 Painting Magnesium Rims. . My adventure, Your opinion may vary. . . |
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| toolguy |
 Apr 4 2016, 03:56 PM
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#1
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Senior Member  Group: Members Posts: 1,270 Joined: 2-April 11 From: San Diego / El Cajon Member No.: 12,889 Region Association: Southern California 
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I just went thru a long process of figuring out how to paint my Mag / Gasburner rims. . Initially I was going to powder paint them as my nephew has a powder business and it would be no cost to me. . . After some in depth research, we found some potentially big issues with baking / powdering mag rims. .
1st issue was excessive gassing during the baking period. . seems magnesium has a lot of porosity and can produce bubbling in the powder even if they are pre-heated and powdered hot. . 2nd issue was about metal deterioration from high baking temps. . that turned out to be less of an issue if you bake them under 400 degrees but there is lots of internet chat about the metal losing its strength with higher temps. . 3rd issue was what to do if I needed to remove the powder in the future. . powder is very hard to remove with blasting, the usually shop practice my nephews business uses to remove powder is to bake at 600 and burn it off which would destroy the magnesium. . or dip them in a chemical stripper, which I didn't think would be any too positive either. . 4th issue. . Apparently magnesium absorbs and reacts badly to humidity and the atmosphere. . that is what causes it to turn blackish and produce a whitish corrosion on the surface. . This can end up lifting any powder or paint applied over a contaminated surface. . therefore it needs to be painted or somehow have the surface sealed directly after blasting. . The end of the story was that I bead blasted the factory finish completely off, which had some very hard and durable primer coats. . The base coat was a yellow coat and then a blue secondary coat over that. . took about an hour a wheel to get all the multiple nooks and crevices stripped bare of the factory coating. . Then each wheel was promptly primed in PPG DP40 metal etching primer. Let these dry overnight. The next morning I shot them with color correct silver single stage Urethane with flattener to achieve the semi gloss surface, Three full coats with 30 minutes between coats. Total investment for the PPG paint and primer, with catalyst, reducer and flatener came to $320, plus the 5 hours to strip the rims and another half day to paint them. Probably the hardest part was coming up with a silver paint that didn't have a 'metallic' sparkling appearance. Ended up having one mixed with the smallest flakes available. I had gone to a good quality paint and body shop before all this when i was in the planning stage and asked for an estimate for them to blast and paint. . Their 'Friend' discount price was $1500 total, priced at $100 per rim to blast and $200 a rim to paint for a set of 5 with center caps. . If nothing else it's a good sense of accomplishment and the saved money was the bonus. . Attached image(s) 
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Replies(1 - 13)
| sb914 |
Apr 4 2016, 04:02 PM
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#2
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Surf Guru Group: Members Posts: 4,316 Joined: 25-November 12 From: Brookings,Oregon Member No.: 15,191 Region Association: Southern California
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They look great! Nice job
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| ConeDodger |
Apr 4 2016, 04:03 PM
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#3
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Apex killer! Group: Members Posts: 23,612 Joined: 31-December 04 From: Tahoe Area Member No.: 3,380 Region Association: Northern California
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The 5th issue is they are Gas Burners! They're worth a fortune and if you screwed them up??? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) They look good though! Congrats!
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| somd914 |
Apr 4 2016, 04:12 PM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 1,171 Joined: 21-February 11 From: Southern Maryland Member No.: 12,741 Region Association: MidAtlantic Region |
Nice job (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
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| veekry9 |
Apr 4 2016, 04:34 PM
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#5
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OldMember Group: Retired Members Posts: 3,068 Joined: 17-June 13 From: TO Member No.: 16,025 Region Association: Canada |
Do you have a pix of the backs?I assume they were done the same.
Color correct,a number of the mix? Nicely done,the reason I ask. We were always cleaning post blasting with 'Gunk brand brake cleaner',the compressor lube present in most blaster's supply a contaminant. |
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| Cairo94507 |
Apr 4 2016, 04:36 PM
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#6
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Michael Group: Members Posts: 9,822 Joined: 1-November 08 From: Auburn, CA Member No.: 9,712 Region Association: Northern California
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Wow- those look terrific. And, I really appreciate that you posted about your experience and research.
