EXPERTS PANEL

"Wheels - In my restoration of a 1964 4/4, I am considering powder coating  the wire wheels.  Would you recommend this or suggest an alternate?

 Thanks,
 Keith McIver
 

FINKRUTTERSOLOWWORRALL

Bill Fink

Keith,

I don't know the cost of powder coating, but to do it properly the wheels would need to be disassembled, reassembled, tuned, etc. It strikes me that new chrome plated wheels would be a better idea,  as you would then have new wheels instead of 36 year old wheels, with  a nice finish.

Bill Fink
Isis Imports Ltd.

Melvyn Rutter

Greetings,
A proper blast and powder coat is fine, although on old wire wheels, they have to be checked for spoke tightness and see if they run true first.
Regards Melvyn Rutter

Greg Solow
Wheels can be safely powder coated. dics wheels cannot. the powder coating is flexible and the wheels can crack and the cracks will not be apparent until it is to late.

Regards, Greg Solow

GoMoG Webmaster

These are wise warnings..something I have seen over the last 30 years of hearing and helping with 1000s of Morgan Trad problems. Though I love the look of wire wheels, they have drawbacks and watchpoints. In no special order:

1. Wire wheels, depending on their strength (dictated in part by the number of spokes) and inherent quality need re-truing every 10-20 thousand miles. Powder coated wheels cannot be retrued as the coating prevents that. In my experience with my own and other wire wheeled car, that will reduce the effective longevity of these wheels by 80+%.

WATCHPOINT I It is often and wrongly assumed that polished metal is an aesthetic choice only. WRONG! Polished metal resists rusting. It is infinitely more durable than paint or unpoloished metal..which will always fail you, which always fail you, stainless steel or not. Even the later stainless steel used by the Factory after 1995, (bulkhead and engine bay) stains. The Factory would not pay the pittance more to have it polished. I have even seen such Morgan stainless panels rust in extreme climates combined with a lack of care!
All proper wire wheel sellers switched to stainless spokes decades ago. I use a bespoke version of MWS all stainless wire wheels, spokes and rims. I have had them all re-trued 4 times (100$ cdn for all of them each time). See the relevant articles in the Wheels Index. I have had them for 20 years and 100,000 kms. 

2. The only proper way to coat or paint chromed or stainless steel wheels is to completely diassemble them, sandblast them, re-true them, then paint or powder coat them. It is always cheaper and wiser to buy them new.

WATCHPOINT II   Both MWS and Dayton wire wheels, even if they have stainless spokes, will have rusting rims if those rims are not made of stainless AND the cars are left outside and not regularly driven. Rain water pools at their low point and causes rust within a couple of years.


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