Reply to "Seeking Advice Concerning Magnesium Wheel Reconditioning"

That's too disturbing of a picture to look at in that restoration thread.

If you are going to refinish the original wheels, usually they just need to be repainted on the exterior.

That's what I'd recommend also. Why blast the wheels down to metal if it isn't necessary?

Just clean them up and respray them. You can buy the paint already mixed from Hall ready to spray.

I'm sure you can easily get it from the other vendors also?

What I got from Hall was acrylic enamel. That's a very durable paint. Kinda thick but definitely good for the porosity of the magnesium if there is any exposed.

I have seen more then one original set of Campis stripped down and polished and in my opinion were nicer polished then the current set of aluminum repros (which are really nice themselves).

Campagnolo wheels are famous for their quality. Besides the accuracy of the original patterns and molds, it is also due to the quality of the magnesium that they used. It is far better then what I see in the original American Racing Torque Thrust D wheels that were used on the Trans Am Mustangs and Cougars, and better then the original GT40 and Cobra Halibrand castings. Those have the reputation for being brittle after all the years.

Granted no one ever thought of problems 40 or 50 years down the road. Same as with wiring in the harnesses?

There were stories of the Halibrands in the '60s of the wheels not holding air because they were more porous cool and the air molecules would escape through the magnesium. I have never heard of anyone stating that of the Campis, even after some cars being neglected for all of this time in some cases.

The problem is magnesium and oxygen don't like each other at all. Best leave them painted and the original paint and primer on them as much as possible. That's the safest bet, and original. You did say original right?