Vendor wanted to refurbish Campagnolo wheels

I had Michael Shortt do my wheels about a year ago.
I found him on one of the Facebook groups...

I would be interested to know what Mr. Shortt did to restore your wheels. Did he provide you with a description of his process? Cost?

Larry

@lf-tp2511 posted:

I would be interested to know what Mr. Shortt did to restore your wheels. Did he provide you with a description of his process? Cost?

Larry

Saw this post on FB Marketplace for his wheel refinishing.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/...amp;multi_permalinks

Larry, I just went thru old e-mails and Facebook messages, but came up empty.

Going by memory, the steps included:

- chemical strip
- light bead blast
- conversion coating
- primer coat (then hand sanded)
- color coat
- clear coat

IIRC, all coating steps were accompanied by time in the oven to reduce the possibility of bubbling, since Magnesium is so porous.

I think it was around $200 per wheel, plus shipping both ways.
The wheels came out better than new!

I guess the ol' memory ain't so bad!  ;-)

Forgot about the crack inspection though....

I suggest if you're going to the trouble of restoring Campys , to scrub and then bake each one in an oven at 275F for 4 hours minimum, to stress relieve them after any TIG welding. Cast mag has the property of building up stresses over time from 40 years of wheel flex or welding. A few have cracked in storage with no tires mounted! The baking also reduces outgassing during (powder) paint curing. It will turn the OEM silver paint tan so repainting is the last step. Bead blasting is not required- the zinc chromate undercoat is extremely tenacious!