Hello everyone. I am trying to find out if these wheels are original from Japan and also if there is a way to refurbish this chrome plating on the alloys. i was told by a local body shop that it wasn’t possible but I wanted to ask some experts:
Additionally, someone stole my center cap and V special badge, I cant seem to find these alloys or center caps anywhere. Do you guys have any suggestions.
Yes hey are original, but they are not chrome plated. They are polished alloy and lacquered.
The centre caps do come up as the same wheel was fitted in a painted silver finish
So would it be possible to re-lacquer these wheels?
I had an identical set. Similar car. After 14 years of daily use they became, despite care, very badly pitted & “flaky”. During my recent resto I enquired with 2 alloy specialists as to refurbing but they both said in similar veins that it would be expensive, and not the original finish. Just getting the old ( thick) coating off, trying to repolish to the OEM mirror finish and getting the lacquer to adhere successfully was a headache. Around £80.00 + a wheel was for me prohibitive. The OEM lacquer, if left whole, was exceptionally thick & durable and the after market issue is getting it replicated. They just did not want the work.
You may find someone prepared to have a stab though. Unfortunately many fell foul over the years being “cleaned” by people taking chrome polishes to them when all they needed was car wax/washing.
Getting a decent set is exceptionally difficult these days…for a reason.
Scottishfiver,
i had a very similar conversation with an alloy refurb place in Fife. It seems like it wont be possible to refurb to the same quality but I don’t really want to ruin the originality of the vehicle.
I know.
Shame really.
New ones are available, but at their prices might represent 15/20% of the value of our respective vehicles… at the moment.
I had to do something drastic and had old OEM PanaSports repainted.
I have 4 mint 7 spokers in silver which I was going to sell but the issue is if…I bend PanaSport it’s curtains for the set as getting them / one now is a Holy Grail, so I need to retain them as an insurance just to keep the car mobile.
If one day you wander over the bridge to the Falkirk area hit me up.
We could compare paint thickness and other crucial life matters.
This might be helpful.
https://www.miata.net/faq/wheel_weights.html
I had the same set never realised they were polished alloy sent them to get blasted what a total waste of money then was told only way was to get them highly polished but very expensive, ended up getting them powder coated white.
When they are done they are done Kev. Harsh, but fact.
Owners of the rare 10AEs will have similar issues.
I faced the same issue last year. I took the wheels to The Wheel Specialist who said the best they could do was strip and powder coat using TWS Chrome, which was shiny but not the same as the original polished finish (as someone says above they are highly polished, not chrome plated).
Upon stripping them down, he found 3 of them were cracked due to age, so I ended up having to ditch them and buy new wheels. Got some brand new BBS-like wheels from MX5 City and they look great.
No.
Not unless someone somewhere can be found to restore the exceptional mirror polished finish first. At what cost, and what really identical OEM result?
You have precisely the same alloy corrosion going on as I did…it’s going powdery under the damaged lacquer and furthermore, who ever thought it OK to clamp balance weights externally needs a thorough good flogging. They have damaged the rims in places as well. f
I just gave mine away to a guy who helped me with my car as trackday rims…all they were fit for sadly.
I might take you up on that. Im in Falkirk every other month or so visiting family.
Sure thing.
Can easily social-distance if it’s dry at Teresa’s coffee van opposite St Mungo’s High or something. On me! 