[TAKerry]

My wheels are clear coated. Its nice to take a towel and wipe the dust off and have a clean, shiny wheel. I remember back in the day spending hours with Mothers, polishing wheels. Dont wanna do that anymore. Wheels on my pickup were factory clear coated, and they looked really nice for at least 10 years before they started to show signs of wear. And that's a dd construction vehicle. I figure the t/a wheels will last awhile before they need redone at that rate.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by allenga

Why not clear? Thanks!

did you read my posts about the clear? i prefer no clear because it looks terrible with heavy orange peel, is hard to touch up when it chips, & eventually will fail like so many factory wheel you see out there today.

the factory clear on these wheels was a very thin lacquer based clear you could barely tell was there, nothing like the thick powder clear wheel companies use today for these restorations.

i too just wipe my wheels off with a towel & have shiny metal... they do not require polishing the spokes regularly or hours with mothers polishing them. if you look at the pics i posted the wheels look exactly the same as they do in the pics 10 years later... & i drive my cars a lot. granted, not daily drivers in rain or winter with road salts etc. the car is in storage for the winter but i will post a pic in a month or so to show what they look like now.

fact is that non cleared snowflakes will stay shiny if you keep them clean & use a light coat of was every year or 2 & avoids the other problems mentioned above with thick powder coat clear.

[Bentwheelbob]

Maybe the difference in my point of view is that my car is a Y88 with the WS6 wheels. These wheels are not the bright gold of the regular snowflakes, do not have the snowflake webs machined, and I think lose the correct look with shiny clear coat on them. I bought a set of restored wheels from Detroit Wheel that came cleared and were unacceptable to me. I ended up sending him my original wheels and had them restored with no clear. Again, it may just be the difference in wheels and color.

As far as your lack of OCD, I hope you come to the TA Nats this year because I want to party with you...









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[Aus78Formula]

the bright gold of regular snowflakes...

[TAKerry]

BWB, your car looks great, sorry to hijack, but how do you get the black in the engine compartment to look so good? Mine is pretty clean by most standards but the black parts just look blah.

[Bentwheelbob]

Well, speaking of OCD, I might just suffer from a small dose of that as well.....

I did a full restoration under the hood a few years back, but stopped short of removing the sheetmetal. The inner fenders, brackets, air cleaner, et cetera were powder coated, while the cowl, firewall, and core support were painted. The original engine was replaced with a stroked XX block with all correct W72 pieces including heads, carb, intake, and exhaust manifolds to retain stock appearance. Since then I keep it clean by wiping it down with Simple Green and using Aerospace 303 on the rubber and plastic bits.

Here's a link to the thread on the car.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=755425

[TAKerry]

Thanks. I will give that stuff a shot. My entire engine bay has been restored and I pretty much just wipe things down, but it always seems to be lacking that extra pop.

[allenga]

Originally Posted by 78w72

did you read my posts about the clear? i prefer no clear because it looks terrible with heavy orange peel, is hard to touch up when it chips, & eventually will fail like so many factory wheel you see out there today.

the factory clear on these wheels was a very thin lacquer based clear you could barely tell was there, nothing like the thick powder clear wheel companies use today for these restorations.

i too just wipe my wheels off with a towel & have shiny metal... they do not require polishing the spokes regularly or hours with mothers polishing them. if you look at the pics i posted the wheels look exactly the same as they do in the pics 10 years later... & i drive my cars a lot. granted, not daily drivers in rain or winter with road salts etc. the car is in storage for the winter but i will post a pic in a month or so to show what they look like now.

fact is that non cleared snowflakes will stay shiny if you keep them clean & use a light coat of was every year or 2 & avoids the other problems mentioned above with thick powder coat clear.

I should have listened. The wheel repair company insisted I powder clear after paint. I let them and it looks like !**@. They gassed the wheels twice and they have a porosity problem which bubbles. So, they will re-machine the rims. And they want to do an automotive paint clear. I think you guys are saying don't do clear. Also, they painted the entire back of the rim gold when I asked them not to. :-(

[Aus78Formula]

Powdercoat clear always looks thick, likewise machining again may just find more porosity. It's a feature of alloy rims with machined faces. Why didn't you want gold backs? What colour did you want them on the back?

[allenga]

Originally Posted by Aus78Formula

Powdercoat clear always looks thick, likewise machining again may just find more porosity. It's a feature of alloy rims with machined faces. Why didn't you want gold backs? What colour did you want them on the back?

I think I will have them machine the faces and not reheat/clear. Leave them bare. The backs I think should be left without paint.

[Aus78Formula]

The backs were gold, the entire visible area of the rim was gold before machining. Although, that's the back of the face, not the inner curved wall which should be machined. If that's the case it could possibly also be machined off again, but every extra task is more scratches and damage and chipped powdercoat.

Here's a NOS '78 8" snowflake.

NOS WS6 1978 8JJ Snowflake rim (8) by Aus78Formula, on Flickr

[allenga]

Originally Posted by Aus78Formula

The backs were gold, the entire visible area of the rim was gold before machining. Although, that's the back of the face, not the inner curved wall which should be machined. If that's the case it could possibly also be machined off again, but every extra task is more scratches and damage and chipped powdercoat.

