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When I got Max he came with a set of Smart Design 5 wheels on him. They are alloy wheels and are chrome covered.
When I first removed the wheels to clean them up and paint the rear drums and the front calipers I noticed that the front passenger wheel had romanced a large West Virginia pothole. We have them decorating our roads everywhere here and you wear out your tie rod ends swerving to miss them. But the rim was bent pretty bad and someone had shoved the gap in the tire and bead with some sort of black sealer.
Well I've driven it 2 years like that and it didn't shimmy or shake, but the tire would consistently leak off from 29 psi to14 psi, so I have regular intervals of airing it back up even though it doesn't seem to drop below 14 psi.
Well I had an hour drive wednesday to go to a neighboring hospital for some tests for back surgery. Well not knowung the roads I let a friend of mine drive me. At the top of a hill into a curve we hit the grandaddy of potholes and we hit hard enough to bottom out the suspension hard on the front passenger wheel that was already close to terminally dead. Now Max shimmys and shakes from 45 to around 60. It is pretty severe.
So I am looking into getting these wheels refurbished. The chrome is starting to peel off them amd it os a nice matte black color underneath, but I like them chrome because they remond me of the old school SS Cragar wheels.
Since the chrome version of the design 5's are really rare I want to refurbish them or at least get all four of them true'd back up and later get them powder coated of chrome plated again to bring them back to original.
These alloy wheels seem to be pretty soft and seem to be easily damaged. Could that be a reason for them being so scarce? Anyway has anyone gotten their alloy wheels refurbished? Do they hold up after being heated and re-shaped or true'd back up? I know it's probably not cost effect to refurb them but I feel it's necessary. I have heard it cost $100 a wheel to just get them back to spec, and that is not even recoating them.
The following link shows how they refurbish alloy wheels at a shop just up the river from me in St.Mary's WV which is where Max lived his life before I got him.
There is another shop in Geogia that trues and repairs the wheels. RTP customs. Then they will refinish them back to new condition. But Georgia is a long drive for me, but I am considering it.
Driving it out of balance or with a shimmy will prematurely wear out front end parts. DCO
When I first removed the wheels to clean them up and paint the rear drums and the front calipers I noticed that the front passenger wheel had romanced a large West Virginia pothole. We have them decorating our roads everywhere here and you wear out your tie rod ends swerving to miss them. But the rim was bent pretty bad and someone had shoved the gap in the tire and bead with some sort of black sealer.
Well I've driven it 2 years like that and it didn't shimmy or shake, but the tire would consistently leak off from 29 psi to14 psi, so I have regular intervals of airing it back up even though it doesn't seem to drop below 14 psi.
Well I had an hour drive wednesday to go to a neighboring hospital for some tests for back surgery. Well not knowung the roads I let a friend of mine drive me. At the top of a hill into a curve we hit the grandaddy of potholes and we hit hard enough to bottom out the suspension hard on the front passenger wheel that was already close to terminally dead. Now Max shimmys and shakes from 45 to around 60. It is pretty severe.
So I am looking into getting these wheels refurbished. The chrome is starting to peel off them amd it os a nice matte black color underneath, but I like them chrome because they remond me of the old school SS Cragar wheels.
Since the chrome version of the design 5's are really rare I want to refurbish them or at least get all four of them true'd back up and later get them powder coated of chrome plated again to bring them back to original.
These alloy wheels seem to be pretty soft and seem to be easily damaged. Could that be a reason for them being so scarce? Anyway has anyone gotten their alloy wheels refurbished? Do they hold up after being heated and re-shaped or true'd back up? I know it's probably not cost effect to refurb them but I feel it's necessary. I have heard it cost $100 a wheel to just get them back to spec, and that is not even recoating them.
The following link shows how they refurbish alloy wheels at a shop just up the river from me in St.Mary's WV which is where Max lived his life before I got him.
There is another shop in Geogia that trues and repairs the wheels. RTP customs. Then they will refinish them back to new condition. But Georgia is a long drive for me, but I am considering it.
Driving it out of balance or with a shimmy will prematurely wear out front end parts. DCO
