3 More to Go! (wheel content)

[NY91184]

I had some free time this week and decided that I was going to try and "restore" my wheels to some extent. After the tranny blew in March 08, the car sat outside (under a cover in a carport) untill recently when I started refurbishing different things that bothered me. Ive never stripped and rebuilt a set of 3 piece wheels, so this attempt is purely experimental. Below are the pics and steps that I used on the first one, any comments would be appreciated. I found leaving a junk tire on (without air) and leaving the seal between the barrels worked well. The tire protected the edges while moving it around during the process. I think I spent around 5 hours from start to finish on this wheels, I would imagine the other 3 take half the time now that I have a method to the madness.

The starting point:




I first removed all the bolts, cleaned them up with a wire brush, and polished them with a dremel attachment using chrome polish.


Then, leaving the inner and outer barrels sealed, removed the center section. The inner barrel was "rusted" from old brake dust, and I figured while I had it all apart, I would come up with a way to remove it. I used a paint stripping bit with a drill and ran it all round untill the surface was smooth. *note* make sure to wear a respirator when kicking up the dust, not safe to breathe. Then I used 1K grid snadpaper and brought it up with 2Kwet. I then used a multimetal polish to finish it off.


Then I moved onto the outer lip. I used Noxon to get the tarnish out, then used mothers "Billet" cleaner for the final polish. Did it all by hand to avoid swirling.


I used a solvent with alcohol in it to clean off the center section, then hand polished it with standard car wax.


Time for reassembly. Made sure my hands were clean so I wouldnt mark up the fresh work and loosely mounted all the bolts to hold the center section back in. Then I placed the rim on its face and torqued all the bolts to aprox. 45ft/lbs in an "X" pattern.

[coollx]

Wow! Very nice!

[Mark Dia Gruppe]

Looks great! Did you make sure to put the center back in the same exact holes as before? the balance of your wheels might be off now, I did the same thing a few years back and had that problem and found out why.

[NY91184]

Thanks for the reply, I did clock the center slightly in order to line up the valve stem with a spoke rather than being out in the open, hopefully its still pretty close. I will have the wheel/new tire balanced before the car is driven so any inperfections should be taken care of then.

[VroomGrrl]

Originally Posted by NY91184

Thanks for the reply, I did clock the center slightly in order to line up the valve stem with a spoke rather than being out in the open, hopefully its still pretty close. I will have the wheel/new tire balanced before the car is driven so any inperfections should be taken care of then.

Wow is that inspiring! Beautiful detail work!

Here's one detail I recently learned about - when returning the center caps, the bottom point of the Porsche crest should be pointed toward the valve stem. WHO KNEW? Yours here is very close

[tangerine911S]

Wowza!

[NY91184]

Thanks for all the positive feedback, it makes me motivated to finish the other 3 wheels so I can update the thread. I can't wait to see how the rears come out, they have 3" stepped lips Im still amazed they are comming out as good as they are, I'm far from a professional but a little (lot) OCD goes a long way

[NY91184]

Finished one of the rears over the past 2 nights, it actually took longer than the first one because I spent around 2 hours on the lip alone. I also had some extra work in repairing some gouges from tire machines clamping the inner barrel. Very satisfied with the results, and im 1/2 way done now!

[nyne11]

They look fantastic! Well worth the effort!

[JackMan]

Wow, good work. I couldn't help but notice the "untidy" shop you maintain. I feel much better. I put all my "tidy" work into my cars, my shop is a wreck. I don't care. LOL>

[chrisp]

Looks amazing.

Where did you get the torque spec? I recently researched this and consensus seemed to be around 200 in/lbs. but varied by wheel mfg. Yours are at 540 in/lbs.

Just curious.

[don gilbert]

this is nice and very timely for me as i just got these bbs motorsports (9x17&11x17) and must do the same thing. i am new to 3 piece rims, and have a few questions. when does the tire come off? do you have to split the rims to get the tire off or is it safe to put on a tire machine, the rim halves are very thin, and it worrys me. do the 2 o-rings need to be replaced, and can i sand or bead blast the forged magnisium center? ny911, those came out nice, and i know how time consuming that was. good job.

[NY91184]

Its funny, the shop is extremely messy, yet I know where everything is within a few inches. Ive attempted to clean it before but then I cant find anything for weeks and it eventually morphs back into a mess. Ive come to terms with this cycle.

Originally Posted by chrisp

Looks amazing.

Where did you get the torque spec? I recently researched this and consensus seemed to be around 200 in/lbs. but varied by wheel mfg. Yours are at 540 in/lbs.

Just curious.

I used a torque wrench to remove a few and "sampled" the torque they were originally at. Some were around 35, some around 40. Speaking to a few rebuilders, it seems 28-30ft/lbs is average so I probably overtightened mine a little, but I reused my bolts so id rather be safe than sorry. 200in/lbs seems light, that almost seems like a 2 piece rim spec rather than a 3pc. As far as the BBS MS wheels, very nice find. Expect to put atleast 10 hours into each one, then stare at them for an equal amount of time when you finish. Be careful what polish you use on the centers so the finish doesnt get damaged. I dont know for sure on those if you can mount them with a machine, I would contact "bob barnes" on here, he seems to know a good amount about those wheels.

[chrisp]

You may want to look into your torque spec. I wouldn't use a breakaway torque as my baseline....especially considering the corrosion on those bolts.

Over torqued rim bolts could be a time bomb ticking.

[NY91184]

Point taken, are there any websites with mfg. torque specs for different brands? My second problem would be determing the brand of these wheels since they arent marked. For those interested, wheel bolts should not be reused, I just did it for budget/availability purposes. These are also my street wheels, not my track wheels.

[Porsche_monkey]

Originally Posted by NY91184

For those interested, wheel bolts should not be reused....

Why would you say that? They aren't stretched at install are they?

[chrisp]

try this. i can't confirm it's accuracy...but it's one of the first few to pop up on google.

http://www.engineershandbook.com/Tables/torque1.htm

[Buckterrier]

FANTASTIC!! Man do those look sharp. Have to post pics when they are back on the car.

[NY91184]

Not that i majored in Mech. engineering (I majored in automotive eng.) but I recall that heat is a much bigger factor than overall torque in failure analysis. If a bolt is tightened to a desired torque, the deformation will occur in a more static way opposed to if heat was added and plastic deformation was a factor. Example being alu. heads being over/under torqued on a iron block. On another note, I discovered my torque wrench was out of spec by around 7%, which would make my actual torque lower (especially when the extension is taken into effect). To answer the above question, all bolts stretch to some degree when torqued. I believe the hardware on these wheels is 10.9 rated