The 1974 Porsche 914 2.0 that I’ve been tearing down had the original matching set of five Mahle wheels. The wheels spent more time staring at lawn than spinning on pavement. But as little critters scurried up them, eventually nesting in the metal branches supported by four perfectly circular trunks, their purpose never wavered. They underpinned 2000 pounds of fuel injected, disc brake, four wheel independent suspension fun. And needed to again.
On last count the car was sitting for 20 years. 20 years does not do good things to alloy metal, or any metal for that matter. These wheels were pitted. If you look online at eBay you will see lots of different Mahle wheels, most smooth with pitting starting to take over. The better ones are majority smooth but may have curb rash or other marks. These survived curb rash but the rash of degradation was too much.
After a sand blasting, it was evident that countless hours of sanding to make smooth would be wasted time. The wheels are going to be 10 footers. As such, we chose to powder coat using a BMW metallic color that helps blend the look instead of call attention to it had we used a gloss silver finish. It is an even all over coating which becomes a “look” in and of itself. One day I’ll get some rubber mounted on them so they can serve as another nest. A nest egg of my blood, sweat and money that I’m throwing in the 914 basket.
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