What about these wheels?

i got all my major mechanical issues straight. Meaning the car runs and drives. I been considering new shoes. Nothing aftermarket has really lit the fire especially not for the price. I'm wondering about sending the ones I got to be dipped in chrome? They are original. I thinkI'm pretty sure that's possible at my local hub cap annie but does anyone know of the cost, benefits? Downfalls? Insults?

 

Aluminum dont chrome very well. I would tape and paint them for a fraction of the price.

 

I like "turbine" style wheels, like your factory wheels. However, if you're going to stick with them, I'd clean them up, like peter stated. I don't think chrome will work well for the look. Turbine wheels are meant to look like aluminum.

If you like turbines, you could find some wider 15" aftermarket ones and wider tires. They make turbines where there are more spokes, closer together. Or fewer spokes, spaced further apart.

Here's how my old wagon looked with aftermarket turbines. These turbines have more spokes, spaced closer together.



Or, if you like chrome, you could go with some 15" Magnum 500s, a classic Ford/Mercury wheel. Not too much chrome, and readily available.

Here's how my Montego wagon looked when I first got it, with some 15" Magnum 500s.

 

The mags do look cool. Do you think the mercury could still be considered original with those? So y'all are saying just paint them silver? I can't tell because they so worn out but were the turbines all one color? Looks like they could have black on the inside? Also when you say paint, are you meaning rattle can?! What about 15's on the front and some wider 17's on the back? I know that ain't original but would a wagon l00k little tougher like this? After all looking cool is part of it right?!

 

Tire hight and with are two different things, If you get an 8 inch wide rim and put 50'S on them you get fat and low. offset is very important. Find a wheel shop that knows how to do the math and you will achieve the look you want. The stock rims are most likely 5 x 15's. yes if you keep the stock wheels just tape the outside, Black spray paint then polish. bet they come up looking good.

 

Ahhhh! I see! paint them all black then polish the outside till the paint comes off in all the right places? That would look good. This may be stupid question but would a fine grit sand or water paper work? Now just gotta wait for my garage to be built or a fine spring day which ever comes first! Thanks for the input

 

Yes. Paint the insides of the spokes black, and leave the rest of the wheel natural aluminum. Another option is to use masking tape to tape off the natural aluminum sections, then paint inside the spokes black. The issue with your plan is that your wheels might currently be clear coated. So, in order to polish them, you'd have to strip off all the clear coat first. Then, you might want to reapply clear coat after polishing. Maybe someone who knows for sure will speak up. If that's the case, that will be a lot of hard work.

 

I could still use rattle can for clear coat? I got an angle grinder and could put a buffer pad on there to make short work of cleaning the aluminum but would I still need to polish it? All of this is very helpful and my wallet really appreciates it! Thanks

 

Your wallet will like a few rattle cans of paint and some fine sandpaper much better than an arm and a leg for chrome that won't get you home.
Sand and paint in the living room when your wife is shopping. It's getting too cold outside.
I remember helping a friend paint his BSA in his new mobile home. He may have gotten divorced after that.

 

The two sets I had on two different Box Panthers, as far as I could tell, were not clear coated, or if they were, it was so thin, it didn't make any difference. but it is important to clean the heck out of them, especially in between the spokes, due to road grime accumulation. You definitely wouldn't want to put paint on that.

 

You can do them one or two at a time. Have the tires dismounted and take the rims to a coin - op car wash. Get some Gunk or some other degreaser. The black stuff on the rims is toxic so don't breath it. Brake cleaner works the best. clean and dry well. They do make tape kits cut to fit your wheels or spend the time to tape well. Good luck.

 

I think having them painted professionally is a good option also. Might cost more but you can be sure of the outcsome.

 

I done did it! Well, 1/4 of it, but I'm so excited I had to share! I followed yalls advice about painting, except I didn't do it black. I thought about it, rolled it around my brain a while and decided on this color, strangely I found a rattle can that matched my imagination! I think this color gives them more "depth" as mom would say. (She's an art teacher) the only downside is it took me a loooong time. But I'm getting the hang of it so the others should go a little quicker. Oh yeah and when I was getting the tires off, the ol fella there suggested oven cleaner to remove all the gunk that was caked on, worked like a charm. I also did the brakes because they were tired and the car sat in the carport by the kitchen window and I felt guilty looking at them everyday and not doing the job!

 

Grizz
they look terrific, your original picture looks just like the 1's on my 85. have cleaned them up somewhat but nothing like what you did. so if I could answer some stupid questions I would appreciate it
How exactly did you do it?
did you polish or paint the aluminum?
Paint the inside of the "spokes" or left them alone?
Paint color? Brand?
how long did it really take?
Took my 85 to the shop to have the intake leak fixed, replace the original shocks and make sure all the suspension and bushings are ok, fix wiring into the alternator - have been to jump car from solenoid twice. They've had it for 2 weeks not
mechanic was out sick, and "the other guys are too young to work on it" that's a hoot
thanks in advance for your time

 

Wow...too young to work on an 85?!? I guess because they can't plug it up to a computer?! But it still has the OBD 1 doesn't it? Guess they can't figure out the "Morse code". Anyway the specific steps for the wheels was the following. I've never really done this before so anyone feel free to chime in if I didn't do it right:
1: take the tires off the wheels
2: oven cleaner on both sides, all over. The longer it sits on there the better. I think the can says 8 hours max. I did it over night the first time and it dried up, but came off very easily with a hose and brush.
3: then I used wire brushes. Got some different sized attachments for the drill that worked pretty well. The goal with this was to knock off the big bits of paint and clear coat. It looks like your scratching the mess out of it and you are I guess, but it buffs out with the sanding
4: I sanded and sanded some more. Starting out with some heavy stuff and working down to the finer grit. To make the entire surface smooth. There were places that looked uneven because of the old chipped paint but as long as its smooth the primer will cover it up
5: I used compressed air to blow off all the dust from sanding, then wiped everything down with a damp cloth. Then it's prime time. I used rust-oleum automotive primer. I focused the paint on the inside of the splines where it needs to be, but it will get on the whole wheel. I did two coats, mainly because I screwed up the first coat, water sanded it back smooth and shot it again.
6: Paint, blow it off and wipe it down really well. the paint I used was rust-oleum metallic. Again just focused the paint back forth from the center of the wheel, out to the rim, following in between each spline. Think I did two coats, but one might work as long as it looks good, thick and even.
7: remove the paint in all the right places. I used the wire brush drill attachments and a coarse buffer pad on an angle grinder. Once all the paint is removed everywhere but inside the splines
8: more sanding on the bare aluminum. This time I only used the finer stuff, also I used some steel wool as a final buffer. The grade I used was "1" and then "000" steel wool. Now the wheel was painted and looked good and just needed clearcoat 9: blow it off and wipe it down really well. clear coat! Rust-oleum acrylic enamel, gloss crystal clear. I don't know what any of that means but It did say something about automotive formula or some junk on there. This I think definitely requires two coats at least. I did it prettty liberally in the same motion as the paint, and then went once around the rim. It dries and can be reapplied anytime after like 20 minutes I think, it will say it on the can. The clearcoat won't be ready to ride for 24 hours at least and I am going to wait even longer just for safe measure. At least a couple days.
All in all I spent probably 3 or 4 hours on the one wheel. This doesn't count driving to the hardware store and tire shop, dry time for the paint and smoke breaks while the air compressor charges back. Think I can do it faster now that I kinda know what I'm doing. I'll show some pictures next weekend of them finished and on the car hopefully next weekend