Compomotive split rim advice | FerrariChat

Compomotive split rim advice

Discussion in '308/328' started by GT4andMore, Dec 29, 2020.

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  1. GT4andMore

    GT4andMore Karting

    Oct 23, 2020
    63
    Full Name:
    Graham
    Hi,
    My new acquisition came with a set of 16" Compomotive split rims - see pics below. According to the vendor they were taken from a fire damaged 308 GT4 on eBay and were believed to be an original dealer fitted option. I confess they were on the heart side of the decision to buy the car, as I think they look great, although I suspect my head will be proved right and they'll be more trouble than their worth.
    What is not in doubt is that they are in poor shape, the rims are dented, the lacquer on the centre is peeling and an alarming number of the bolts have been replaced - presumably not something you do without good reason.
    My local alloy wheel refurb shop says that they can sort them out for a good price however I am suspicious that this is job that needs to be done properly, both for reliability - don't want the bolts failing on the road - and provenance - they look like they are worth getting right for that reason alone.
    I would welcome any thoughts or advice. In particular
    - is there a good source of new bolts
    - does anyone know the original spec for the bolts or the best spec using modern materials
    - does anyone know the torque settings for the bolts
    - any recommendations for paints or surface finishes for the centres. I am thinking of doing them in gold as the car is red like this one www.ntmwheels.com/en/product/308 but maybe silver would be more original
    I am in Suffolk in the East of England and would welcome recommendations of any specialists in the area who could take a closer look.
    Thanks in advance for any helpful comments and in retrospect for a great forum and a ton of useful advice.
    Graham

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  2. Mule

    Mule F1 Rookie
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Jun 25, 2003
    3,750
    Alaska
    Full Name:
    Mule
    Start with the source. I am not sure how far they are from Suffolk, but give them a ring. They don't make many of the older Ferrari styles anymore, but they may have spares and specs.

    https://www.comp.co.uk/

    PO box 461
    Priorslee
    Telford
    TF2 2FP
    United Kingdom
    Tel: 01952 850 618
    Email: [email protected]
     
  3. 2dinos

    2dinos F1 Rookie

    Jan 13, 2007
    2,772
    Compomotive went through some changes. They seem to be back, but not so much into modular (3 piece) types. For parts, I discovered a good source in Germany.

    Pertsch & Partner
    http://www.titanium-touch.de/onlineshop/

    They know a heck of a lot about these wheels. I purchased new shells from them and they look very good. I think they may have been original wheel shell suppliers to Compomotive (?). After the effort of getting new shells, I never even assembled them and wound up going back to stock wheels. :rolleyes: A project for another day.


    Another source is in the UK, Image Wheels.
    https://www.imagewheels.co.uk/
     
  4. miketuason

    miketuason F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Feb 24, 2006
    15,517
    Cerritos, CA.
    Full Name:
    Mike
    Graham, those are pretty rare wheels, Compomotive do make great quality wheels, for me, it is worth having them restore, most wheel shops can do excellent job in repairing and restoring them and most can get a new set of the little bolts. I also have a a set of the Compomotive TS17 3 piece wheels and love it. I’m no so sure about original dealer fitted option but it’s definitely not a factory option.
     
  5. dave80gtsi

    dave80gtsi Formula 3
    Silver Subscribed

    Nov 3, 2003
    1,813
    Ohio
    Full Name:
    Dave Meredith
    Should you ultimately decide that getting them into shape would be more trouble than they are worth to you, please do let me know.

    I could be interested in buying the set as-is.
     
  6. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Dec 6, 2002
    79,143
    Houston, Texas
    Full Name:
    Bubba
    The mismatched bolts look like chasing a leak, as posted these are way cool and worth fixing!
    They have a huge o ring when broken, which you need to do to fix ur curb rash..

    Welcome...
     
