Painting 330 GTC magnesium wheels

> Ferrari tech bulletin from 1971
>
> Technical Information no. 182
>
> Ref./Cromodora Magnesium Wheel Rims
>
> When a respray of magnesium wheels is required, the products to be
> used are the following:
>
> - Acrylic metallized paint - gray 2427078
> (smalto metallizzato acrilico grigio ghisa 2427078)
> [ed: literal translation is metallic cast iron gray acrylic enamel]
>
> which can be ordered directly to:
>
> - ITALVAR - Via Privata Bolla, 27 - Milano (Italy)
>
> The paint should be applied with viscosity 37" (Ford type viscosity
> meter - orifice 3), and baked at 212°F (100°C) for 40 min. in the over
> or under stoving lamps.
>

 

Steve - Back in the 70's, I bought a set of used alloy wheels for my GTC and painted them myself.

I used plain old Plasticote primer and then Plasticote aluminum color paint. You can still find it in spray cans at most auto parts stores, like Pep Boys.

I removed the tires (I was getting new ones anyhow)
Then I removed the chrome center sections and cleaned the wheels to remove all road grime. They must be cleaned REALLY WELL.
Then I sanded them just to lightly scuff all the old paint.
Spray with primer.
Spot fill any small nicks with Nitro-Stan and re-prime.
Spray on color.
THAT'S ALL!!
Total cost around $15.00
Total time around 8 hours.

THAT'S the easy way.

And, they looked FANTASTIC.

I drove the car close to 100,000 miles, including many track events where the wheel got quite hot. Aside from a few paint chips, the paint held up quite well.
I also entered it in quite a few shows and took home a number of trophies.

Bob Z.

 

Except that the GTC wheels are Campagonolo, not Cromodora.

See http://www.parrotbyte.com/kbc/ferrari/Push.htm for the information on what paint I used on my 330 GT alloy wheels and how to remove the center trim rings.

Regards, Kerry

 

Hi, Kerry - I missed that one. Yes, the Campagnolo was on the earlier cars.

I believe they started using Cromodora on the Dino and 365 GTB/4.

I have had two 330s with Campagnolo wheels and both of them had a rather dull finish on the wheels but my 365 GTB/4 and 308GT/4 had Cromodora with shiny clear topcoat.

How about yours?

Bob Z.

 

Mine (and another original painted set I've seen) had a matte finish. That's why I used the flattener to dull the shine on the PPG paint.
I bought that paint when I first got the car in the early 80s and never got around to painting the wheels until 2000. I obviously read about the paint color somewhere, but I haven't been able to find the reference since. I've looked through the FAF tuning tips & techniques book along with the 330 literature I have to no avail. In any case, they look fine and are pretty nick resistant.

One thing that I didn't note in the web page is that they were originally stripped by glass bead blasting in the 80s. Then when I got around to painting them, I removed the 20 years of oxidation by sand blasting. Then I used Dupont 225-S aluminum cleaner and 226-S aluminum converter before priming. Yes, I know that these are not aluminum, but it worked and I don't have any paint bubbles like others have had.

The other thing to remember when painting these alloy wheels is that the inside (between the rims) has to be painted. The alloy is porous and unless you seal the inside, you will get bubbles in the outside paint over time and tubeless tires won't hold air. I found this out since the guys that did the glass beading stripped the insides too.

 

Hi, Kerry - although I did not bead blast my wheels, I did it for few customers, per their request. Then, I sprayed on an aerosol product called Rim-Seal. It was a thin penetrating sealant that really worked well.

Bob Z.

 

On the subject of painting the GTC rims; has anyone tried powdercoating?
I have done on many Porsche alloys over the years, as well as various domestic NA alloys. Never had any problems in >50K miles.......used some for auto-crossing and even SCCA racing....

'spose the Campy's are any less trustworthy after the heat cycling? (done slowly & properly)...

james

 

I have powder coated a number of wheels, Porsche Fuchs, BBS alloys and they come out looking spectacular.
I tested one Chromodora and it popped, blistered, all over. I think that wheels that work with powder coat are forged and the Ferrari equipped wheels are just cast leading to alot of porosity that off gasses upon the "baking" cycle.