Featured Projects Faux-Magnesium

Long-time listener, first-time poster, and unsure if I’m even doing this right.

We all love mag wheels, but I could never afford them. So I tried my own version of some faux-mags and thought I’d share my method incase anyone else wanted to give it a try.

-Start with nice aluminum wheels that you're supposed to leave alone.
-Sand off the machined surface so it's all smooth.
-Sandblast with a course media.
-Spray wheel with Dry Graphite or Dry Moly. I used CRC Moly Lube.
-Let dry overnight.
-Lightly wiped wheels off with a towel to get any excess buildup. Not sure if it's needed but that's what I did.
-Unload the Dishwasher and set all that stuff in the sink for a sec.
-Toss a wheel in the dishwasher on high and a Cascade Platinum dish pod. The heat kind of baked it in and made the nice goldish-rainbow hue from the heat like magnesium has.
-Apologize to your wife for the previous step.
-Lightly mist the wheel with salt water outside since sodium chloride reacts with graphite and helps oxidize, while the wheel is facing up.
-Let it dry. I let it sit overnight.
-Keep them suckers outside all night, and let it rain and hail on them the next day, and then heat in the sun later in the day. Shoutout mommy nature.
-Profit.

Yes I’m aware I should’ve cut the lip off, but I decided not to. I don’t know anyone with a lathe to make it quick.

Enjoy, and please don’t send your wife to yell at me for tossing wheels in the dishwasher!

 

Probably could fuzzy up some more if I leave them outside for a week out of rain but in the moisture. The second photo where it’s cleaner is the same method but stopping after the dishwasher. So minus the saltwater spray and leaving outside.

 

And here is what they’re going on. Need to redo the rear slots with the same method, these were just sandblasted, dry graphite, and sealed with ATF.

 

Those look great!

ironandsteele.com​

 

Wow!!!
That's about the best "mag look" I've ever seen pulled off with any realism.

 

I agree.

 

I appreciate it! Fun combining arts & crafts with science and Mother Nature just to make my hotrod look trashier in a good way.

 

The reason I notice these threads is I've had it in my mind to do the same thing to the wheels on my roadster for a long time, rarely do I see them turn out looking like real magnesium.
These are P.S. Engineering welded two piece aluminum wheels, they normally come with polished hoops, I had them blast the hoops after they were welded to match the centers.
I'm reasonably happy with the overall outcome but they don't look real like yours do.

 

I’m new to all this so wasn’t sure if I even posted it in the right spot for people to notice it or find it for their own use. Those still look pretty good though! Going to try my method again on some slotmags soon and see if I can achieve the same results.

 

Awesome 1st post.
We need more homegrown tech guys like you!

 

Thanks! Working with what I’ve got!!

 

lol usually first time posters want to know why their brakes won’t work after replacing a bunch of parts. Killer post.

 

Maybe someone with access to a brake lathe.

 

Good idea!

 

Wheels looked great…gonna look killer on your truck.

 

Oh man!
I would have been all over that just to be part of that project (not that there is a thing wrong with the outcome), I bought a brand new 18x80 lathe in the 80's, 10 hp, had a removeable gap section under the chuck that would swing 22 inches, sold it after hurting my shoulder at work, had numerous shoulder, carpal tunnel /hand and neck surgeries over the years.

 

That's frekin' awesome !!!

 

Those look great!!!

 

A+ . I ran mag wheels for years . I went the other way , trying to keep them polished , what a nut case I was

 

Baddass

 

Interesting, thanks. I have OG Halibrands on my coupe but want to run some Rocket wheels that are new, was hoping to get a similar finish. This looks like a viable option to do that.

 

Go to hopup.com an scroll down to Dennis Saum out takes. He took some common aluminum wheels and sprayed them with I believe he said roof gutter paint. Look very vintage and last I knew he'd crossed the 50K mile mark and they still look great.

 

Id run em

 

Thanks Gary was able to find pics of his coupe.

 

I had posted this method on a Facebook Group called “MAGLUST Support Group,” and a user by the name of Fabian Dewar replied with one of his methods that seems decent as well. Thought I’d share it.

“Sand blasting. then I've applied a kind of graphite paste or a paste for charcoal stove 24hrs then I removed with a brake cleaner and I've put the wheels under wet salt for 3 days I do the same for my other wheels”

The saltwater on top of a graphite treatment seems to really help since it causes a chemical reaction, just as I’d done with my method too.

 

Nice stuff! Does the baking help the coating hold up any better?

Mine is starting to look pretty legit after 3000ish miles, but it can still be pretty fragile to the touch.



Obviously the fronts are real, but the backs are the same wheels you started with.

 

Hey Wag-Tag Rod Shop! From what I can tell it’s helped it hold together better, as well as the coating of “crustiness” that’s developed over the top, but still probably isn’t 100% cured in if scrubbed hard enough. But it just seems to blend differently if it is wiped/handled hard. Guess that’s just the name-of-the-game for me to have just the appearance and not the cost of mags haha.

 

Damnit!
By the way, in the late 70's/early 80's, can't say for sure, I was at Portland International Raceway for either a vintage race or a kart race, was walking through the pits and in the distance I spot a (IIRC dark green) Cobra, as in (not a Mustang), it had big wheel opening flares so I knew it was a 427, it also had black wheels (I thought) and couldn't get there fast enough.
Yep, it had Halibrands, raw, "real" magnesium Halibrands, like the car, they looked like they had never been touched cept by the hand of God, that, I was sure of.
Funny how some things can have a life altering effect on a person!

 

An alternative method: (the Magnesium look rules!)
My first attempt, using Vanish Oxi Action Powder on a repro aluminum Peerless tether car.
I would suggest that the aluminum be thoroughly sandblasted, so the surface is more uniform…something I didn’t do. Mix the powder in hot water, then submerge the parts. Don’t let the parts touch other parts or even the side of the plastic bucket, or whatever you are using. My son did some “sandblasted” aluminum (off topic) valve covers, they turned out really good. He submerged them for 2 hours. My attempt was with the once used, (not so hot) treated water, and I left them submerged over night. We rinsed them with soapy water (Dawn) and applied Gibbs oil to stop the oxidation process. I didn’t treat the hood.

 

I guess I could pull this off, my neighbors on vacation and I'm feeding his dog while he's gone and they do have a dishwasher! HRP