  7. miked

    miked Formula Junior

    Feb 7, 2001
    821
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    My GT4 came to me with Compomotive wheels, a slightly different model. As others have said they are a high quality wheel. There is a large O ring between the rims which could be damaged if the rims are not assembled with care. Don't worry about the bolts at least if they are original, mine are aircraft style 12 point, probably aircraft grade. Compomotive wheels were not a "factory option" but at some point in time (probably long after GT4 production ceased) someone could have have a dealer order and install a set. They are a sought after wheel well worth restoring even if you just sell them later.
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  8. Dorsetgem

    Dorsetgem Karting

    Nov 15, 2014
    115
    Verwood UK
    Full Name:
    Glen
    I have the same set, albeit with different centres.I am planning to have them restored as, well as I have managed to find at set of Ferrari original 16" which I will put on at some point.


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  9. GT4andMore

    GT4andMore Karting

    Oct 23, 2020
    63
    Full Name:
    Graham
    OK - just uploaded some pics of the wheel restoration. These seem to have overwritten the text so here it is again.

    As I am unable to remove tyres in my home workshop I elected to undo all the rim bolts in the hope of splitting the rims, removing the seal and discarding the tyres. I tried this on the first two wheels and it was not a success. The rims were glued together with sealant and although I successfully split them with a sharp knife I damaged one of the seals in the process. I also, stupidly, forgot to let the air out of one wheel which caused a loud bang when the second last bolt was removed and I fear bent the rim where the final bolt was attempting to hold everything together. Even then the tyres were still firmly sealed to the rims so this approach really got me nowhere.

    On the second pair of wheels I simply stripped out the bolts and left the professionals to complete the disassembly.

    Although this sounds like a bit of a disaster I am pretty pleased that the wheels are now in pieces and I can see my way through to putting them back together.

    Next actions;

    - the rims will be sent away for polishing - I need to make a decision on whether to lacquer them or leave them as bare aluminium. My instinct is that the lacquer will ultimately degrade so I am thinking of leaving them bare and wiping them over after use.

    - the centres - which knocked out easily with a rubber mallet - will be sent away for powder coating. I am going to do them in gold in an attempt to recreate the wheels on the GT4 in the next pic

    I need to make a decision on bolts. There were at least four different bolts in the rims, some were broken and some only finger tight. I have some ideas on this which I will post once I have all the information.

    I need to make a decision on seals. I will do this once I have all four seals back and cleaned. I will post some thought on this also.

    I hope this is helpful to someone else on the forum.
     
  10. GT4andMore

    GT4andMore Karting

    Oct 23, 2020
    63
    Full Name:
    Graham
    308Dadoo, moysiuan and miketuason like this.
  11. miked

    miked Formula Junior

    Feb 7, 2001
    821
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Those bolts look a little suspect (hardware store-ish) compared to mine.
     
  12. dave80gtsi

    dave80gtsi Formula 3
    Silver Subscribed

    Nov 3, 2003
    1,813
    Ohio
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    Dave Meredith
    That's a really nice look - the same sort of idea that I had with my old Gotti wheels:

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  13. miked

    miked Formula Junior

    Feb 7, 2001
    821
    Cincinnati, Ohio
  14. mk e

    mk e F1 World Champ

    Oct 31, 2003
    12,899
    The twilight zone
    Full Name:
    The Butcher
    Aircraft spec is 2 full threads sticking out of a nylock or any self locking nut iirc. 12pt flanged bolts are lighter but not stronger than standard head bolt and less prone to the head stripping than allen head, I thing I read some where the torx type you see everywhere these days are the best of both worlds. With high strength steel bolts in soft metals like aluminum a hardened washer washer matching the bolt grade or flange is the only way to get full bolt strength in the assembly. Everything you never wanted to know about bolts :)
     
  15. miked

    miked Formula Junior

    Feb 7, 2001
    821
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    The "a thread or two" is pretty much of a guess rather than a measurement as compared to the OP's photo where there are probably more than 10 threads sticking out. I haven't looked at the back side of my wheels for 15+ years and now I can't even remember what I had for breakfast any more. I am assuming that my bolts are as supplied by Compomotive and the OP's are not.

    I was in the aircraft industry R&D for a decade but that was 30 years ago (GE Aircraft Engines Advanced Composites Lab). We used glue not bolts so we were shunned by the metal guys. ;)
     
  16. Patrick Dixon

    Patrick Dixon Formula 3

    Mar 27, 2012
    1,083
    UK
    These are mine

    They are 7" wide 16" 2 piece and I discarded the centres because they were black plastic and not particularly attractive. I've thought about getting some new centres made but never got around to it.

