Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi All.
I have a set of Club Sport alloys (16inch 7 spoke wheels from a 944 Turbo S "Silver Rose"). They have been painted and I'm considering having them returned to their original anodised finish. I've managed to find somewhere that can to the anodising (Moss Metal Finishings in Halifax) but I'm not 100% sure what the original finish should be. Does anyone have these or similar forged alloys (928 slot type?) in the original finish or can point me to resources that might help?

My current thinking is that I need to get the wheels stripped of paint (shot blasted or acid dipped?) and any hidden kerb damage and light scratches removed (hopefully there is nothing major hidden under the paint). Then have them polished before they are anodised to a natural finish. Does this sound ok or should a different approach be taken? Should any colour be applied whilst anodising?

Thanks in advance for any help.

For the record, I noticed that Fuchs offer a refurbishment service so contacted them to ask if they can do anything with these wheels. They responded to say that they don't offer refurbishment of the Club Sport alloys. There is a limited set of old wheels listed in the refurb section of their site and maybe these are all the wheels they currently offer the service on.

I've emailed them to ask for help regarding the original finish of the wheels.

Response from Fuchs:

I've asked for confirmation that the anodising was without colour. Assuming it was then I think my question is answered.

Are these the rims that you are mentioning (pic is a 'stock image' ie not mine...)



Also known as D90s - stock item to the S2. I had mine done recently - just the outer face surfaces, rim edges machined, spray silver sparkle metallic finish, polished outer, lacquered finish - no adonised required...

Dave
S2

Hi Dave. No, D90s are a different wheel. D90s are cast alloy and painted finish, whereas Club Sports are forged alloy and have an anodised finish. The Club Sports were made by Fuchs (I think maybe all Porsche forged alloys are made by Fuchs but could be wrong) which is why I contacted them for details on the finish.

They are kind of like a D90 crossed with a 928 slot in appearance. I posted a picture before in an old thread but don't have it to hand to post again.

Nick Moss at early911.co.uk, Biagio and Canford Classics down in Winterborne do the fuchs refurbishment.

In Europe, it used to be Keller, who were able to do the "proper refurbishment" and clear anodise the fuchs rims, or any brightwork for that matter. He sold the business but it operates under http://www.felgen-service.de

The anodising is called "eloxsieren".

The process is indeed, chemically stripping the rim to remove the old anodising, machine out any scratches, ( mindful that the outer rim need a substantial thickness on it and too hamfisted a machining approach, and the rim will be fuchsed!), polish and then clear anodise.

Anodising will not work if the alloy is welded, as the weld -even machined or ground down - will show a different colour than the alloy rim. It used to be that 8 x 15 fuchs often cracked.

The anodising process part is cheap as chips: I had the full brightwork of my carrera 3 done in Birmingham for £40, but... its the preparation, the polishing, the proper machining etc etc that is the true work.

Similar to a paintjob: anyone can apply some paint on a car, but the difference in 200 hours of prep work vs slapping paint is remarkable.

Hope this helps.

Bert

Thanks Bert that's great help. My biggest worry for this is what lies under the paint (be it welding or filler). I assume there must have been a reason that they were painted but I'm hoping that it's just that the anodising went bad (maybe through cleaning it with the wrong chemicals) or maybe it was just not liked by a previous owner.

Do you know if having them shot blasted would be a problem? Does the paint have to be chemically stripped?

For those who don't know these wheels here are pics for comparison.
Top is a D90, below is Club Sport (albeit painted rather than anodised):

Thanks for the confirmation re. your pic confirming the rims that you have. I certainly have the D90s on my S2, which makes your ones quite a rare set? Hope you get the re-finish done properly to your satisfaction.

Dave
S2

Hi Dave. I suppose they must be rarer than D90s but you do see them about. I'm pretty sure phil21turbo's car (http://forums.tipec.net/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=21410) has them, and the guy who sold me mine had two sets for sale. I think they are much rarer in their original finish though, hence my interest in restoring them.

Tbh I'm not sure I'm going to get this done or not. It will depend how confident I am that it will turn out alright and at the moment I'm still unsure if shot blasting to remove the paint will cause any issues.

I would have them chemically stripped instead......


Cheers,

Bert

Thanks Bert. I'll have a look around to find somewhere that can chemically strip them near me.

If it helps, here's a photo of my Turbo SE with the original anodised finish.

Regard
Mike

Your car looks great Mike, and very helpful to see the original finish. The hubcaps seem to match nicely too, are they to originals and are they anodised too or painted?

Btw Mike, your post got me wondering what a Turbo SE is exactly. Not an easy thing to search for on the web, so I looked it up in my bible (the book "Original Porsche 924/944/968" by Peter Morgan - very well thumbed) and I see it was the name for the Turbo S in the U.K. (apparently standing for Special Equipment). I that right?