Hello all,
I thought I would relay my experiences this week regarding sandblasted
wheels. I had a set of rusty stock Spitfires wheels that I thought could
stand fixing up. Having spent lots of time getting marginal results
with wire brushes, Dremels, & sand paper. I took them to be sand blasted.
When I picked them up, they looked great! The sandblasting gave them
a 'textured' look, (which I like) similar to crinkle finished paint.
All traces of rust and old paint were gone. There were a couple of
craters where the sand had 'cleaned out' a pitted area.
I gave them the treatment royale with many coats of primer & paint,
baking them in the sun between coats. Yesterday, I took them to the
tyre store for new rubber. Today I learn that they can't get the bead to
seal on any of the 4 rims!
They (tyre store manager) tell me that they tried all kinds of sealants
etc. with no results. Aparantly the blasted sealing area on the rim is
too rough to get a bead. My only recourse for the time being is inner
tubes. I'm tired of fooling with these rims and it's too cold to paint!
Question: What are the disadvantages of running inner tubes in this
manner? I know about extra heat buildup. The tyre store guy tells
me that hard (spirited?) braking can pinch a tube resulting in blowout.
Are there other gotchas? Is car handling compromised? Improved? :-)
I will probably transplant these tyres later on to better rims (w/ no tubes).
Looks like bead blasting would have been a kinder / gentler way to go.
Perhaps leave the tyres on the rims while being blasted.
Bob "blasted wheels" Sykes
75, 78, 78 Spitfires
|