RajDatta

I guess there are a few articles every year on someone refurbishing their Speedline wheels. I will take the start for this year .
I have a set of Speedline 3.6 turbo (polished) wheels that I plan on refurbishing. They are probably 8.5-9/10 cosmetically which for most people is good enough. Being **** retentive, I want to make them perfect.
This all started a few yrs back when I cleaned my wheels and laid them flat. As you know, the water will get into the clear coat and it will start peeling.
That is exactly what happened to my set. Ofcourse, it had to happen to all 4 wheels, even though the peeling is at max 2-3 bolts wide. I showed my set to Cobalt (thanks Tony, he is local to me in NJ) and his suggestion was to just fix the area in question and call it a day. After giving it some more thought, I have decide to make them perfect. I took full advantage of Championship Sunday and removed the nuts and bolts on all 4 rims today. Only 1 nut/bolt snapped off so I guess I did ok. I wanted to do most of the handy work because I enjoy doing this kind of thing and also because I wanted to save some $$.
Now come a few questions.
1. The factory sprays the wheels with clear coat after they are put together. Is this what everyone else has been doing?
2. What can be done to the bolt heads to make them perfect. Some of them picked up minor scrapes from the T10 socket.
3. Should I paint strip the outers and the centers before I ship them for polish/refurbish? Is it safe?
4. My etching is intact, would paint stripper do any damage to this?
5. Who would you guys recommend to redo the outers? I spoke to Mr Weidman from Weidman wheels and he quoted me a price that seemed very reasonable for just doing the outers. I also told him I would send the centers for him to give his opinion on. Is there anyone else out there that has done this and should be contacted?
6. Should all the pieces be clear coated inidividually before they are put together or should I put it all together and then clear coat it.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Regards.
Raj

Bad Boys 1

Contact Jim Dorociak.........he's here on the board under his name.

I'm sending my wheels to him real soon for refinishing .

P. S. .......Jim I promise I'll get them to you ASAP

cobalt

Raj,

Sorry had a family function yesterday was going to call you today.

Before you strip I would try air brushing the area and it might blend without being noticeable. Air brushing will allow you to apply small quantities of clear in layers.

Otherwise there is an epoxy stripper you can use but need to be very careful with it as it will take your skin off too. I don't have the name off hand but can try to find out from my local car paint shop. It is more of a paste than anything and is used for aircraft applications. It will dull the finish but not remove the etch you need to be careful when polishing the lip again that you don't remove it.

I will call you later.

RajDatta

Thanks Tony. I will wait for your call. I want to make the outers perfect so I want to fix any minor imperfections.
Raj

jim dorociak

Raj, always enjoy talking about Speedline wheels. It is my mission to uncover all the nuances of these rare and highly sought after wheels. I do not look at these as just another set of wheels to restore, but want them every bit as good as they were when brand new.

Seems like it is time to bring back to original specifications including the proper finish on the bolts not just the nickel finish I have been providing for some.

With permission of our members I would like to post progress on the next set of wheels I restore as I feel more people are going to want theirs done the right way. You are the second person within two weeks asking for the original finish back on to the bolts. So you are not alone in the desire to go back exactly as they were. I personally like the nickel finish as it is more durable and adds just a little bling to the wheels obviously without going over the top.

Jim
805-498-7261

RajDatta

Jim, the pleasure was all mine. I really appreciate you taking the time to speak to me at lengths. Its very evident that you share the same passion towards these wheels as us owners.
I look forward to working with you in restoring my set to like new condition.
Regards.
Raj

Flachbau

For once and for all we need a Speedline sticky - all these Speedline threads are ridiculous. How do we get that - Admin?

Finally dug my brand new boxed set of polished Speedlines out of storage and took a close look. The bolts are clear coated over (with what I don't know) and sealed. But the edge between the trim ring and the center is not sealed. So it appears that once the wheel is assembled either:

1. The center is taped off and then the whole ring is sprayed, or

2. The bolts are 'air brushed' or dabbed with the clear resulting in a coating over them.

I will take a closer look again tomorrow.

jim dorociak

Did you guys see my post on 1-16-2008 in the 911 turbo section where I talked about a special set of custom sized Speedline wheels I am building? Quite exciting.

My project Porsche is a 93 C2 going to be a RSR replicar. I have Techart wheels made by OZ Racing 8.75" and 11.6" x 18 3 piece wheels with custom sized rims to go on.

Jim

cobalt

Of the 3 sets i have had the originals on the car and the painted center set i sold along with the polished centers I still have new in box, only my originals do not have the bolts cleared. The new painted centers and the new clear centers seem to be cleared over the bolts and outer lip at the same time. This might have been done to prevent chemicals or water from getting under the bolt and creating discoloration. My wheels are original from 1993 and I have very slight hazing (middle right of 1st pic) around a couple of the bolts from what looks like chemical reaction to something that made its way under the bolt. I like the cleared over bolt approach better.

I also found that the new painted centers all had the small case i vs the originals that had a large case I In speedline. Yet the new clear centers have upper case I on the fronts and lower case i on the rears. Go figure.

Yes nice work so far. Wish we could fit deep dish wheels on our cars. If we could you would see a lot of us swapping out the barrels and lips on our rears.

Flachbau

Here are some close up photos of the bolts in my brand new set of polished. The wheels were purchased in 2002 and have the capital I.

You can see some wear/discoloration on the bolts due to installation and then the clear was applied. But as thick as the clear is on the bolts there is no thick layer of clear in the crevice between the center and the trim ring? That's why I speculated that the center was carefully taped off prior to applying the clear - at least on the polished wheel. I have not seen a brand new set of painted wheels to compare but from Anthony's photo maybe the entire painted wheel is cleared.

(photos in next post)

Flachbau

...

jim dorociak

Tony, thanks for the detailed pictures, it gives me a good idea what has to happen.
Jim

cobalt

No, I agree the centers are masked off or more likely have a cover to prevent any over spray during the coating of the lips. Although there seems to be some variations between the original 92-93 vintage wheels and those manufactured later. My bolts have never been removed on my original to my car wheels and yet they appear to not be clear coated as where it is quite obvious on my newer wheels both painted and polished that they are cleared with the lip.

I have no idea what is up with the lower and upper case I. the fact that I have 8's with upper case and 10's with lower case makes no sense at all. Especially since it doesn't jive with the painted centers I had a year or so back.

I will also add that there were speedlines used on the 92 turbo S's that had the valve stem located at the spoke vs between the spokes and these wheels are suspect to cracking centers. So be careful if you are looking into buying a set that have the valve stems located by the spoke.

tjr

Perhaps Speedline had some of the old 8" rims left and used these to make up the new wheels? I would have thought that the 10" are perhaps more prone to damage being that much wider and so they had to make up a new batch? Doesn't explain why they use the "i" although one can speculate that it is as simple as them using it to identify the new batch for some reason?

All IMHO.

cobalt

That was the original thought however, the set of painted center speedlines were manufactured in 05 and the polished in 06. I also had to return some of the wheels due to imperfections in the clear and they came back with the same configuration. More likely I would assume the error was caught after so many were produced and now they are manufacturing them correctly using up what they have in stock. More rears made more Small case i's.

I am afraid this may never go answered. Although unless your one of us I doubt anyone would ever notice. Although i think I would have prefered they left them the way they were.