Once my car is done and back in my garage, I plan to find a set of gas burners for it as I love the Six with gas burners and will most likely have to refinish them. Your wheels look perfect. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) |
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| 76-914 |
Apr 4 2016, 04:39 PM
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#7
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Repeat Offender & Resident Subaru Antagonist Group: Members Posts: 13,509 Joined: 23-January 09 From: Temecula, CA Member No.: 9,964 Region Association: Southern California
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| Mueller |
Apr 4 2016, 04:40 PM
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#8
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914 Freak! Group: Members Posts: 17,146 Joined: 4-January 03 From: Antioch, CA Member No.: 87 Region Association: None
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Looks great...years ago I had a set of modular Ronal Racing wheels with the magnesium centers. When I 1st got them I stripped them and polished 'em up. They looked great for a while. Needless to say I ended up painting them not too long afterwards.
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| DCJosh |
Apr 4 2016, 08:33 PM
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#9
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Member Group: Members Posts: 77 Joined: 22-February 16 From: Mankato, MN Member No.: 19,697 Region Association: Upper MidWest |
How do you know they are magnesium and not aluminum? I have not seen anything that says that they are magnesium. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) I'm genuinely interested. Thanks.
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| Johny Blackstain |
Apr 4 2016, 08:43 PM
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#10
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Walnut Elite Stratocaster player Group: Members Posts: 3,434 Joined: 5-December 06 From: The Shenandoah River Member No.: 7,318 Region Association: MidAtlantic Region
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My favorite factory 914 rim by far. They look great (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif)
All Mahle 5 lug rims were made out of magnesium, not aluminum. If they're made out of anything else they're not genuine Mahle's. Four lug Mahle's were made out of aluminum. Somebody out there makes 5 lug replicas & they are not made out of magnesium. If I ever did a 5 lug conversion to an LE I would choose 5 lug Mahle's only. Expensive yes, but somehow seems proper to me. |
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| mepstein |
Apr 4 2016, 08:44 PM
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#11
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914-6 GT in waiting Group: Members Posts: 19,314 Joined: 19-September 09 From: Landenberg, PA/Wilmington, DE Member No.: 10,825 Region Association: MidAtlantic Region
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QUOTE(DCJosh @ Apr 4 2016, 10:33 PM)  How do you know they are magnesium and not aluminum? I have not seen anything that says that they are magnesium. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) I'm genuinely interested. Thanks. They are mag. I've owned 2 sets. Need to be painted or they corrode. Very fragile wheels. Not daily drivers. Mine were all right around 10.2lbs each. |
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| DCJosh |
Apr 4 2016, 08:55 PM
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#12
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Member Group: Members Posts: 77 Joined: 22-February 16 From: Mankato, MN Member No.: 19,697 Region Association: Upper MidWest |
QUOTE(Johny Blackstain @ Apr 4 2016, 09:43 PM) My favorite factory 914 rim by far. They look great (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif) All Mahle 5 lug rims were made out of magnesium, not aluminum. If they're made out of anything else they're not genuine Mahle's. Four lug Mahle's were made out of aluminum. Somebody out there makes 5 lug replicas & they are not made out of magnesium. If I ever did a 5 lug conversion to an LE I would choose 5 lug Mahle's only. Expensive yes, but somehow seems proper to me. Thanks! Now I know! |
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| porschetub |
Apr 5 2016, 03:17 AM
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#13
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Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 4,706 Joined: 25-July 15 From: New Zealand Member No.: 18,995 Region Association: None |
QUOTE(Johny Blackstain @ Apr 5 2016, 03:43 PM) My favorite factory 914 rim by far. They look great (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif) All Mahle 5 lug rims were made out of magnesium, not aluminum. If they're made out of anything else they're not genuine Mahle's. Four lug Mahle's were made out of aluminum. Somebody out there makes 5 lug replicas & they are not made out of magnesium. If I ever did a 5 lug conversion to an LE I would choose 5 lug Mahle's only. Expensive yes, but somehow seems proper to me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) ,they have the look and nothing comes close,imagine if they could retool them to 6,7,8 '' with the right offset that would be a dream come true .....sorry just woke up (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif) |
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| Johny Blackstain |
Apr 5 2016, 07:15 AM
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#14
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Walnut Elite Stratocaster player Group: Members Posts: 3,434 Joined: 5-December 06 From: The Shenandoah River Member No.: 7,318 Region Association: MidAtlantic Region
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QUOTE(porschetub @ Apr 5 2016, 04:17 AM) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) ,they have the look and nothing comes close,imagine if they could retool them to 6,7,8 '' with the right offset that would be a dream come true .....sorry just woke up (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif) Oh I have imagined/dreamed/fantasized big time over these wheels. Always wanted a creamsicle w/ GT flares & phoenix red, 5 lug Mahle's that filled them out perfectly- sort of a faux factory look. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif) |
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