I have been contemplating getting a more period correct wheel for my Roadster the past several weeks. Friday night I was bored and I went out the garage and polished my rear plastic window. I used Mother's Clear Plastic Polish that was recommend by Riggs Brothers(custom conv. top and interior place). Stuff works great. For kicks I figured I will try some the aluminum spokes on my Fuchs. Wala! I am in love again with the look. Well, at least for now.
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I was kinda wondering why you were sending emails with pictures of other wheels. Those are just perfect on your car.
Marty--Wheels look great!
Does that plastic polish remove slight rub marks from the plastic rear window? I have kind of a slight scrape I'd like to remove.
---Gotta look good for Carlisle!!
And now the other 3! Being in North you'll want to wax with caribou wax to keep road salts from damaging wheel. Be sure to do back of wheel too. Guess you'll have to shoot a Caribou first though.
Awhile back I started polishing some old 914 2L Fuchs. After 8 hours one look great. Wish I had spread effort over all 4 rather that setting the bar so high on the first.
I seem to remember that it took me 8 - 10 hours to sand and polish out each wheel when I did mine, maybe a little more (they were all flat black anodized before and I just polished the spokes ). The original Porsche black anodizing is VERY hard and really thick - I started with 80-grit grinding pads and worked my way up to 2000 grit in 6 stages and then polished them with metal polish and a power ball and several other polishing tips, mostly different sized cones. And then I had oversplash of the polishing stuff all over my bench so had to clean THAT up, too. Major PITA and I vowed to never do that again - I'll send them out somewhere next time.
They came out great, though, and I clear-coated them with clear Krylon acrylic and they've looked great ever since. Never waxed them, just wash them with the rest of the car and chamois everything off.
Jack, Yes its made to help remove the finer imperfections on the plastic.
Gordon, these are newer EMPI Polished Fuchs & are anodized, I think. I am not sure what is on them as far as a coat but it takes very little effort to get them too look like the picture. Took 30-40 minutes with no power tools.
Greg/Wolfgang, did you see the recent episode of Wheeler Dealers where Mike takes his Porsche 914 wheels to a professional wheel polisher. It makes the process look so easy.
Greg, are you gonna make it to Carlisle this year? I know Ft. Walton Beach is a hike, but airplanes are pretty fast.
When I had my IM restored I worked on the wheels, which were in decent condition, for about 6 hours. Like Marty, mine are replicas. Mine are US made. Bought them from Cip1 in 2001.
I like the look of my wheel, and they're fairly light for a repo (and they're 6" wide, which I like), but they're getting too common. I'm a a bit of a wheel whore (had four sets for my street/track Miata), so I'm always looking for new wheels.
So far I've come across two wheels that I like a lot. For my IM the wheels will have to be custom make, because I need an uncommon offset for the rear to clear the fenders. The only reason I haven't purchased these wheels is cost. Each set would run around $1200-1500. I imagine shipping from England would be pricy.
Shhhhhhhh...gasburners.
A guy near me is selling a set, but he wants $2500 and they need restoring!
I loooooooooooooooooooooooooove those Superlites - on just about anything.
I've been lusting after a set of these for a few years. Minilites, which are considerably cheaper (and heavier), are still available in a Porsche 5x130 bolt pattern, but the offset is wrong. I need +45mm in the rear.
Every time I mention these wheels to my wife she replies, "First you buy me the wood lathe you promised to buy me last year."
How she can compare a wood lathe to a beautiful set of wheels is beyond me.
Wait...you're wife wants you to buy her a wood lathe?
Is she related to Angela or something?
