdercoated suspension and it rusted underneath the coating, which eventually flaked and fell off in huge lumps. It's no doubt fine for some applications and looks nice when fresh, but I always found it had a limited shelf life in a well-used car. Sandblasters and priming: my local blaster will prime metal if requested to prevent it rusting almost immediately, especially if I can't collect for a few days, but the intention is to remove the bulk of it and repaint properly. It's not a paint-shop job, merely as a fine layer of temporary protection. For tight areas ie the gap between wheel and rim, especially in the narrow-spoke Heralds, I clean as finely as possible, in many cases using the edge of a knife blade, then pour Jenolite or the like into it. With adequate cleaning and time to harden or dry out, it works very well - the GT6 wheels are now coming up on 20 years and no rust from these areas. I know we all have different ideas and techniques, so it's finding what works best for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterthegreat Posted September 21, 2022 Report Share Posted September 21, 2022 Hello, I know this thread is a bit old, but wondering if anyone could suggest someone to take the slight wobble off my Spit Mk3 wheel rims. I had them blasted and powder coated about 5 years ago but never thought to check if they didnt wobble. Now if I go more than about 50 mph you can feel it cutting in. I am in the Cambridge or Leicester area. thanks Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahebron Posted September 21, 2022 Report Share Posted September 21, 2022 Are you sure they are wobbling and not out of balance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterthegreat Posted September 21, 2022 Report Share Posted September 21, 2022 yeah pretty sure. When they were balanced (which was possible) the fitter talked me through it, and you could see the edge of the rim moving back and forth as it rotated. Some of the wheels were "small" wobble, say 0.5-1mm others (and sepeciall spare which was the worse) were more like 3mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Truman Posted September 21, 2022 Report Share Posted September 21, 2022 When I brought 5 Spitfire multi hole wheels I had them trued and straightened any rim damage fixed then sandblasted and powder coated never had any issues since & that was 15 years ago but the overall cost was near buying a set of 4 Minilite replica’s. sure the rear hub flanges aren’t twisted they make the wheels run out of true a friends 1500 is horrible to follow he’ll fix them one day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterthegreat Posted September 21, 2022 Report Share Posted September 21, 2022 is that company still in business? I could give them a ring.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Truman Posted September 21, 2022 Report Share Posted September 21, 2022 Yes but it’s 10k miles away in Aus! There must be wheel repairers some where in England Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted September 21, 2022 Report Share Posted September 21, 2022 i would get a dial indicator on your hubs its suprising but many are distorted especially the rears when gorilla and hub pullers have been in operation ive found a good few that needed a skim to give a flat clamping face for the wheel to contact pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon J 1250 Posted September 21, 2022 Report Share Posted September 21, 2022 I had these done by Tudor Wheels in Cadnam, Hants. Very happy with them, high quality job, they even did them brown on the backs as they were originally. JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trigolf Posted September 21, 2022 Report Share Posted September 21, 2022 I've also used Tudor wheels to refurb a setof 5Js to go on my Vit. They trued up a couple that were bent slightly and then powder coated. Very happy with the results. The boss man - Richard - is a nice bloke and genuine 'classic' enthusiast. Gav 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon J 1250 Posted September 21, 2022 Report Share Posted September 21, 2022 13 minutes ago, trigolf said: I've also used Tudor wheels to refurb a setof 5Js to go on my Vit. They trued up a couple that were bent slightly and then powder coated. Very happy with the results. The boss man - Richard - is a nice bloke and genuine 'classic' enthusiast. Gav Agreed Richard is a nice chap, really knows his line of work well, can sort out any type of wheel (when I was there he was fixing up some rare and damaged 1930's alloys).. loves his Model T's too! Another option is to add anodised aluminium outer trims, the square slot Vitesse/GT6 trims look good and hides the scruffy wheel. I never used to like Minilites but I keep thinking about gold ones for some reason, am I wrong? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daverclasper Posted September 21, 2022 Report Share Posted September 21, 2022 1 hour ago, Jon J 1250 said: I never used to like Minilites but I keep thinking about gold ones for some reason, am I wrong? lol It's very personal, thought the painted inners fat spokes? in varying shades of grey on the replicas, look good to me. also had some on car for 11 years with no probs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlubikey Posted September 22, 2022 Report Share Posted September 22, 2022 Motor Wheel Service, the wire wheel people in Slough also re-furb steel wheels. They did mine about 10 years ago. I'm afraid I forget how much it cost. Cheers, Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterthegreat Posted September 22, 2022 Report Share Posted September 22, 2022 thanks everyone for you ideas, will chew it over.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterthegreat Posted September 22, 2022 Report Share Posted September 22, 2022 one thought 10K miles away in Australia would be about the same time to get round the M25 on a friday evening..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterthegreat Posted September 23, 2022 Report Share Posted September 23, 2022 On 21/09/2022 at 13:55, Pete Lewis said: i would get a dial indicator on your hubs its suprising but many are distorted especially the rears when gorilla and hub pullers have been in operation ive found a good few that needed a skim to give a flat clamping face for the wheel to contact pete hello, I have been doing a bit more looking and used a dial indicator. I've been measuring the drum "wobble" just outside of the wheel studs. Off side gives about 0.005" and the near side about .015" as I rotate the half shaft. Does this seem reasonable? I did a bit of maths and recon that the "wobble" at the edge of the rim will be about .9mm Also TRGB looked at all 5 rims. 3 were fine with 2 being ok = "i would be suprised if that caused it" sort of remark. I got them all re balanced (again) so will report back what happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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