Opinions: Should I Plate Campy Wheels

I seem to remember Mike Drew commenting once about someone who plated a set of Campys. I forget what his observation was.

Someone in the archives said magnesium is hard to plate and that painting was the way to go. I also found this in the archives:

http://www.sprayonchrome.com/index2.html

Most important to me was everyone's opinion of whether this would "ruin" the wheels.

R.

Robert,

Personally, yes it will ruin what is fast becoming a rare wheel, so don't do it, especially as your wheels appear in relatively good condition. Plus as I recall in your case you have the EXTREMELY rare 14" wide rear Campi's.

If you want newer style wheels (and the vendors have the 10 spoke Campi clones with widebody spacing), buy them outright and either keep the Campi's for posterity or inheritance or sell them and I guarantee you will more than cover the cost of new wheels and probably tires too! Plus, you'll have a modern wheel diameter which you can actually buy tires for.

Preserve those precious wheels and buy aftermarket wheels.

Boy I must be getting old, can't believe I said that.

quote:

Originally posted by RobertVegas:
Someone in the archives said magnesium is hard to plate and that painting was the way to go. I also found this in the archives:

http://www.sprayonchrome.com/index2.html

Most important to me was everyone's opinion of whether this would "ruin" the wheels.

R.

One of our members saw this at SEMA and said that it looked like the things had been chromed. Could be an option to not permanently ruin your rare wheels. You can always repaint?

I think I agree with everyone that said "don't mess with them". I do have the rare 14" rears and don't want to:

1. Mess with them and then regret it

2. Make them undesirable, thereby removing them from an already small pool of original Pantera parts.

Dennis, I thought that maybe using the chrome paint would be a temporary solution, but I'm not sure if magnesium can by media blasted back to original...or can you media blast just about anything?

R.

Hey Robert I think a 14" wheel should be left alone, BUT I love the look of polished magnesium, Remember the old Halibrands boy did they look sweet polished.
Yes you can blast magnesium I would just make sure its glass beads. Then repainting the wheel back to stock if you desire is simple...but it goes back to the issue of the 14" wheel with original paint da ta da ta da.
Your decesion.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Jeff

Before doing any refinishing on rare wheels, you should read Peter H's input on this topic from a previous discussion.

http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6450045562...700026924#8700026924

I vote to buy a spare set and protect the original wheels.

I would tend to agree with everyone and leave those wheels alone. If they could be chrome painted and the finish could be later removed to bring them back to stock, I would consider it.

Alright, it is settled. No messing with the wheels.

R.

Jerry Q here in Dallas recently had his Mangusta wheels chromed. Lots of $$$ and not so good results. Magnesium is the wrong base and chrome doesn't stick to it.

Email me if you would like his email.

Robert, you made the right choice, keep the original wheels original, go as wild as you wish with the aftermarket, where would you find tires for 14" wheels anyway?

quote:

Originally posted by RobertVegas:
Alright, it is settled. No messing with the wheels.

R.

Well I'm glad you were saved from THAT near miss! The 'original' Campys are - to my eye - 'right' to the car. Not just in the "original is always better" sentiment (because that's not the case) but the look matches the car.

Chroming the VERY rare rears would be like eye shadow on Mona Lisa; more zing but irreversible and potentially ruinous.

You could also sell your current set for largi$h dough and pay for all or part of your 'new' rims in 17, 18 with the proceeds. Then you can actually run on super modern rubber instead of 'making do' with whatever you MIGHT find for the 15s.

Sell the originals for no less than $5,000...probably higher to someone looking for stock campies to go with their GT4 conversion..or to a GT5/5S owner looking for a stock set to replace the ones they (or a prior owner) sold years ago.

Then use the 5+ grand to buy modern wheels and tires. If this is the look you're after, it'll look better than the puney 15 inch (chromed) wheels matched to the lets-go-drag-racing sidewalls.

Josh