Here's a NOS '78 8" snowflake.

NOS WS6 1978 8JJ Snowflake rim (8) by Aus78Formula, on Flickr

Thanks. Do you have a pic of the front. Yes, they painted the inner curved wall on mine after I told them not too.

[Aus78Formula]

Yep, doesn't help you too much though. Painting inside isn't so much the issue as not machining it after, sounds like they just left it.

NOS WS6 1978 8JJ Snowflake rim (2) by Aus78Formula, on Flickr

[Aus78Formula]

Plenty of grit and chunks and nicks and from new. Note the level of gloss. Slightly more would be fine and keep easy to clean, but not really a fan of the super glossy thick finish esp on rough casting detail.
Not sure why it's showing those pics so large when others can be clicked on to enlarge if wanted.

[Bentwheelbob]

Sorry they didn’t turn out well. You’ve got nothing to lose by having them machine cut the faces again to remove the clear powder coat. You might consider having them shoot the face first with a satin automotive clear prior to machining to degloss the gold that will remain.

Another alternative is to track down a set of used wheels and start over. They aren’t that expensive.

[Aus78Formula]

I was thinking similar, if not happy with the gold and clear, and not happy with the machining, you basically are redoing the lot. But where do you stop, and what stops the next machine job or set being the same?

[allenga]

Thanks guys. I essentially have one shot at a re-do with these guys. Re-machine yes, no prob. I guess the question on the table is, to clear or not to clear. I would love to leave them bare as others have suggested. What does bug and tar remover do to bare aluminum for example. There is a lot of road tar where I live that I take off my other cars.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by allenga

I should have listened. The wheel repair company insisted I powder clear after paint. I let them and it looks like !**@. They gassed the wheels twice and they have a porosity problem which bubbles. So, they will re-machine the rims. And they want to do an automotive paint clear. I think you guys are saying don't do clear. Also, they painted the entire back of the rim gold when I asked them not to. :-(

sorry to hear they didnt come out as you hoped. i tried my best to explain the reasons why powder clear is not a good idea for these wheels & posted pics showing what it looks like. yours have that same super thick artificial look & they probably have orange peel & debris too. i dont know why these companies use this powder clear or why people think it looks good.

i would try what you mentioned about re-machining the faces & leaving the gold as is. i would not suggest trying to use a auto clear over the powder clear, unless they can scuff it up properly, otherwise it will not stick to the powder clear or last very long. live with the gloss & after awhile it will dull up a little, or maybe try some tripple ot (000) steel wool to dull it a little.

bug & tar remover will not harm the bare aluminum, & if you put some wax on it as i suggested it will stay looking like new for many years & whatever gets on there will clean off pretty easy if you get to it soon.

i have been dealing with these snowflake wheels since the 1980's & have polished the factory ones to look almost like chrome by hand as a teenager. then after the horrible experience with restoring some for my current car i knew to stick with no clear, or at least not that ultra thick powder clear crap.

best of luck on the 2nd go around with your wheels.

[allenga]

Originally Posted by 78w72

sorry to hear they didnt come out as you hoped. i tried my best to explain the reasons why powder clear is not a good idea for these wheels & posted pics showing what it looks like. yours have that same super thick artificial look & they probably have orange peel & debris too. i dont know why these companies use this powder clear or why people think it looks good.

i would try what you mentioned about re-machining the faces & leaving the gold as is. i would not suggest trying to use a auto clear over the powder clear, unless they can scuff it up properly, otherwise it will not stick to the powder clear or last very long. live with the gloss & after awhile it will dull up a little, or maybe try some tripple ot (000) steel wool to dull it a little.

bug & tar remover will not harm the bare aluminum, & if you put some wax on it as i suggested it will stay looking like new for many years & whatever gets on there will clean off pretty easy if you get to it soon.

i have been dealing with these snowflake wheels since the 1980's & have polished the factory ones to look almost like chrome by hand as a teenager. then after the horrible experience with restoring some for my current car i knew to stick with no clear, or at least not that ultra thick powder clear crap.

best of luck on the 2nd go around with your wheels.

Thanks. I think I will machine and leave the fins bare. I will have them back Tues and will post the results.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by allenga

Thanks. I think I will machine and leave the fins bare. I will have them back Tues and will post the results.

also if they havent done them yet, i would call first thing monday & tell them to only machine off the bare minimum to remove the clear, not a full depth pass as if they were doing them the 1st time. otherwise, you may run into another major issue i had with the 1st set i had done, they machined them too deep & it caused the outside edge of the wheels to be so thin it was almost razor sharp & my tire guy said he wouldnt run them like that for safety issues with the metal being too thin in the area where the tire beads up. it also made the lug nut circles protrude into the center cap hole area & looked like crap! these wheels really only have 1 full pass of material before other issues can show up like pitting & what i mention above. heres pics of that to show what im describing... hopefully that doesnt happen to yours.