Sport 350 magnesium alloy wheels

[williamives]

While I'm changing discs & tyres, I decided to have the wheels repainted....

I spoke to lots of different alloy wheel painting/refirbishment companies and found that most wouldn't work on magnesium wheels. I found one that would (about 1hr away) and they sounded ok and confident in the work.

So, I went to collect them today. And instead of spray painting them in a (closely matched) grey with a matt finish. They decided to (powder coat) paint them with a metalic gloss finish..... (the closest powder coating they had!)

They didn't look bad at all BUT I feel that I want to keep my car standard 'looking' (a sport 350)

So now we have a problem, they are going to strip them again and have another go... this time 'wet' sprayed. but we've now lost the original paint to colour match too...

I know that the original spec paint was (from Akzo Nobel Coating SpA, Italy) called "Silver Stosek" 7E80868 with Clearcoat 5K20011. But how can I match this to a easily available spec paint colour? I've spoken to the UK divison of Akzo Nobel, and they 'might' be able to source the correct paint from italy... but thats a bit extreme, as I'm painting all 4 wheels, I can live with a shade out..

I guess another option... anyone got a spare Sport 350 type wheel I can borrow to use to compare to some colour charts? Or has anyone been though this before and knows a roughly similar paint code?

Obviously the other problem is time. It will take days-weeks to get something from Italy...

Will

'99 Sport 350

[Rob C]

Hi William its just my 2nd time on the new forum...you will find Mercedes Moonsilver is very close I've been touching my wheels up with it for 3 yrs now..ex A class wife's car..its a good match..Rob C

[kyliesmith.com]

Just raising this thread again did anyone get a readily available paint colour code match on this?? I have two wheels that are bubbling and need re doing.

Cheers

[MKE40]

Where the wheels have had small chips and nicks I want to take the oxidisation back to bare metal and prime before filling and touching in ( Thanks for colour suggestion Rob) What is the correct priming agent ,is it th same chromate primer as used for aluminium ??

Mike

[oneshot]

I spoke to Brian Angus at the Lotus 60th about refurb of the magnesium wheels. He said they have contacted OZ in Italy about this and even OZ will not refurbish them. They do not recommend them to be refurbished and effectively will not support them if they have been.

Lotus have tried other places but no-one is interested in refurbing them.

[Esprit V8]

No good news!

I looked for the Crono Magnesios for my Esprit.

But better to let it go.

[kyliesmith.com]

Spoke to Brian last week as well as my wheels are getting repainted at the moment. He could not shed any light on the colour. So yes can confirm what Oneshot says.....Not good news. The actual shelflife of the wheels are designed for up to 10yrs only to top things off. Our cars being 8-9 yrs old does not help matters Perhaps Lotus should get on the case and get some more wheels made ! But something they can keep control over.

[Esprit V8]

Buying new Magnesium wheels from Lotus / OZ every 10 years will be very expencive.

[Günter]

i bet Lotus/OZ wasn't the first , and only , company that had used Magnesium for rim alloys !?

Dos someone know if the engine bloks in the new BMW-engne series are already painted ( imean those magnesium alloy blocks)

What do the others do... (Porsche, the 'Itallians' and so on..) ??

[Glyn Harper]

I remember there was another thread somewhere about this.

My pal is an engineer and we had a 'general' discussion about paiting magnesium wheels.

Basically, they need to be kept clear of oxygen, as magnesium oxidises extremely quickly. So, if they are to be painted it need to be that they are prepared (bead blasted, whatever) in something like an argon environment.

I suspect spraying primer on them would need to be done using argon too.

I'm sure there is a company that does this. I just can't remember where the other thread was about this.

I have the odd nick on my magnesios. I think if you can get some clear laquer touch up on them as soon as possible, you minimise further damage.

Think I'll go for those AWI wheels that came on the first V8's if mine finally are unsalvagable. They are my second favourite wheel for the Sport 350.

Kylie, do you have an email? I'll send you a picture of my car with the stickers on that Malcolm made for me. He did an ace job!

[kyliesmith.com]

Hi Glyn good stuff, send to

kyliesmith @ woosh.co.nz

[superdavelotus]

There's a place in Blackpool that professionally refurbs magnesium wheels. They send them off to Germany. The process is very dangerous apparently. Adrian AKA Snuffy might have the details as he was going to use them on his S350. Iam sure is was about a grand though so not cheap. In the end he used a local company which took 4 attempts to get it right! Saying that, they only charge him approx

[Glyn Harper]

Mine are ok for now, but I'm sure I'll need to use them at some point!

[Robert]

I like the magnesios. Excellent with the ESPRIT letters in it.

[snuffy]

There's a place in Blackpool that professionally refurbs magnesium wheels. They send them off to Germany. The process is very dangerous apparently. Adrian AKA Snuffy might have the details as he was going to use them on his S350.

Dave

Dave is correct. They told me they had to be worked on in an inert atmosphere ( cyanid I think ) otherwise they react with oxygen and corrode very quickly. The cost was

[Lepsons Swindon]

Hi,

We at Lepsons can refurbish magnesium wheels, we work very closely with Dymag in Wiltshire that make magnesium wheels.

Check out there website www.dymag.com

I am sure we could get the colour match.

If you want to give me a call we are on 01793 887222 and ask for Scott

Regards

Scott

[cweeden]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for posting. This is great news and although I don't need your services right now I do have a spare front rim with a small dent in it which I may refurbish one day. Do you have any price guides?

cheers

-Chris

[Daniel]

tempted to have all mine done whilst the car is off the road.

[oneshot]

I have a complete set of mags in need of refurb - I bought a brand new set which are now on the car.

An indication of price would be useful.

[cweeden]

When do we hit the bulk discount threshold?

[MKE40]

When do we hit the bulk discount threshold?

Yeah, When !!!

LOL

Mike

[Lepsons Swindon]

Hi Guys,

I will work out some prices for you.

Back soon.

Scott

[mike_sekinger]

Today I asked Lepsons about magnesium alloy refurbishment and was told this:

"Sorry Mike but due to the nature of Magnesium we stopped refurbing them.

Kind regards"

Not sure what happened there......

[Bibs]

Did you speak to Scott?

[mike_sekinger]

I sent an enquiry from their website, stating the info on LEF.

The email that came back wasn