A quick progress update on the refurbishment of our second (or third) hand set of Dymags.
As Steve from Turner Powder Coating Services (commonly known as ‘Dymag Steve’ on account of him having more years experience in building, refurbishing and caring for magnesium motorsports parts than anyone else alive (probably)) told me when I dropped my wheels off to him, there are two eras of Dymag wheels.
The first era was pre 2009 and the cast metal was finished to a very high standard. After this it is more common to see copious amounts of paint being applied to the wheels to achieve the required quality of smooth finish.
As you can see, our wheels had a lot of paint on them, requiring three trips to the stripper bath and many hours of patient scrapping to remove the thick covering.
Following the strip and scrape, the wheels were media blasted in preparation for the dreaded but essential crack check. Luckily for us, the wheels passed the inspection and are officially crack free, meaning the process can continue on to the surface priming and finishing stages.
Magnesium is a pretty reactive metal, so to reduce the volatility and improve the durability of any finish applied to the metal, the wheels are chromated, meaning an oxide layer is sprayed over the surface. The magnesium reacts with the oxide layer forming a more inert ‘skin’ over the wheel, preventing the metal from getting too excited by the next stages of the process.
Once oxidisation has taken place the wheels are now ready to be preheated, masked up and powder coated, ahead of having a clear lacquer applied to seal every thing in place. Question is what colour are we going to powder coat them in? Check back next time.
