Campagnolo Wheels

If one is going to dust, I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of the other three rims are well along in deterioration (possibly inside the tire where you can't see anything. Plus, you're probably talking about 35-40 year old rubber (I can't see if they say Arriva on the sidewalls in your avatar), it's not a risk worth taking to try anything beyond rolling her onto a flatbed and taking it to your garage to breath life back into her.

I'd go with 4 new aluminum rims and rest easy ... or find a set of cheap wheels on Kijiji that will get you from point A-B for whatever restoration or prep the car needs, and take your time to pick out the rims and tires you want long-term.

Thanks for the reply. The tires are original, I have a couple of spares, but the age of the rubber means they would be for "show only" at best.

If the rims have turned to dust they are obviously too far gone, but if well cared for, vintage campys can be restored. 7" and 8" width rims can be found regularly. 10" rims are a little harder to find cheaply. I found a set of 10"s a few years ago that I restored. The picture shown is the end result after bead-blasting, annealing and painting. Search this forum for the restoration procedure.

High-speed rated rubber for 15" diameter rims is difficult and expensive to source. Street tires such as BFGs are readily available in the correct sizes, look the part and offer good street performance.

Sincerely,

Matt

If you decide to buy heavier aluminum wheels in place of factory Campy magnesiums, you must also choose carefully. Tire sizes seem to be trending to larger and larger diameters, so 16" 'ultimate' performance tires are now as difficult to find as the same in 15s". And as an extra, some aftermarket 16" (front) wheels do not clear current big brake systems as sold for the narrow body Pantera.

I too am bring a car back on the road after its been sitting for 27 years .even though my rims a were in great shape I bought all new 17" rims and tires. I like the look of the new rims and wanted the better handling new tires offer. plus i needed new tires anyway. to bad the old tires show almost no ware seams like a waste to let the tires dry rot with no miles on them

My stock wheels don't show any signs of the issues you have, but I replaced them solely due to the issues of finding speed rated tires. I went with 17's for the front, and 18's for the rear and figured I'd never have an issue finding tires...but I'm now seeing some manufacturers eliminating the tire sizes for 17's. Boyd Coddington Jr. makes what I consider to be the best wheel out there and does a very good job of matching the original design. Plus I heard from him a few years ago he was forging his wheel hoops so you could order most any size and with less weight than previous hoops. But they are a lot flashier than the stock wheel.

I have a set of rims in my garage, I went with all 8 inch rims around my car.

quote:

Originally posted by Tom@Seal Beach:
My stock wheels don't show any signs of the issues you have, but I replaced them solely due to the issues of finding speed rated tires. I went with 17's for the front, and 18's for the rear and figured I'd never have an issue finding tires...but I'm now seeing some manufacturers eliminating the tire sizes for 17's. Boyd Coddington Jr. makes what I consider to be the best wheel out there and does a very good job of matching the original design. Plus I heard from him a few years ago he was forging his wheel hoops so you could order most any size and with less weight than previous hoops. But they are a lot flashier than the stock wheel.

Those are really beautiful wheels but this issue of getting speed rated tires is just a continuing issue.

It's the reason that I stayed with the original Campis. You just are not going to find a long term solution to the tire rating "issue". For me I don't care about the ratings.

I suppose it's kinda' like having only one pair of sneakers though. You know you just can't have only one set? But are you supposed to look through your tire/wheel closet every day and put on what you feel like that day? I wonder?

I wonder if you could buy three sets of a specific tire that fits the car, put them in a sealed bag of some sort of gas that preserves rubber and stops aging and hardening...similar to bagging magnesium wheels to stop tarnishing.

Freeze them?

Tom, wrapping new tires in brown paper bags seems to help. This is what tire mfgrs used to wrap all tires in back in the day. Brown paper is made by the Kraft process and has lots of antioxidents in it to absorb ozone and sulfur products in the air.
But even if you do your best to keep tires useable, the day is probably not far off when our "I-Know-what's-good-for-you-whether-you-want-it-or-not" Govt inspectors will be wandering the parking lots checking date codes & writing citations.

I'm going to buy an original replacement wheel to have a set of 4, try to preserve the 6 original Arriva tires and get some new wheels for real driving. Will try the paper bag or any other innovative ideas to preserve a bit of history.

was the wheel in contact with soil or standing water? Mine has been in a shed about as long and I didn't notice any crumbling when I started digging it out

The wheel looks to have been in contact with the concrete floor of the garage when the tire deflated. Also looks like a low point in the garage where water and perhaps road salt accumulated from snow melt from other cars using the garage over the years.

FWIW, original Campagnolos CAN be weld-repaired, if the damage is not too great. What you need is:
-A- a welder that's experienced with magnesium, and
-B- stress-relieve the welded wheel after welding and machining back to stock dimensions. Many such wheels are successfully restored daily by our vendors, with a guarantee.

Also FWIW, I've been TIG-welding light alloys for almost 30 years and I cannot weld magnesium. Or cast iron, for that matter!

I can see taking a shot at welding a crack, but the loss of the rim lip to the degree that this wheel has had, makes me pessimistic about a repair. I'm now looking for a magnesium capable shop in or around Cleveland OH, or Chicago IL as a longer term resource.

quote:

Originally posted by tcrau #5476:
I can see taking a shot at welding a crack, but the loss of the rim lip to the degree that this wheel has had, makes me pessimistic about a repair. I'm now looking for a magnesium capable shop in or around Cleveland OH, or Chicago IL as a longer term resource.

The alloy of magnesium used in these wheels is very weldable.

The amount of work to do with restoring the rim is way past the cost of replacing the wheel now.

Don't forget that not only do you need to build up all of the metal on the rim with weld but the wheel needs to be put on a lathe and re-machined, then stripped and refinish.

Probably $2000 worth of work to save it THEN you need to worry about the alloy of the weld not being as strong as the wheel itself.

Best to put the wheel on the shelf as a display piece and just replace it.