Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Surface finish on 1970s plus 8 alloy wheels

I was thinking of getting the alloys on my 1977 plus 8 refurbished by powder coating them. Looking at the current state of the wheels though, the surface finish seems to be quite rough. Is this a characteristic of 1970s plus 8 allow wheels - ie the original casting was not particularly smooth? Or should I expect to find corrosion to be found underneath the existing paint? If the original casting was just not to a particularly smooth finish, is there anyway to improve the finish - eg a thick filler coat before applying the top (powder bake) coat?

Here are some pics of the current state of the wheels:








Many thanks

The finish loks like that they were sand casted.
I would ask a good wheel refurbishment business. I would expect a powder coat to give a smoother finish , though how smooth i don't know

Mine on the 2002 Plus8 were smoother than that. Same style. The powder coat on the inner surfaces was starting to deteriorate and some peeling off. I sanded the insides back smooth, primed and sprayed with silver rattle cans to as good a match to the outside as possible. I then waxed them to make cleaning a bit easier. The insides were easy to do as less fiddly areas. A pro would sand/soda blast back to bare metal then finish.
I did also consider trying a Plasticote type spray on to see how they looked in black. It's a peelable coating so easy-ish to remove if desired. It's similar to vinyl wrapping but sprayed on. Built up coats to add depth/strength. A bigger job than the insides as a top finish is the aim so a lot more fiddly prep. The cast in lettering would be awkward, probably needing solvents to remove the coating. Didn't do it as the car was sold.

I suspect that when the mid 80`s +8 I came to own had been restored to close to concours condition circa Y2K that the wheels had been clear coat lacquered, which perhaps 15 or so years later the edges of the lacquer in places was beginning to lift, thus I bit the bullet and put them in to a company specialising in refinishing wheels to have them tidied up.... I suspcct they may well have blasted them with some sort of medium to remove the lacquer. I suspect they may have been powder coated but may just have been paint.. neither of which mattered not a jot to me..Shrug.

Just went out to the garage and grabbed a pic to provide you with an idea of the finish on mine. Looking at the finish on yours I suspect mine would have been similar originally, and to that extent I suspect their current smoother finish suggests mine were perhaps powder coated.... I think yours as they are would perhaps give a good grip/key for the powder coating process...?

Good luck in your choices.

The early Plus 8 wheels were rough surfaced.Those images at the top of this post look right for that era.

It matched the rest of the build at that time, rough and ready.

On my Roadster V6 2008 :

Many thanks for all the pictures..........

My local powder coating company GKL located at Snetterton specialise in wheel refurbishment and certainly blast prep before paint. They use Ripblast usefully located next door, a finisher in their own right.

Sand cast - thats how they were back in the day, I wouldn't have thought that there is much you can do to change the appearance. More modern ones would be pressure die cast or a similar process.

You could bead blast with walnut shells. That is relatively gently and leaves a satin smooth finish. But it would blur the text