mySportsCar.com

posted by 2fass240us on Oct 1

I have been slowly converting the car to 5-lug to take advantage of some cheap rear hubs that I found recently, and resultantly sold my Kosei wheels/tires to a friend. I have decided to replace them with 17″ wheels as they will allow a wider option of brake setups, including 350Z Track rotors and my Wilwood calipers.

The other reason to convert to 5-lug is the abundance of cheap options, including Mustang wheels as they share the same bolt pattern (5×4.5″ or 114.3mm) and are generally the correct offset. If offset weren’t as much of a concern, a host of other options would become available. The great thing about Mustang wheels is that you can easily find inexpensive 17×9’s, either used or new. From a style standpoint, the Cobra R wheels are one of the only ones that work on a 240SX although the Saleen, GT500, and FR500 wheels work too. The main problem with all of these except the R’s is that 18″ wheels look stupid on an S13. They would work well on an S14 however.

After keeping an eye on eBay and Craigslist (CL) for a couple of weeks, I pulled the trigger on a set and met the guy down I-85 in Gastonia. I bought a set for of chrome wheels and tires for $450. The wheels were in really good shape, and the tires had plenty of tread on them except for the driver’s side rear. Apparently this guy liked to do 1-wheel burnouts…who knows. Here is a picture of me test-fitting one on a friend’s S14:

Cobra R Wheel

After purchasing the wheels, I’ve learned a few valuable lessons:

1. Since the Mustang is a muscle car, chrome wheels are very popular
2. Chrome is not easy to strip (see below)
3. Used Mustang wheels are almost as much as new ones

Since most of the wheels I found were chrome, my plan was to remove or paint over the chrome. Unfortunately, it is nowhere near as easy as I thought before buying the wheels. Painting over chrome was covered in an episode of Muscle Car, and I figured out that you have to use a special basecoat after preparing the chrome. Not only do I not have easy access to a painter, but getting the mix right is critical or you risk the paint peeling off. So I looked into stripping them and found two methods: chemical and blast media. The former is nasty, nowhere near DIY, and is not done industrially in my area. With that option off the table, I tried blasting one of the wheels myself using my dad’s outdoor blaster. Between the blaster being difficult to operate and not well-maintained (not complaining, just the facts) and the process itself taking awhile, I spent 3 hours and was only able to strip the front face of the wheel. So yeah…that didn’t work so well either.

I called around later that week and was only able to find one or two places willing to pick up the phone and blast wheels. One of them uses sand and charges $18/wheel, which is my best option at this point. The only problem with this approach is that the powdercoating guy strongly recommends aluminum oxide blasting media as it does not pit the surface like sand will. He offered to strip the wheels for an additional $25/each over the $60/each he would charge me to have them powdercoated. Considering I was thinking about having them coated anyways, this isn’t a bad proposition except for one thing: research on the internets shows that powdercoating aluminum wheels CAN be a bad thing. I didn’t pay it much mind until some friends insisted that it’s more than an internet “urban legend,” and have found that certain furnace temperatures can undo the heat-treating process that wheels undergo when manufactured. It is dependent on the wheel material and powdercoating/baking equipment, and takes subjective research before embarking.

Considering my wheels were chromed by the manufacturer, I became very nervous about blasting and powdercoating them. It would be one thing if they only saw street duty, but I had track duty in mind for either this set of wheels or another. So my current best option is the have them sandblasted and paint them myself using a self-etching primer, paint, and clearcoat. In addition to sandblasting, several folks on coating forums suggest that you follow up with either sanding or blasting with a finer media to even out the surface.

The other option is to keep an eye on eBay and Craigslist and find a partial set of chrome wheels, sell a complete set of 4, and keep the leftovers. With the exception of an eBay auction that I just missed last night and a seller on CL who seems incapable of answering his phone or returning messages (WTF is wrong with CL people?), I have very few leads. The good thing about this approach is that I can buy a new set of wheels for $100 more than I would likely be able to sell the chrome ones, including shipping. I have exchanged a few emails with AFS Wheels, and can get a set of with silver powdercoating for $485 to my door.