Anyone have a process or a vendor to restore 10 spokes?

[cboss70]

I have a friend who's not an internet guy who had a set of 10 spokes bead blasted and is trying to figure out the best way to restore the original look. Are there any shops who restore them who I could refer him to?  Also, I think he'd rather do it himself and used to own a body shop and is pretty handy- is there an efficient process to get the polish look back to the wheels and a correct paint color he can use. He believes them to be correct 68's.  I'll pass along any of your recommendations. Thanks.

[Coralsnake]

You can try Jesse at Shelby Parts in Green Bay

[Bob Gaines]

I have a friend who's not an internet guy who had a set of 10 spokes bead blasted and is trying to figure out the best way to restore the original look. Are there any shops who restore them who I could refer him to?  Also, I think he'd rather do it himself and used to own a body shop and is pretty handy- is there an efficient process to get the polish look back to the wheels and a correct paint color he can use. He believes them to be correct 68's.  I'll pass along any of your recommendations. Thanks.

They were not polished. They were machined in a lath set up to get them shiny. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the many wheel repair shops could do it. So many factory wheels are aluminum now days many have sprung up all over.Polished will get them shiny but if you want them like factory then you want to see the thin machine lines . Polished is deducted as incorrect in concours for example.

[tesgt350]

I have a friend who's not an internet guy who had a set of 10 spokes bead blasted and is trying to figure out the best way to restore the original look. Are there any shops who restore them who I could refer him to?  Also, I think he'd rather do it himself and used to own a body shop and is pretty handy- is there an efficient process to get the polish look back to the wheels and a correct paint color he can use. He believes them to be correct 68's.  I'll pass along any of your recommendations. Thanks.

They were not polished. They were machined in a lath set up to get them shiny. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the many wheel repair shops could do it. So many factory wheels are aluminum now days many have sprung up all over.Polished will get them shiny but if you want them like factory then you want to see the thin machine lines . Polished is deducted as incorrect in concours for example.

Were the insides of the Spokes (68 & 66 10 Spokes) more of a Sand Cast texture?

[Bob Gaines]

I have a friend who's not an internet guy who had a set of 10 spokes bead blasted and is trying to figure out the best way to restore the original look. Are there any shops who restore them who I could refer him to?  Also, I think he'd rather do it himself and used to own a body shop and is pretty handy- is there an efficient process to get the polish look back to the wheels and a correct paint color he can use. He believes them to be correct 68's.  I'll pass along any of your recommendations. Thanks.

They were not polished. They were machined in a lath set up to get them shiny. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the many wheel repair shops could do it. So many factory wheels are aluminum now days many have sprung up all over.Polished will get them shiny but if you want them like factory then you want to see the thin machine lines . Polished is deducted as incorrect in concours for example.

Were the insides of the Spokes (68 & 66 10 Spokes) more of a Sand Cast texture?

Yes the inside of the spokes were left bare cast aluminum. While we are on the subject originally they came with a clear coat but it had a bad tendency to yellow or even flake off. That  was not meant to happen. Some people by mistake thought they were meant to be gold because of that discolored yellow. No just a yucky yellow .Even though there are better clear coat alternatives now  I would not clear coat them.  It is hard to tell if they are clear coated when fresh anyway. I don't remember a need to ever deduct for no clear coat in concours ether.   

[67 GT350]

I have a set that are repro...owner painted the dreaded gold in the inside of the spokes....UGLY! Unfortunately being repro, not worth having them redone.
I have another set that was also blasted, to where they need to be machined again, I think worth the money to restore.

Finding someone who can do the work is hard and finding someone that doesn't tell you 6 + months wait is next to impossible.

[cboss70]

Thanks for the feedback I'll let him know. Sounds like if he wants it done correctly and not wait a long time that he will have to just take the time and use a lathe himself. 

[1109RWHP]

Wheel Collision Center can do them. I had this nasty set of 200s wheels done there. They do them on a cnc mill. https://www.wheelcollision.com/

[DC-DD]

Like Scott said wheel collision center .
I have had at least 8 sets of 10 spokes done there .
NEVER get them clear coated
Dominic

[67 GT350]

Will you get back your exact wheel you send in from "Wheel Collision Center"?

[1109RWHP]

I did. I would mark them somehow where the tire covers it and tell them they are marked in some way. I doubt if they have a stock of Shelby wheels sitting around.

[68krrrr]

Craig at paradise wheels will do them

[67 GT350]

I did. I would mark them somehow where the tire covers it and tell them they are marked in some way. I doubt if they have a stock of Shelby wheels sitting around.

My only concern is that they do have repros and do an exchange, but marking them is the way to do it.

[shelbydoug]

I personally have done four sets of the 15x7's.

The clear is very thick and looks like a challenge but in fact is VERY easy to remove with "aircraft" paint stripper.


You still might need to blast the casting surfaces but I have found that if they aren't really pitted you can clean that natural casting with the "heavy duty wheel cleaner" and a nylon scrubbing brush. It is heavy on the acid and returns it pretty close to coming out of the molds look.


The issue is going to be that every set that I have seen varies on the machine marks on the machined surfaces noticeably.

Some are almost non-existant and others are very noticeable almost like a vinyl LP record.

On my very early 67 set the machine marks were almost non-existant and I just cleaned them up with Brillo pads with the blue polish in it. The result was by contrast to the clear coated wheel, they look highly polished.

That set I highlighted with semigloss black paint on the castings which for me is easier to maintain and makes my set unique. I could care less about others criticisms of disdain.

What you need to deal with on the castings otherwise is a very negative effect that brake dust has on it. Brake dust cleaners are going to have all sorts of weird effects that I'd predict, you won't like.


The current reproductions, I have a set of those too, are kind of in the middle and you can notice them. The advantage of that set is that they are fully machined on the back of the wheel, taking out that "dumb-dump" lump that was originally cast in AND they give you enough room to clear the '68 brake calipers without screwing around with a grinder or additional wheel spacers.


You are going to get a variety of opinions as to what is  "original" as far as that goes and YOU are the one that needs to make that decision as to how "polished" the machine surfaces should be BUT be prepared, no mater what you decide, it will be criticized by "knowledgeable people".


Hum, last thought. The originals machine marks are a result of the lathe being a +/- .001" tolerance. In other words, a crappy lathe.

I think that even if you redo them now on something as mundane, like a CNC Smithy 3 in 1, it is going to have tighter clearances then that so I would not expect to have the ability to reproduce the machine grooves that were created by a cheap machining process.

A finish like the previous posters 200-s wheels is as close as you are going to get to the original grooved finish. I'd consider that finish, "polished".


Caution: if you choose to follow my advice's, don't expect to get invited to anyone's barques either? That's ok though. They can grump at each other instead of me and I can stay home polishing my wheels.   

[Bob Gaines]

I did. I would mark them somehow where the tire covers it and tell them they are marked in some way. I doubt if they have a stock of Shelby wheels sitting around.

My only concern is that they do have repros and do an exchange, but marking them is the way to do it.

Odds against one of these wheel repair companies switching out a set of obscure style wheels you send them are slim. There is a huge difference between original and reproduction ten spokes. If you send in repros and you get back repros as long as they look good why should you care because they are repros after all. There is a lot of difference between original and repro. If you send in originals you should expect originals back obviously. If you don't know differences then you can easily bring yourself up to speed with various informational threads on this forum. It would be prudent to document that you sent in originals and that in a courteous and non confrontational way let them know  that you have documented them in case they got lost etc. Of course they may feel threatened or insulted if you are not careful in the way you let them know and tell you to take your business elsewhere.