Are Cromadora wheels Magesium and how to refurbish

[Neil]

My Cromodora pox might be a different strain!  Just scruffy.

[chugga boom]

neil my advice to you is if the wheels are not corroded just give them a light rub down and paint them, dont take the paint off them compleatly as this is when they absorbe moisture and the corrosion sets in, when i sold my hf i did just that to the wheels and they still look perfect, they were in similar condition to yours to start with, the problem with these wheels is once they have started to corrode its stopping them doing it again

[Neil]

Thanks for the advice, I did consider doing that and I had started to rub one down, the edges on one of the rims is not great may need some filler and building up with paint, do you have any recommendations for a suitable paint, not bright silver as the wheels were more subtle in their finish.

[chugga boom]

To be honest i just use a vauxhall silver thats a bit grey and not too IN YOUR FACE, i can look for the paint code if you like but i tend to just look at cars in car parks for ideas  eg dads augusta is a standard modern vauxhall straight blue, easy to match in the future and any paint place can mix it, i painted my friends appia in a honda colour that was near as damn it to the origional lancia colour , it just makes life easier if something were to happen to them in the future, hope this helps james

[MikeFulvia]

Hi all. I am new to this forum, but I have recently had my cromodoras refurbished by a couple of chaps in a village called Saunderton which is near High Wycombe. These were recommended by a specialist in Ducati motobikes who regularly has his customers wheels done. As I understand it the magnesium in the alloys makes them more porous than pure aluminium alloys. One of the guys carefully shotblasted the wheels, and the other filled the holes caused by corrosion (they are 40 years old!) and repainted with several coats, the first quite thin to allow it to absorb. The whole lot cost £325 for 4 wheels, and I am delighted with the results. Haven't put them on the car yet as I am refurbing the head at the moment.
Hope this helps a bit.
Mike

[lancialulu]

Hi Mike

Welcome and thanks for that input. Could you divulge the company or telephone number etc or is it a state sectret??

Best

Tim

[MikeFulvia]

Thanks for the welcome, and the embarrassment
I had lost the paper where I wrote down the names and numbers, and have no invoice. However, since you ask, I checked on the internet and this is one of the guys:- 
Aaron Metal Polishing & Shot Blasting
01494565369
West Yard Industrial Estate, Slough Lane,
HIGH WYCOMBE, HP14 4HN

I have added a few pics as well, at least I think I have as this is the first time I have used the forum, and the preview does not seem to show the pictures!

[chugga boom]

mike welcome to the forum hope you enjoy it as much as us
hate to put a dampner on this but the wheels you see in my pics were shot blasted , filled primed and painted 3yrs ago and dry stored afterwards!!, like i said there is no way of stopping the corrosion unless the wheels are painted hot, if they are painted then baked the moisture is still trapped, my wheels actually looked worse after 6 months than they did when i sent them off to be done however they looked fantastic when i 1st had them back, roger the wheel restorer has had this problem himself and the only solution is to strip the wheels, bake them, powder whilst hot then re-bake, i'd be amazed if anyone gets a good result that lasts any other way, i've had 3 sets of these wheels and the only ones to survive where the really good wheels that went on my hf, these weren't corroded and i didnt strip the paint off them at all, i'd imagine if they were wet painted hot then they would be ok however prima is also porous and lets the moisture back into the wheel especially if they were wet flatted between coats, sorry to sound so negative but i'm only saying mine and rogers experiences of painting these wheels  they're BL***Y AWEFULL !!! and this will be the 3rd time that these wheels have been restored, both previous times traditionally shot blasted and wet painted and both times lasting less than 12 months 

[KiltedSkier]

From what research I've done no-one is doing a repro 5.5x14 - only the 6x14 which will only fit the HF's and cars with flared arches. I would have though there was quite a big market for the 5.5 - for all the standard S2/3 cars and the 2000's.

And judging by the state of mine they are definetly mag alloy!

Gus

[chugga boom]

yep agreed on the demand for them!! , 6j's just about went on my 1.3 with 165-80-14 tyres instead of the hf 175's but they are close to the rear arches!! glad you've cleared up about them being mag, someone once told me they were normal alloy but i've never owned any to be sure,

[LanciAlan]

I stripped my 5.5in 2000 wheels  with Nitromors paint stripper. They have a yellow coating underneath. Then rinsed and heated in the oven to expel moisture. Filled the worst holes with body filler, then painted with acrylic aerosol and several coats of lacquer. No corrosion problems since 2008. Probably not so durable as powder coating and not for the perfectionist's eye but certainly good enough for appearances and for everyday use

[fay66]

Just to put my oar in
While I think they look great, are they really worth all the aggrevation and cost
apart from appearance can you actually tell any difference?

Brian
8227

[chugga boom]

Just to put my oar in
While I think they look great, are they really worth all the aggrevation and cost
apart from appearance can you actually tell any difference?

Brian
8227

NO LOL!! they do strech the tyre a little more and make the steering feel better again, a bit less tyre roll but thats about it

[Neil]

Chugga, you fitted 165 x 14 to Cromodaras, interesting, I did fit much larger 185/70 x 14 to my 5.5x14 wheels in 15 yrs+ ago, but that was a compromise, there is not really suitable (slightly) wider tyre with the same gearing as the original tyres on a 1.3 when I looked, I could fit some new 165s on the repainted wheels

[MikeFulvia]

mike welcome to the forum hope you enjoy it as much as us
hate to put a dampner on this but the wheels you see in my pics were shot blasted , filled primed and painted 3yrs ago and dry stored afterwards!!, like i said there is no way of stopping the corrosion unless the wheels are painted hot, if they are painted then baked the moisture is still trapped, my wheels actually looked worse after 6 months than they did when i sent them off to be done however they looked fantastic when i 1st had them back, roger the wheel restorer has had this problem himself and the only solution is to strip the wheels, bake them, powder whilst hot then re-bake, i'd be amazed if anyone gets a good result that lasts any other way, i've had 3 sets of these wheels and the only ones to survive where the really good wheels that went on my hf, these weren't corroded and i didnt strip the paint off them at all, i'd imagine if they were wet painted hot then they would be ok however prima is also porous and lets the moisture back into the wheel especially if they were wet flatted between coats, sorry to sound so negative but i'm only saying mine and rogers experiences of painting these wheels  they're BL***Y AWEFULL !!! and this will be the 3rd time that these wheels have been restored, both previous times traditionally shot blasted and wet painted and both times lasting less than 12 months 

Oh oh! Looks like I may have some problems.....