Modern Magnesium Halibrand Wheel Quality

[Larry Spillman]

Originally Posted by ERA Chas

Rod,
I mis-spoke earlier, my wheels were bought in 1991 when Barry Blackburn owned the company and just before he sold it-so they're 18 years old.

My local area is generally damp most year 'round and I'm less than 4 miles away from salt water and oxidizing was really a problem. If I didn't polish twice a month they'd get to the point that 0000 steel wool and polish was necessary. I hated the hand polishing but letting them turn just slowly destroys them and I can't replace them. A tip from Cobraviper-99 on here led me to try the Powerball and Mr. Buffer. They literally have not turned cloudy since December-over three months. And it's so much easier, so corrosion is just not a problem for anyone anymore.

These wheels have always had bias Hoosiers which leaked 2-4 pounds per week, Billboards which leak the same and very briefly, Dunlop radials which never leaked.
As razer suggests, epoxying the inners is a good move but mine were never coated. All of my air losses have been from the tires.

Never weighed the individual rims but the combined weights of wheel and tire with Billboards is 35 pounds front, 41 rear. I never had aluminum wheels to compare so I don't know how much lighter the mags are but it's substantially noticeable. A friend has PS aluminum FIA's which are significantly heavier. I had them on the car briefly and they look super on a 427 car but even wearing Billboards they were freakin heavy by comparison. They too do not leak air with Avon radials.

Bridge Hampton and Westhampton are gone so I haven't been to a track since '04. Yes, I'm all over the wheels frequently for cracks visually (don't have a Magnaflux) especially the inner hub face contact area. Nothing. I do have a couple of dings from missed hammer hits and that's with a lead hammer so they are soft. Street driving has not hurt them. They balanced pretty well with 2 of them requiring no weight. I have one really bad rear g
G'year with about 4 oz on it-not the wheels fault.

Can't speak for M&A wheels but I have read that they make quality castings. Would like to know more about them. Vintage wheels has an excellent reputation that I've read but they don't cast mag to my knowledge-only aluminum. Wonder why they don't cast mag offshore at friendly prices like their aluminum?

These are my experiences-love to read others mag experiences.

If you clean the wheels and dont apply wax you can spray them with semi gloss clear coat and that will be the end of your corrision problem. Good Luck Larry Spillman