sanding magnesium wheels??? - BMW Forum

carguy13 · 09-07-2009, 10:46 AM

any advice? should i do it?

i want to sand 'em down and black 'em out.

it might help to put up pictures of them, they'll be up in a sec...

carguy13 · 09-07-2009, 12:38 PM

here are some pics of the wheels...all in poor condition

CanadianWraith · 09-07-2009, 12:46 PM

think they would look good black, iknow magnesium is highly flammable but i think u have to actually light it to get a good fire. just to be safe wear a mask for the dust

nukeduster · 09-07-2009, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanadianWraith

think they would look good black, iknow magnesium is highly flammable but i think u have to actually light it to get a good fire. just to be safe wear a mask for the dust

Sand it very slowly with a silica based sand paper. Using a grinder/polisher could cause it to ignite with certain types and high speeds. The autoignition temp is only in the 800 degree range and a spark can set it off.

carguy13 · 09-07-2009, 03:01 PM

holy shit man, that was some good advice.

i would have never-ever thought about that shit...

Torque · 09-07-2009, 04:33 PM

Are those ACS Type 2s? I didn't think they were magnesium ... thought they were aluminum. No?

carguy13 · 09-07-2009, 05:32 PM

i don't know, the guy that had the car before me has mag cleaner...

i just figured that if he had mag cleaner he would have mag rims, i mean it made sense to me....

but then again he wasn't a car guy, maybe he just got the first cleaning product with a picture of a car rim on it?

thanks for the heads up, i'll look into it.

k.sidlosky · 09-07-2009, 06:23 PM

They are prob aluminium man. Should be able to tap on them and tell the diff.

They are aluminium, you can tell by how the wheel weights are supposed to go on! Unless mag weights are the same...

Torque · 09-07-2009, 07:34 PM

Magnesium wheels are very light (and very soft). On a street driven car, they'd get bent within the first 10 miles; I think they're aluminum, which means you can sand them however you want.

CanadianWraith · 09-07-2009, 07:57 PM

sand away brother! take some pics when ur done

carguy13 · 09-08-2009, 02:44 AM

i was wondering if i should just buy some new rims...

i was getting a ton of dirty looks painting my car in the parking lot...

denyo77 · 09-08-2009, 03:24 AM

the AC Schnitzer rims are aluminum, I'm pretty sure about that

carguy13 · 09-08-2009, 07:43 AM

yeah i'm pretty sure they are...

i just don't know if i want to sand them down or not...that's not really something you can come back from.

once you sand up the wheels they are pretty messed up...

i don't know, hopefully i can find some decent rims / tires for pretty cheap.

Torque · 09-08-2009, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carguy13

yeah i'm pretty sure they are...

i just don't know if i want to sand them down or not...that's not really something you can come back from.

once you sand up the wheels they are pretty messed up...

i don't know, hopefully i can find some decent rims / tires for pretty cheap.

Use fine grit and wetsand, then paint when you're done.

I had silver wheels on my Suby, put the car in some bushes, scratched the crap out of 3 wheels, bent 1 ... bought 1 replacement, sanded them all down and painted them gold. Looked factory.

If you take your time, you can make them look brand new again.

carguy13 · 09-08-2009, 03:23 PM

sweet! that's good to hear.

maybe i'll give it a try....