i just picked up 8 15" MT Raders from a local farm auction, yes, they were in the Barn, so they are BarnFinds. the first one pictured is the best. the second shows surface rust the other two ( i am planning to use 4 of them on my avatar A coupe) show surface rust over all the chromed surfaces. my plan was to take them to a powder coater, have them blast the chrome areas then coat silver/chrome. But, what to do with the aluminum parts? best way to clean? they have loose barn dust and some oxidation.
You could let them look "old" for a while. Then when you get tired of the look, you can clean them up. By then you'll have received lots of suggestions from people about what to do with them, and had plenty of time to digest all the ideas, and decide on the best plan. I hope it does not include powder coat, whatever it is, though.
@willys36 restored a set for his Mysterion clone, perhaps he will chime in on how he took them apart, had them re plated and put them back together
Those are COOL! I used to run a set of Fenton Hawks on my '57 Chevy and I found a set of stainless trim rings that fit really well. I cleaned up the aluminum centers, painted over the steel parts and stuck the trim rings on. They looked pretty good that way, and no powdercoating necessary. If you can get two to clean up properly, consider leaving those alone and running them on the front. The trim rings make the wheels look like they have a bit more dish than they really do. You can see it in my pic, those wheels had the same offset as yours, but they look a bit deeper with the ring. (although that is more dependent on the shape of the trim rings you find) I will say, when you get them all cleaned up, spread some bead sealer (the black stuff in the can that goes on tire beads to avoid leaks) and paint around the head of each rivet before you put the tires on. I had an old set of 2 rib Raders and they liked to have a super slow leak around those rivets.
Try rubbing Gibbs oil on the worst one. Also rub the pitted chrome with a 1981 (100% copper) or older penny and Gibbs oil. Then rub both aluminum and chrome with mag wheel polish. Post a pic with results!
visited the powder coater. he said he could blast them and remove all the chrome and not hurt the aluminum, but the chrome color he had was lookin kinda like a dull gray. found a second one that is in same cond as the nicer one. gonna try to clean them as is and hope they get shiney. they are both 6" wide and have the same backspacing. the ones i want to use on the rear are 7.5" W and look like no chrome is left.
Blast only as an absolute last resort; abrasive methods as a second to last resort. Oxalic acid soak can work wonders, but since you have aluminum centers either a short soak or better yet make a paste with the acid and water (or Barkeepers friend it contains oxalic acid) apply to the worst areas, and use chore boy copper pads (not steel wool) or white soft scotchbrite right on the rusted areas. It won’t turn them in to show wheels but IMO they will look much better than paint. If you do want to spend the $ to restore, check the rim inner diameter first, 12.620 is standard aftermarket for 15s, 12.370 for 14s. Lots of the older wheels used implement shells that are 12” and tough to find.
after a wash with soapy water and a rinse, then some rubbing of the rim below where the Meguiars can is i think i can clean up two of them. how best to do the alum centers?
I soak aluminum parts in Purple Power HD ... the container said safe for aluminum After cleaning pistons in PP HD and scrubbing all carbon off, I dip them in OSPHO for around 3/5 minutes. Then dip in a baking soda bath... dip clean rods an such in OSPHO for a few minutes as well They come out looking new an get a baking soda bath Soda blasted an Autolite 4100 carb, took no material off and looked almost new cast If there are pits, they will always be there Perhaps drill the rivets out, chrome the outers and have the insides polished There was someone that did this and used shouldered bolts with washers to reinstall I will see if I can find the thread Ricky.
My J came with a pair of 14" Sears Raders. I cleaned them up and rattle canned them with stainless colored appliance paint, spokes and rims. Gary
The aluminum centers are pretty scrungy looking, I'd probably wetsand them down with like 1500 or 2000 grit to knock down the high spots and then polish them.
Just stumbled on this thread. As Mark mentioned I restored a set in worse shape than yours for my Mysterion clone. They had to be show-chrome plated and had to be reversed for the deep look so I had to take them apart. I ground off the heads of the rivets and drilled them out on my drill press. Those things are HARD!!! went through half a dozen carbide tip bits bot got it done. To re***emble I drilled and tapped a new set of holes in the aluminum web and used stainless ****on head bolts with red Lock***e. I was worried about how the corroded aluminum webs would shine up but was pleasantly surprised. I tried shining one up on my polishing wheel and it easily polished to a near-show finish in a couple minutes! They used a good quality alloy.
Trying to save those steel/aluminum wheels isn't easy, and short of doing what Mark did for his Mysterion clone all but impossible to make them look 'new'. But while what Mark did is fine for a non-driving show car, I wouldn't attempt that for something I actually wanted to drive. Those bolts won't have the same strength as rivets (particularly stainless steel as those are not even as strong as a grade 5 bolt), they used rivets for a reason. The trim ring suggestion in post five is one I'd seriously pursue, that just leaves cleaning up the centers. I've had excellent results restoring corroded aluminum using roloc discs. I use a cheap HF die grinder with 2" rolocs. For most surface restoring, starting with a blue disc will remove all of the surface corrosion, follow up with a gray discs to remove any scratches left, then polish. The maroon and brown discs will remove metal, I'll only use those for deep damage like bad scratches or pitting. The sanding discs are for re-shaping parts if needed or to remove deep scratches on flat areas. The 'broken' disc arbor is on purpose, that allows the discs to flex into places. Here's an example.... Starting point. Light corrosion, paint residue, minor scratches. The top was hit with a sanding disc to remove a deep scratch. About 15 minutes, starting with a blue then following with a gray. The part is ready to buff. The finished cover after a p*** by my 10" buffer. Again, about 15 minutes. Maybe not up to Mark's standards, but plenty good enough for a driver. I'll note that Japanese castings from this era didn't use the best aluminum, flaws can show up as you polish. The surface corrosion on your centers will come right off with the rolocs. You'd have a bit tougher time polishing this what with the access to the centers. A 3" buff on a straight die grinder works well, along with a felt buff like this to get into corners and whatnot.... I'll do one p*** with Red Rouge compound, then finish with white. You will need quite few discs as they don't last all that long but will save you literally hours of time. You'll probably use at least four discs per wheel (two each blue/gray), make sure you get enough of them. I did all this in eight hours... There's actually five more pieces, I didn't show the paired parts. And don't waste your money on 'chrome' powdercoat. It doesn't look like chrome, and isn't as durable as standard coatings either.
I used stainless to avoid black dots on the backs of the wheels. Use grade 8 bolts and you should be fine. I wouldn’t use these wheels in any condition on a top fuel dragster but a cruiser should be fine. Also you should run tubes which with red Loc***e should keep the bolts tame.
so far I havn't done a damn thing to the wheels, but, I have plenty of rolocs, so i'll be going that route. thanks to all.
I think before I did any sanding, or chemical dipping, I'd simply have the entire wheel soda blasted. It wont hurt the aluminum, or the steel, and will give you a clean rust free finish to begin with. Once they're soda blasted you might like decide to attempt to polish the centers without removing them, and give the steel outer rim a try to polish up at the same time. Then spray them with clear, or have them powder coated clear if they're acceptable.
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