Hi-
Concerning the sandblasting- I had an unusual experience that I'm
sure you'll want to avoid... I took 4 disk wheels from my 3A to a guy who
sandblasted swimming pool paint as a living. He used very coarse grit,
which worked very fast, but left a rather rough but clean surface. I
sprayed 'em with Centauri and a coupla clear coats and they looked fine. I
took the wheels to the Tire Guy and had him mount up a set of Michelin zX's.
I got a call from the tire guy who informed me that the wheels were all
rather 'bent' and would require a LOT of balancing weights, and would
probably still be shaky. I went down to the Tire store to confront this
fellow; I thought he was trying to rip me off or had somehow bent the
wheels on his tire changer. Oddly enough, there was no chipped paint on the
rims, and no sign he had been abusing them on the changer. The only possible
explanation I was able to come up with is that the blasting, especially as
done with coarse grit, had caused a surface distortion that actually warped
the wheels. The 'skin' had expanded, while the interior metal had not. kind
of like a potato chip.... A buddy of mine in who worked for Boeing told
me that they used to bead blast the sheet metal used in the wing skins to
relieve surface stresses, and that a 40 foot wingskin would actually grow by
about 1-2 " as a result.
So blast the wheels, but don't use too coarse a grit. It is really
the best way to clean off old rust and paint. My old wheels? I made garden
hose storage devices ( mounted em on 3' poles) out of them, and bought a
set of Wire wheels.
Good Luck!
Bob Westerdale
59 3A TS36967
David Wrote->
Good morning,
The rims for he '3 are going to have the tires removed Monday. At this
point I would like some advice on refinishing them, there is some minor
pitting right now. They will get sandblasted the question is what do I coat
them in?
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