Hi folks

does anyone have advise on how to approach refurbing Riviera wheels?

Do they need diamond cutting? Blasting and coating? or just a go polish:-)



Thanks

Andrew

Refurbish them by putting them out for recycling after you by a set of Fuchs

Love Signal Orange!

Ouch
But I wouldn't spend much money on the rehab. Good cleaning. Mask and paint from a rattle can.

thanks made me laugh

I quite like them. I dont think the fuchs go with big 76 bumpers. Not sure what wheels came as standard on the 76 car?

I was thinking of polishing machine and paste of some sort. The black pain is almost perfect its more the metal that needs a clean.

I might try a small area with polish and see what happens

Looks great in the flesh. I think its Nepal on the 76, the color had to be made up to a sample as close to the original as possible.

Ive rebuild the seats in orange plaid and black leather to match :-) just need to put it together now!

I saw a picture of Rivs, painted black, with a large diameter black centercap which covered the entire lug area (with PORSCHE in red) in a recent thread (which I can't find now). Thought that looked nice.

Don't trust my taste, though, as I sold my Fuchs to mepstein so I could put VW wheels on my car.

Original to the '76 was the silver painted steel wheels. Pictures around here somewhere. Or Fuchs, they were available too.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...&hl=Riviera

Perhaps with a polished rim,a textured and anodized or painted spoke,with a custom centre cap to enhance the five spoke look.
They are inexpensive enough to purchase a set to sacrifice for a wider welded wheel.The Riviera casting itself looks ok,the fad of the times caused it to be painted in a high contrast effect.The neat thing is the visual effect of adding extra lug bosses to mask the four-lug to five-spoke offset,it works.
Very much a '70s fashion,the black/silver contrast may accent the orange paint.

thanks Ill take a look

All Fuching snobbery aside, the Riviera's look pretty good when the silver petals and rims get polished. It is cheap and easy to do by yourself. If they are heavily corroded, you might want to start with wet or dry sandpaper, maybe 400 or 600 grit. once they are bright with discoloration removed, start using a buffing pad on a 6 inch polisher. I've had several sears craftsman 2 speed polishers that were each under a hundred bucks and have polished boats and motorhomes, and countless suburbans and smaller cars. Pretty much what the pro's might use to start. you can working your way through the various grit levels, such as rubbing compound, then polishing compound, or use the red rouge, then the white solid bricks of fine abrasive. This will first remove all the scratching from the fine wet or dry sandpaper and add luster. Red rubbing compound grit will give you a good look, but if you follow with the white polishing grit, the wheels will look really good. Once they're really polished, you can go further with the more exclusive brands of aluminum wheel polish such as Griots ( I think that's it) that come in tubes or rolls. Click to view attachment

Rivieras were never a stock wheel, always aftermarket. I'd bet that car came w/ 4 lug Mahles, which as I remember were the most common wheel in 75/76.

For a quikie clean up try 0000steel wool with mothers metal polish. For a full on polish go the sand paper and compound route.

Shandy - 1st check if they are the polished or brushed (less common) aluminum finish.

If polished or if you want to take brushed to shiny (more work), then a good aluminum wheel polish + elbow grease (always required in the corners & nooks) & a polisher should bring them up.

If brushed & keeping that finish, then use a brass wire wheel in the same direction as the original brushing, then finish with 000 or 0000 brass wool & aluminum polish to bring up the shine. Use brass not steel wire & wool cuz the aluminum is soft & steel would be too aggressive.

My guess is that once polished or brushed to a new crisp finish, then you'll see that the black needs a repaint with satin (Wurth or similar auto rated rattle can spray paint available over there in UK), so just prep with clean loose paing & rough surface for adhesion, mask & shoot!

BTW - those are the original Rivs cuz they have smooth rim edges without the lips. I agree that they look nice on 914's & an economical way to get a 5-spoke wheel without a costlier 5-lug conversion.

PS - you can also get the silver flat-cone plastic center caps to fit them on TheSamba.com from several of their vendors. The originals had the Reverse-R Riviera Logo on them, like on mine - which are the brushed BTW & why less shiny. However, I will be "going back" to the 2L Fuchs originally on my 73 914-2.0 "914S" just to be factory correct for the CW crowd, but will probably resto the Rivs for a set of "DD tires."

Click to view attachment

FYI - by 75-76 from the factory they had either the base (non-option) "star mag-style" steel wheels painted silver, or the optional Fuchs 2L forged alloy or Mahle 4-lug "Baby Gas-burner" cast alloy mag wheels.

Cheers!
Tom
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Thanks for that I think Ill give them a quick rub at the weekend and see how they come up. I dont have a polisher but as you say they arnt expensive and with a bit of work they might come up nicely. I begrudge spending £500 for a diamond polish when I dont need immaculate I just want nice.

Mothers metal polish, some chessecloth and elbow grease.

Cost me a 6 pack of bourbon cans too....

Nice wheels, thats the sort of finish Id like. Lovely color of car as well...

I have Riviera wheels, too. If I can get them looking that good, I'll consider keeping them. Right now they're PlastiDip black to cover up the ugly red they were painted before.

....When I get those *Riviera's*...& I've had several,I always *Rechrome them!
(SMOKIN!)