Restoring Watanabe's

**fester** · 19-07-2006, 09:16 PM

Guys I jut bought a set of 15" Watanabe RS8's.

They are in pretty ggod nick although could do with a light skim across the edge to get rid of some mild gutter rash, although might not do this straight away.

Rims otherwise are in good nick and fairly shiney. However I put one on the buff just briefly/lightly to see hwo they would clean up and it would appear that the rims are annodised in some form of shiney silver finish.

Can anyone confirm if ths is correct and standard. I'm thinking of bufffing the annodising off and polishing the bare alloy to bring them up like a Simmons rim.

Also I know stainless bolts are not as strong as their carbon steel counterparts but given teh number around a rim and the type of load they endure is it safe to use stainless on a 2 or 3 piece rim. Haven't looked at any Simmons lately to see how nice or otherwise their bolts are. The Watanabe ones are looking OK but a bit average. Other option is to get them HPC coated.

**joecoolmk2** · 19-07-2006, 09:25 PM

yeah i reckon stainless bolts would be fine, there's about 20+ bolts isn't there?

i think you can get higher grade s/s bolts, if you can you should just to be sure.

**ace** · 19-07-2006, 10:36 PM

Picture of the rims would be good.
Do you want a shiny finish or are you interested in painting them? Getting them reanodised?

**thomasbl** · 21-07-2006, 10:42 AM

Im sure stainless would be fine. The stress should be evenly distributed across all of them and i wouldn't imagine that it would cause too much hassle.

**Ben Wilson** · 21-07-2006, 10:52 AM

Don't stuff around, you've got dissimilar metals there and potential for fatigue failure. I'd be talking to Simmons (or a wheel repairer), about getting some new bolts designed for the job.

**joecoolmk2** · 21-07-2006, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by Ben Wilson

Don't stuff around, you've got dissimilar metals there and potential for fatigue failure. I'd be talking to Simmons (or a wheel repairer), about getting some new bolts designed for the job.

dissimilar metals means nothing, heaps of two-piece wheels have rolled alloy/stainless rims with cast iron centres and carbon steel bolts.

stainless would be fine. if they were to fail, they certainly wouldn't all go at the same time.

**fester** · 21-07-2006, 07:29 PM

ace - Haven't taken a picture must try and get around to it. They are actually in quite good nick apart from some minor gutter rash. The rim is still very shiney but not to the standard of a well kept Simmons. I have buff so can polish them properly which is why I tried one out. If I did not have a buff I probably wouldn't have worried as they are that good. Wasn't till I buffed a small section that I noticed it seemed to burn through the surface layer.

Had something similar years ago when I buffed a set of clip ons for a motor bike. They were a bit dull but found out when I buffed them that they were clear coated in some way so had to cut through it all before I could polish.

Re-annodising is not an option due firstly to cost (plus rims already cost me a shite load) and secondly because I know a decent polish will bring them up better than any annodisig can look.

All I want to do is repaint the centre and polish the rims but wanted to get a better idea of the finish on them before I bit off more than I could chew.

Ben - As far as dissimilar metals go I believe that issue is far overrated. Sure there are plenty of publications that will give you the galvanic ratings etc for dissimilar metals but in practice I have never seen any real issues. Neither has my boss who has been in stainless steel and sheet metal fabrication for nearly 20 years.

Sure whack some stainless bolts into an alloy or carbon steel structure that spends all it's life in salt water or some other corrosive environment and they will react fairly obviously but in our day to day lives it is very minimal. We do stainless and alloy fabrication primarily with some carbon steel, zincanneal and gal periodically but we use nothing but stainless fasteners without problem. Bolts nearly always get never seize or something on them as well which helps.

Side note I spoke to Depulu Wheels Works on the Gold Coast yesterday and they said no to stainless bolts for the strength issue. They are Simmons approved repairers. Will also check with Simmons directly if I can get a number as I'm sure some of their newer rims have nice fasteners. Soem of the old models have what appear to be common black (no doubt high tenise as they are cheap in black) socket head cap screws but some of the newer models appear to have stainless or shiney button heads.

**bnicho** · 22-07-2006, 08:05 PM

If you do unbolt the centres from the rims, make sure you put a mark on the inside of the centre and the rim so you can line the centre up exactly with it's original positin relative to the rim.

A mate owns a tyre place. He reckons that he's seen maybe a dozen guys come in over the years who have unbolted the centres of their simmons to paint them. When they put them back together they are so badly out of balance that they have to be sent back to the factory for re-balancing. They selectively balance the centre to the rims at the factory. Dunno whether the same thing would affect Watanabe's, but I wouldn't risk it personally.

Cheers,