Steel Wheels on a Subaru

Irrespective of the specific alloys, steel is lighter? By what name is the alternate Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev identified in your bizarro universe? Or might you instead be implying the manner in which light interacts with their surfaces?

That's largely due to the fact that the former item is usually a malleable (steel) stamping while the latter is an invarably somewhat porous (aluminium) casting.

This is a PITA! But, when you finish, your wheels will look new!

Sandblast...

Sand...

Sand some more...

If you want a 'chrome' look...sand some MORE!

If you don't want machining marks...KEEP SANDING!

Then polish...

Polish some more....

Polish some more!

I did this to a set of Toyota wheels, and I sanded the machining marks off and then polished them all three steps. Unfortunately, the car they were to go on is rusting into my backyard. The wheels have been in the garage for 5 years, and look as good as the day I fiinished them.

It takes about 4-5 hours PER WHEEL, but you can't beat the finish. The original wheels, which were stolen, were gold anodized, and I found an anodizing place that would do all 4 for $125, which is pretty cheap. Anodizing gets into the metal a few hundreths of an inch and takes a LONG time to wear away. Alternately you can powder coat them, about $45-60 per wheel, as Pink Floyd said, "Any colour you like", including Clear.

"Heron McKeister" wrote in news:QG33n.21572$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe03.iad:

He never said that. He said that Steel *rims* are lighter. less material, probably due to aluminum's far lower tensile strength. If you were following this thread properly, you would have seen the mention of Steel rims being lighter than aluminum ones. The fact that he didn't actually use the term rims aside. The whole thread implies that word.

more aluminum is needed, but the wheels are still lighter than steel.

I never have cared much for the chrome look.Back in the 1970s (I think it was the 1970s) Pontiac once built at least one car which had something like copper plating on the parts which otherwise would have been chromed.I think that Pontiac car looked great. cuhulin

I think it's safe to say you know by now I'm a Japanese car fan. I ran across a 1973 Datsun 240Z yesterday and the owner was real reluctant to part with it, so I told him he basically had a sound car (it's been garaged since new and not driven in the last 7 years) and basically a sanding and painting would make it look mint again.

I told him what *I* would do, since I would keep a car like that for as long as I could, would be to black out the chrome trim with a matte black finish (powder coat would do quite well here) and paint it Porsche Guard's Red. T'would be an awesome looking car, since it was supposed to have been a Porsche anyway (A german designer drew up the car and offered it to Porsche. They thumbed their noses at it, so the guy offered it to Nissan...)

Hmmmm..where have I heard this before? :)

No, that is not necessarily true. Aluminum has lower density, but the wheels that are on the market are not at all necessarily lighter than steel.

Check it out.

Not true. In fact many of the OEM aluminum rims out there today weigh more than the steel rims for the same vehicle. The main reason is that they have to make the aluminum rims able to handle anything that gets thrown at them. Plus they want them CHEAP. So they use whatever alloy they can get that will work. They don't work out ways to make them lighter or stronger.

For instance the Alloy 15 X 6.5 rims used on my Blazer weigh in at 19.8 pounds. The steel 15 X 6.5 rims weigh in at 16.3 pounds.

The early Zs were nice simple cars with a very smooth engine and handling. I wouldn't mess with the original trim - they're probably valuable pieces. I have never heard that the body design was supposed to have been a Porsche but the proportions was obviously inspired by the Jaguar XK-E. That said, the design sure didn't look like anything Albrecht Goertz had designed previously so I have some doubts about the amount of his input. I had a chance to drive a 70 model for a few days and it's a good ride. I remember the engine had a peculiar sound of smoothly sliding metal - like that of fine scissors. Very smooth power application which probably was due to the dual Hitachi SU clones which are called carburetors but are totally unique in their operation. I used to own a 510 which had the same engine less two cylinders. That one was a dog but the Z's 6 was a beautiful babe. Good luck in getting one of these. You should be aware that like Corvettes, custom examples are plentiful and worth much less than rare, original ones.

That's what I told him. Since I would keep the car until it returned to the elements from which it came, if I painted it to suit *me*, that's OK.

But I advised him for collector's value, don't even change the color to a different factory color!

Please...I had a friend that did that when we were about 13...with house paint...

I have my Supra to give me all the troub...er, fun I can handle!

I WISH my '88 Supra were in as decent shape as thet '73 Nissan!

You're right - that would be sorta like refinishing a 50s Strat. :-)

Just to clarify, when I said "Good luck in getting one of these", I meant that I hope you succeed in acquiring the Z, not that you ain't got much of a chance. Guess I should have just said "Good luck." Well, Good Luck! :-)

I have never owned a Toyota before, but I like Toyotas.Never saw any vehicles before that I didn't like, regardless of whatever name brand or whatever kinds of vehicles, air, land, sea/whatever, wherever they are manufactured, and whichever Countries. I like Vehicles. cuhulin