    I had them tidied up a bit but there are still a couple of small faults that need sorting and it would be nice to convert the rears to 8". One annoyance is that standard sockets are too big to fit in the depressions around the bolts, so you end up grinding something down to fit.

    I bought them in the 80s from a dealer friend of mine who had acquired them following their replacement on a race car by 3 piece Gottis (which were all the rage in the Maranello Challenge UK racing series at the time).

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  17. GT4andMore

    GT4andMore Karting

    Oct 23, 2020
    63
    Full Name:
    Graham
    OK - the wheels are back from Wheelcare in Bury St Edmunds. The centres are powder coated in gold, outer rim is polished aluminium with no lacquer and the inner rims appear to have been sprayed. They have managed to remove the worst of the distortion on one of the back rims. There are some areas of the rims that are unpolished but this could be because they are pitted or simply hard to do with a machine.

    Next actions;
    - will try some good old fashioned manual polishing where necessary to see if any improvement can be made
    - need to cut back the powder coating on the rear of the centre castings so that they fit snugly in the front rim

    Overall pretty pleased with the job done and looking forward to finishing and reassembly

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  18. GT4andMore

    GT4andMore Karting

    Oct 23, 2020
    63
    Full Name:
    Graham
  19. miketuason

    miketuason F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Feb 24, 2006
    15,517
    Cerritos, CA.
    Full Name:
    Mike
    Very nice Graham! Are you going to put them or is the wheel shop will do it? Also will it have new gasket and seal as well? I need to have one of my Compomotive reseal as I have a very small leak coming from one of the 12 points bolt.
     
  20. HotShoe

    HotShoe F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Nov 3, 2008
    7,495
    Lake Worth, FL
    Full Name:
    Anthony Lauro
    FWIW I got my inners/outers and bolts from Pertsch above. Great product and service. I put them together myself, it's ridiculously easy to do. If you can work a caulk gun and have masking tape your set. Hundreds of tutorials on Youtube.
     
  21. GT4andMore

    GT4andMore Karting

    Oct 23, 2020
    63
    Full Name:
    Graham
    I am going to assemble them myself. I recovered three seals when I split them. I broke one seal but purchased another pair on eBay. The originals have 20 holes and the seal stands proud of the supporting plastic ring. The pair from eBay have multiple holes, including the matching 20, and the seals stand less proud. Having asked around I plan to assemble them dry, maybe a hint of grease but nothing more, and then mask the joins and apply Sikaflex. Leave the Sikaflex to cure and then fit tyres. As per the post above it looks quite straightforward on Yuotube.

    In terms of bolts I purchased a handful of M6 x 35mm Cap Head Screws (DIN 912) - Zinc Plated High Tensile Steel (12.9) from accu.co.uk which look pretty good. I am however wondering about finding an equivalent in stainless, or marine stainless. I also need to confirm the correct torque setting for this type of bolt.

    First things first - tidy up and dry fit all the parts and, sadly, still have to remove all the old silicon from the backs of the outer rims and ensure they are also polished and flat to take the seals.

    Here are some pics of the seals in case that helps anyone or provokes further useful advice

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  22. kiwiokie

    kiwiokie Formula 3

    Aug 19, 2013
    1,455
    Tulsa, OK
    Full Name:
    John McDermott
    Looks like the ones on ebay have a smaller diameter center, maybe for a 14” wheel and a rim with a thicker shoulder to push the OD to 16”.


    Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
     
  23. miketuason

    miketuason F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Feb 24, 2006
    15,517
    Cerritos, CA.
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    Mike
    Graham do you happen to know the torque for those M6 bolts?
     
  24. 2dinos

    2dinos F1 Rookie

    Jan 13, 2007
    2,772
    Ever consider the Titanium fasteners? I was thinking it would be a good opp'y to reduce weight in a critical area (rotating mass, moment of inertia). More Pertsch & Partner products. Kind of pricey and there's a lot-of-them.
     

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