2.0 Litre Fuchs cleaning/etc, Ya dig in the garage.... Options

[krk]

Folks,

This last week has been "attack the garage week" -- and I've dug out a set of 2.0L Fuchs. Ok, they've been in my garage almost since I arrived in CA, and I'm pretty sure they were in the PO's garage for 8 or 10 years before that. I've never actually looked at them closely.

Anyhoo, questions, question, questions.

a. How do you get the center caps out of them with out scaping the crap out of 'em? (they went up into the crawl space before I knew what a 2.0 center cap was) The caps have some dents in them - it is worth the bother of trying to un-dent them?
b. There seems to be an anodized clear finish between the padles -- what does one normally do to clean this area?

Pics will be posted once I've cleaned a decade of dust, and brake crap from the last decade, off.

tia.

kim.

[rhodyguy]

squirt a little bp from the backside. i use a 1 1/2" hardwood dowel and a hammer to ease them out along the outer lip/edge. don't wham them from the center. the same dowel can be used to "iron" them out. when you have tires mounted take the dowel with you and remove them yourself. not the guy with a screw driver and a hammer.

kevin
"banging on bay viewing window at discount tire"

[krk]

Thx Kev -- basically something big and round to pop them out. Do the caps normally have a flat surface on them? (man, you can tell I've never seen one, eh?)

kim.

[EdwardBlume]

There's a special tool for taking the caps off. If you don't have the tool (which most tire shops don't) you end up messing up the cap. I don't have the tool either, so I modified a piece of wood to poke them out. I then try to push them back into shape after. As far as cleaning... I use a dremmel, polish, and a steamer. Takes lots of time, but it does fine. Any chance you want to sell two of your 2.0 Fuchs?

Take care!

[krk]

cavpwguy,

Thx!

Ok, I'm particularly interested in the recessed parts which seem to be anodized (?). The padles and rims seem to be similar to regular fuchs -- "applie mothers and rub 'till you're dead" :-) So the parts that are covered in whatever it was the Porsche used on the sort of duller sections -- is it ok to apply mothers? or should I use something else?

Re: Selling -- actually the whole set will be up for sale once I can take stock of what they are and offer a fair description. (I don't have any 4 bolt cars -- my SO has pointed out that saving them for another 10 years may not make all that much sense. Man, I hate seeing the obvious printed in front of me like that! :-))

kim.

[EdwardBlume]

Let's talk. I'm running 1.5 sets of Fuchs for my AX car and could use more for spares.

I understand the work involved in hand polish but short of professional work, it usually takes time.

Best, R

[p914]

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/show...?threadid=31603

Center Cap tool set.

and for refisnishing the fuchs:
http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/show...?threadid=31599

[JeffBowlsby]

If they are original, the entire wheel was clear anodized Kim. If mag polish can shine up the high spots, someone has removed the anodizing and exposed the raw aluminum.

[biosurfer1]

i used easy-off on all parts of the wheel and it worked pretty well(the hard part is waiting for it to do it's thing) so patient and it will come off, after i sprayed it and let sit, i used a pressure washer to get it off... you'll have to polish the wheels after you finish, but i like the way it turned out.

[seanery]

contact robby750 about the wheels, if you are cleaing & polishing, he has some of the nicest fuchs around, I'm sure he's got good ideas for that, but if your just cleaning go to the local harley dealer, they have some strong wheel cleaner that is awesome. I think its part of the P21 line of products.

[anthony]

The P21s wheel polish works wonders on the Fuchs.

[Katmanken]

What was the factory finish like? Was the anodizing dull or were the wheels polished and shiny under the clear anodize?

I just picked up a very nice set of 5 and using Mothers, have spent about 1/2 hour per wheel on the spokes and rims to get a real shine.
Guess that means the anodizing is gone.

Don't know why people state that the Riviera Fuchs-like copys polish better.

Anyway, once they are polished, what works as a protectant?

Ken

[krk]

If they are original, the entire wheel was clear anodized Kim. If mag polish can shine up the high spots, someone has removed the anodizing and exposed the raw aluminum.

Ok. I've cleaned 3 of them and have some extra fact-wannabe's. Two to go. People put wheel weights in stupid places.

It turns out you should always trust your Mother - when it turns black, there's nothing twixt you and the metal. These wheels appear to have a greyish-silver paint between the paddles, and a clear finnish of some sort over the entire wheel, except the outter ring. That is, Mothers stays white on the paddles, and goes black on the rim. Duh.

When I get the other two cleaned up, I'll dig out my digicam and shoot a couple. I have more questions, but without a pic, it would be hard to describe.

(btw, thx for the assist/advice)

kim.

[rhodyguy]

did you check out lawrence's tech article at the bird? there are a # of other ones too.

kevin

[krk]

Last fact wanna be's and a couple of pics. Turns out your Mother can tell you lots. The spare tire is still mounted on the rim -- and it is anodized over the entire wheel. If you look closely at the other 4 wheels, the rims have had the anodization removed. I'm gessing the PO may have had some curb rash repaired? Hard to tell.

On one wheel, a wheel weight appears to have removed some anodization or something. (actually, I can't quite tell -- one of the pics will show it)

First the set.

[krk]

Here's the spare -- I wonder if it's the original....

[krk]

Here's a close up of what must have been a wheel weight. It's almost as if there is a very very thin layer of plastic, but it doesn't feel like that to the touch -- anyone seen this before?

kim.

[rhodyguy]

it's a repro. there is a extra ridge compare to this.

kevin

[rhodyguy]

the real ones should have these numbers on the back.

kevin

[rhodyguy]

atleast it wasn't a hammer on weight. when having tires mounted i insist on that or no sale.

kevin