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Re: C2 wheel porosity......I've had leakers
They were Ansen Sprint imitations but the problem is still the same. They were given to me by a guy who had tried to seal them from the outside where they leaked where each piece of the center hub connected to the rim. Even though they were a casting, apparently something didn't cure right there.
I removed the tires, sandblasted the center of the rim, then sanded it to be sure it was clean, and painted a coating of two-part epoxy along the center. After I let the epoxy cure for a few hours with the wheel in the sun, I painted them with black enamel paint.
They would seal fine for a year or so and then need to be redone. This happened to be about the time they would need tires again. My guess is that once they began to leak, corrosion set in, so cleaning the inside of the rim did not clean the path through the rim. Eventually, corrosion would form a gap under the epoxy and finally develop a new path for air to leak. The epoxy would peel like cheap paint in the sections over the leaks, and have to be ground off where there were no leaks.
I would guess these were about mid '70s aluminum wheels, on a cheap version, so they probably matched the early '60s technology. So I'd guess you may have a couple of years of no leaks before you have leaks again, if you have any now.
I imagine that GM's kit was a band aid designed to last a couple of years, which was long enough to be out of warranty, out of their hair, and most hopefully traded for a new GM vehicle before the leaks started again.
They were Ansen Sprint imitations but the problem is still the same. They were given to me by a guy who had tried to seal them from the outside where they leaked where each piece of the center hub connected to the rim. Even though they were a casting, apparently something didn't cure right there.
I removed the tires, sandblasted the center of the rim, then sanded it to be sure it was clean, and painted a coating of two-part epoxy along the center. After I let the epoxy cure for a few hours with the wheel in the sun, I painted them with black enamel paint.
They would seal fine for a year or so and then need to be redone. This happened to be about the time they would need tires again. My guess is that once they began to leak, corrosion set in, so cleaning the inside of the rim did not clean the path through the rim. Eventually, corrosion would form a gap under the epoxy and finally develop a new path for air to leak. The epoxy would peel like cheap paint in the sections over the leaks, and have to be ground off where there were no leaks.
I would guess these were about mid '70s aluminum wheels, on a cheap version, so they probably matched the early '60s technology. So I'd guess you may have a couple of years of no leaks before you have leaks again, if you have any now.
I imagine that GM's kit was a band aid designed to last a couple of years, which was long enough to be out of warranty, out of their hair, and most hopefully traded for a new GM vehicle before the leaks started again.
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