Wheel Restoration

The Wheels look fine to me ? LOL

What wheels? Can't see any

ACCOBRA- They do look fine...in that picture. Heh. A couple of them got banged up in my accident and it is time to get them cleaned up and probably back on the car. I love the look of the new wheels, but I don't like how the rears don't fill the wheel wells. We will see which I like better when they are done.

Wildpantera - Most shots of my car were taken at rallies or photo shoots, so I have more shots with women than without. :-)

lastpushbutton - I am surprised how many companies do wheel repair...and how NONE of them seem to do magnesium. The car was white when I bought it. I was nervous about going obnoxious orange, I think it turned out great. Removing the bumpers and changing the mirrors really helped as well. I love my car.

Robert,

I have heard some people say that running anything larger than 17's on a Pantera looks weird because of the cut out or shape of the wheel well opening. I was just wondering - when you say the the "rears don't fill the wheel wells" are you talking about the width of the rim itself or the shape of the opening.

Devin

My new wheels are 17s. They look awesome, and everyone likes them (including me), but they sit in a little bit. It is one of those things everyone says "what the hell are you talking about?" when I mention it.

See how the old wheels fill the well perfectly?




...but the new ones are awesome, but not as perfect?




I know I have nothing to complain about, but since I have two sets of wheels, I can go with the one that I think looks best. Unfortunately, I just now realized that the unavailability of the correct front tires makes the new fronts look better than the old fronts. But it is our rear wheels and tires that capture everyone's attention.

Robert,

For the Campi's you probably need to find an old school race shop that support vintage racing, they would be most liekly to have or know of someone that can work on mag alloy wheels. It's not a simple process, as the wheels have to go through heat treating.

If I were you I'd install spacers behind your current rears and move them out a littls. If you have the longer GT5 studs installed they should be long enough to do that. Many GT5's came with spacers from the factory.

Julian

Robert,

I can see what you mean on the rear wheel stance with the Campi’s on your car. I also understand how most people would not even notice.

It seemed like I spent days trying to figure out why my car sat so much lower on the driver’s side versus the passenger. I finally figured out that the car sat less than 3/8 inch lower on the driver’s side versus the passenger. Not noticeable to the average onlooker but very annoying to me.

Devin

P.S. I have always liked the look of the wide GT5 Campi but I think your new wheels really make your car pop.

A couple of the usual Pantera vendors (PPC-Carson City for one) have been restoring magnesium wheels for at least 10 years with few complaints. They have specialists that do the welding, others that professionally remachine the welds, and a third place that does heat-treating, then has them properly annealed as welding builds up local stresses that later can result in cracking. Welding mag is trickier than welding cast iron,and your average shop is not going to do it properly. I'm pretty good with a TIG, and after screwing around with a broken Campy for practice, I realized there's a LOT more to welding mag than there is with aluminum. When I crack a Campi, I take it to an expert.

Joules5 - I will start looking for vintage racing places in addition to some of the Pantera vendors (per Bosswrench). I am afraid to install spacers because the wheels are wider (when looking from the side) and will hit the flat, front section of the wheel well if I come forward very much.

Garvino - I constantly tell others to not sweat the details that nobody will notice...and then get all psycho about this. You are right about "popping" but I am not really happy with the polished look. Whatever wheels I choose might be going black or dark gray. The remaining chrome bits around the turn signals, etc. will being going black as well. And new exhaust.

Bosswrench - I will start contacting Pantera vendors. I was trying to find either a local shop, or a wheel specialist first, but neither seems esay to find.

I have trusted Altizers in Moundhouse (just east of Carson City - think 'bunny ranch' ) with a number of wheel sets over the years...including very valuable 'goose' magnesium wheels, and the expertise and quality of work is exceptional. Google 'em

quote:

Originally posted by Mang:
I have trusted Altizers in Moundhouse. Google 'em

I gave them a call and they powder coat, but do not do any repairs other than smoothing scratches.

Thanks for the info though, especially since I will need the wheels finished (coated or painted) as well.

I recall an article many moons again (read a decade or so) in the Pantera Club of Norcal about a company that did repair/restoration work on the Pantera wheel. I don't recall the name but I believe Larry Stock of Pantera Performance Center in Nevada used them. I would call him to find out if he still uses them or if they are even still in business. It's worth a shot anyway.

Good luck.

I will do some research with Pantera Performance Center.

I talked to Roger (I believe) at Pantera Parts Connection in Reno and he said they have a retired Boeing welder that restores wheels to some Boeing spec. Lots of steps. Runs about $1500 for the set. Takes months (although I don't know why anything takes months these days).

A place called Sierra Wheel Repair also works on magnesium wheels. They seem cheaper, but maybe not as thorough? By that I mean he wasn't as "geeky" about talking about the process and I will contact him again to find out how they check for invisible cracks etc.

I am not concerned about the cost so much as having wheels that I know are safe to run at high speeds.

If getting the tires is difficult, I might keep my new blingy wheels and sell the original set. I heard they are selling well in Europe where the race guys love them and can get racing slicks for them no problem. Someone from this forum contacted me months ago about the wheels and I haven't forgotten.

Thanks everyone for the insight so far. Any additional input will be appreciated.

Hey Robert, when I said Pantera Performance Center, I did mean Pantera Parts Connection in Reno. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't try to go from memory these days

quote:

Originally posted by LIV1S:
Hey Robert, when I said Pantera Performance Center, I did mean Pantera Parts Connection in Reno. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't try to go from memory these days

Well, that is perfect, because that is who I talked to. Heh. Great guy. Went on and on about the Boeing spec - I could tell he cares about what he does.

I really like the look of those wheels. They looked awesome on the GT4 race cars but I especially loved the look when I saw them on the 1984 black GT5 with the wheels in gold. These were the original design that is popular again and now called 'Concave' style wheels.

What ever you do, don't powdercoat them. Powdercoating magnesium wheels never turn out well and hard to inspect/repair afterwards.

I am pretty sure I am going to have the GT4 wheels restored and painted the original grey. Then I will put them up for sale.

I will keep the blingy wheels, paint them black and get some small spacers for the rears to get the fitment as right as I can.

Robert,

Personally i think you'll loose a lot of the depth of the wheels if you paint them black. Have you considered having the centers powder coated?

Julian

I thought about doing that. My Porsche wheels are like that, but that look seems to be going out of style.