EELSPEAR

Any thought on where to send Fuchs forged alloy wheels to be reconditioned....?
I live in MA...

Thanx in advance......Herb

cambria

You might try the following.
<a href="http://www.rimandwheelworks.com" target="_blank">www.rimandwheelworks.com</a>
<a href="http://www.wheelcollision.com" target="_blank">www.wheelcollision.com</a>
I found these people on the Rennlist,sometime back, when I had a bent wheel. I ultimatley found a good wheel on ebay.

Carl Nall

I recommend doing them yourself... Getting up close and personal with your Fuchs is inspirational!

ian

Considering what carl's wheels look like I would listen to him....

<img src="http://www.p-caronline.com/directory/images/bertman/bertman_image5.jpg" alt=" - " />

Ken D

EELSPEAR, if you don't want to do them yourself, Rim & Wheelworks (link provided above) is in Newton MA. Save you a ton in shipping.
Also, Steve from NH (he posts every once & awhile here) had his phonedials refinished some place in Tyngsboro I believe. I saw the finished products and they looked great. Maybe he'll chime in here with the name of the shop.

Lars944

Those fuchs chromed or just polished alu?

Carl Nall

They're just polished. The Fuchs forged alloys polish out to a high shine but they're not as flashy as chrome and are more appealing, at least to my tastes, not to mention more durable...

ELLSSUU

Carl,

Mind giving us a write-up on how you polished those? I've got a set that I just took off my car to polish and yours look incredible.

Carl Nall

I guess I really should write up a detailed tutorial but there are fairly good intro's already out there, e.g., the Pelican site:

<a href="http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/mult_wheel_refinish/fuchs1.htm" target="_blank">http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/mult_wheel_refinish/fuchs1.htm</a>

There are a number of other good wheel polishing write-up's on the web. Bottom line, if you want a full polish, i.e., not just a polished rim, be prepared to spend some time and do some serious work. One very key secret that I guess I can divulge is the old trick of using EasyOff oven cleaner to strip the anodizing from the wheel. After stripping clear coat and paint, the Fuchs reveal a very tough anodizing layer that will preclude a high polish unless it's removed. If you just want to paint the center spokes, there's no need to remove the anodizing. I started by wet-sanding with course to fine sand paper to smooth the finish and repair any slight imperfections and then used power tools (a drill) with progressively finer abrasives on polishing wheels to bring the alloy up to a mirror shine. Finish it off with Mother's or other good mag polish. Oh, you'll then want to polish your nuts(!) and center caps, too...

Be warned however, polishing the Fuchs may be addictive. You'd be surprized how much aluminum needs polishing on a 944. I just finished polishing out my early car's aluminum engine tray! It's beautiful but my friends think I'm totally **** when I take 'em to show them the underside of my old Porsche!

Let me know if you decide to dive into it. Take some before, during and after pics.

Dave951M

Polishing isn't really hard, just very time consuming and the results are worth the effort.

Lars944

I am currently doing it to some BBS style 16x8 and 9 Artec Rial's

Hoping for the same results but hell.. he has done a perfect job

Tremelune

Man, I'd really love a good writeup with lots of progressive pictures...Every wheel is different and people have different ideas for them...I just want my cookie cutters to look like new, and I ain't willing to pay someone to do it for me...Summer project, but I can't go leaving the wheels off my only car for days at a time...

Carl Nall

On a full polish it's really best to do all four wheels, tires off, at the same time as it allows you to complete each phase completely before moving to the next. This is more efficient in terms of effort and materials and seems to reduce the monotony.

Unfortunately, if you need to drive your car, you should plan on borrowing some wheels while you re-do yours... it will take you a few days to do them right.

However, with cookie cutters it's not difficult to remove the clear coat on just the lip/rim and then polish out the rim. I once did this with the tires still mounted and the result was excellent.

Tremelune

I thought the rim was painted? There are some very fine cracks and some curb rash in places...Is that just clearcoat? Maybe I can get away with compounding, glazing, and waxing the spokes, and polishing and clearcoating the rim, yes?

Not many folks seem inclined to refinish cookie-cutters.

Carl Nall

The cookies are cast aluminum with painted centers and a clear coat finish. The clear coat rapidly deteriorates on the outer rims of most of these wheels that have been subjected to harsh cleaners, road grime, brake dust, curbs, etc. With mine, the centers were perfectly fine, glossy black but the clear coat was breaking up on the rim. Aircraft grade paint stripper, carefully applied to the silver area only, removes the old clear coat and then you can polish the bare aluminum. I don't think clear coat is needed (it tends to dull the polished look) but not all agree with me on that. I've found that the wheels look great with an occasional polish with Mother's.