Rob Walker Posted June 16, 2002 Share Posted June 16, 2002 I am in the market for a new set of wheels and fancied a set of R500 mags. I would be interested in any users experiences regarding durability of these rims, of both structural life and corrosion of the cast magnesium centers???????? Thanks Rob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted June 16, 2002 Share Posted June 16, 2002 No problems so far. I have the hope that the centres will prove durable and if I damage rims then so be it. Obviously they are a light wheel, so they aren't going to be the best thing for driving over potholes, but they cope with kerbs on the race track. Peterid=teal> 253 BHP K-seriesteeth.gif, no gearboxbum.gifid=red> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7 SLR Posted June 16, 2002 Share Posted June 16, 2002 I heard that Dymags have a "life" expectancy owing to the magnesium decaying over time. Is this true, and if so, does it apply to all magnesium components? Definitely NOT trying to start a rumour here... unless it gets me a cheap set of R500 wheels. wink.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyedwardc Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 I've seen some pretty badly corroded R500 wheel centres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Jones Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 They are powder coated now Paul. See My Car Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelspeed Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 If you buy from Caterham you have (or did 2 years ago) a choice of road or race spec, road spec have painted centres and anodised rims, race spec have bare centres and polished rims. If you were to buy them from anyone else (as if anyone would even think of such a thing!) then you can have any combination of polished or anodised rims and painted or bare centres. I've got painted centres on my 2 year old rims and they're fine. I go historic rallying and the escort boys are still busting a gut to get hold of genuine magnesium minlites for their mkI escorts. These would be nearly 30 years old now and seem to be still usable so I suspect R500 wheels will be OK for a year or so yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2D2 Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Like most high performance alloys there has been a great deal of development and this has helped to improve many of the properties of Magnesium based alloys. It is fair to say the the precipitation hardening alloys used for the manufacture of early Minilte wheels did not have particularly good corrosion resistance and long term stability. These wheels were sand cast,solution treated and then precipitation hardened. The early alloys were not particularly stable and tended to carry on ageing, even at room temperature. This leads to embrittlement with time.(The early aluminium alloys known as Duralumin suffered from similar problems) As a great many of the components manufactured from the Elektron family of alloys were used in military aircraft the over-ageing problem was never considered as important durin the early development which took place in the 1930's. During the last few years Magnesium-Elektron have developed quite a few new alloys and the range of alloys using Yttrium additions have proved quite successful in terms of high temperture properties, creep resistance, corrosion resistance and long term stability. Many of these new alloys are being used in Japanese motorcycle engines and are performing very well. With regard to wheels, I wouldn't use Mag Miniltes that were cast in the sixties as I am sure that they have over-aged and become brittle. The problem is that once a stucture is over-aged there is no way to recover the properties. I am sure new wheels cast from the latest generation alloys will be much better in this respect but it may be worth asking the manufacturer, which alloy he uses and the subsequent heat treatment. I would still try to make sure that they were painted and that any bare meatl was kept away from salt solutions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Chris, That answer matched nicely with your Anorak status.... Nice one! Steve My racing pics hereid=red> Hants (North) and Berkshire area club site hereid=red> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Perry Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 I have run these for about 3 year now. No corrosion on the centres. The only thing you have to watch for is rim damage. The rims are very thin ali, and can be easily damaged, particularly if you use a powered rim press to break the beads to change tyres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7 SLR Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 Excellent. Steve, Chris "The Man" when it comes to metals. I wonder, can you still have the R500 wheel rims powder coated? On the original mango yellow R500 they have painted SLR wheel centres and powder coated rims. I'd like something similar but in the R500 wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Corb Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 I dont know about powder coating the rim but I have seen MB wheels with black anodised rims, you could get them anodised almost any colour you like. You can buy the wheels unassembled and get a powder coaters to finish the centres in whatever colour you like too. BC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murph7355 Posted June 17, 2002 Share Posted June 17, 2002 MB will powder coat them for you I believe, and I think it's quite cheap. I'm going to get mine done soon. My spare set are showing some white flecks on the centres and polished rims do not stand up well to winter use. Especially if you're lazy. I'm planning on having the spare set done all black (rims and centres). I was thinking of something more adventurous but reckon this colour scheme will be harder wearing and will still look pretty good. The painted ones I have are perfectly fine after 2yrs all year round use. The polished rims are still a state though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesA Posted June 19, 2002 Share Posted June 19, 2002 For those of you running 6.5 X 13 fronts and 8.5 X 13 rears what is the tyre size of choice for track and or autocross use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Walker Posted June 19, 2002 Author Share Posted June 19, 2002 Thanks chaps for your replies, so no horror stories, I will now treat myself to a set when funds allow. Rob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Plato Posted June 19, 2002 Share Posted June 19, 2002 What like tomorrow Rob ???teeth.gifteeth.gif hehehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby dooby doo Posted June 22, 2002 Share Posted June 22, 2002 lots of things to say to this lot... in my accident i destroyed two MB wheels - in one case the rim bent round the back of the disk. I think thats an unfair test though. They are certainly stronger rims than the old style SLR wheels - better grade ali and twice the thickness. Yet the wheel is lighter and cheaper over all. I'm about to get two new wheels - I'll get these powdercoated - I didn't know MB could do that! If you buy from Caterham you pay about 230 (possibly PLUS VAT), from MB its 170 including postage... Mg does age - the Jaguar XK12 (is that the right name?) prototype built for Le Mans (but not raced) was destroyed at Mira when they wheeled it out 10 years later as the wheels had deteriorated. However, i think the modern approach of many layers of coating over the mag makes it FAR more reilient. Dave Hooper - dmch2@lineone.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now