[DeTomaso] How tough are the 15" factory magnesium wheels?-UPDATE-"I'm no Mad Dawg"

Fri Jan 9 14:10:05 EST 2009

Kerry,
I will be glad to leave my garage door open and you can take your pick of 10 year old Pirelli P-Zero tires...

Question:   How tough are 15" factory magnesium wheels?

Answer:     Tough enough that even when they are on fire (yea they burn beautifully)  I was still able  to finish in 2nd place at the Silver State.

Mad Dawg Antenucci
Team Pantera Racing
"Go Fast or Go Home"

"michael at michaelshortt.com" <michael at michaelshortt.com> wrote: Kerry,

I bought a vintage 1973 GMC Motorhome several years ago, it had been well
maintained and had tires on it that were "Only 7 years old".  I have owned 3
of these  units, I love the look.

I flew down to Ocala, FL to pick it up, inspected the unit, waited a day for
them to add a few enhancements to it and started out for home.

I made it approximately 17 miles before the left front disintegrated ( after
it had enough time to build up some heat ), it decided to do this on a two
lane back country road, with a ditch on either side and an oncoming semi
truck/trailer in the other lane, the tire blew as the semi approached, the
Moho veered left into the other lane when we were no more than 50 yards
apart.

Had I not been able to man handle the Moho with my adrenaline rush of
strength and had the semi truck driver not veered as far right as you could,
somebody else would be driving #1660 today.

PLEASE trash the tires, not only are they cheaper than dying, they are
cheaper than body work and repair when they do fall apart.

Michael in Savannah.

The Hispanic Tire Store did you no favors, and if you do veer into another
lane or off the road and survive, can you live with killing a child or
somebody else in another car?  Chances are however that it might be you who
will die, I recently saw the remains of an almost head on between a C06
Corvette and a F-250, the truck used the car like a ramp until the front
wheels ran out of support...right on the drivers head.

Not trying to preach, but losing you or a remaining Pantera seems like a
much great price than tires.

On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 5:11 PM, Kerry Maguire 
> wrote:

> I took my wheel and tire to Discount Tire this morning and they declined to
> repair the tire because it was more then 10 years old. I am running 8's and
> 10's on the factory magnesium 15" wheels.
>
> As you all know, 305/50-15" tires are made out of "unobtainium".
>
> I was sent by Discount Tire to a "Hispanic owned" tire store that wouldn't
> ask too many questions and would plug my tire. Even though my Cat #5606 is
> driven enough to keep the tires in good shape, Discount tire was concerned
> that if the tire was dismounted, that the bead would fail. So, I had my tire
> plugged at the "Hispanic Tire Store".
>
> I do not drive fast and competitively like Mad Dawg.
>
> I have plenty of tread left on my 1995 era BF Goodrich tires, so I am going
> to make them last a little while longer and drive them with one tire "the
> plug" in it.
>
> The good news is that a couple of months ago, I was able to source 4-Toyo
> Proxies ST in the 295/50-50" size for the rear wheels. In the next year or
> two, I will broom the BF Goodrich tires and have the new set of the Toyo's
> mounted front and rear.
>
> My apologies to all of the performance driver's out there, but I want to
> make the BF Goodrich's last as long as possible.
>
> I really like the appearance of the factory 8's and 10's and do not want to
> purchase an updated set of wheels and tires at this time.
>
> Regards,
>
> Kerry M. Maguire
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: JDeRyke at aol.com [mailto:JDeRyke at aol.com]
> Sent: Thu 1/8/2009 12:08 PM
> To: Kerry Maguire; detomaso at realbig.com
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] How tough are the 15" factory magnesium wheels?
>
>
> In a message dated 1/7/09 5:35:55 PM, kmaguire at landrovermiramar.comwrites:
> snip.....
>
>
>        I am going to a Discount tire store recommended by an officer of the
> San Diego Pantera Club. Also, the wheel weights are mounted on the lip of
> the rim. Is this the common wheel weight mounting
>        method used on these wheels?
>
>
>
> Absolutely not! The weights always vibrate a little, chip the protective
> paint and then water gets in and dissolves the magnesium! ALWAYS use glue on
> weights placed on the horizontal backside of the wheel, with a couple of
> protective strips of duct tape over them.
> Second problem: be very sure the tire people know that this is a
> 35-year-old MAGNESIUM wheel before they use their automatic tire-machine on
> it. Wheels have been chipped and broken in two by these machines. When I'm
> forced to take a wheel to such places, they often elect to do the
> disassembly (and reassembly) by hand once they know what they're dealing
> with!
> To answer the question in the post heading, Campagnolos are pretty tough
> but are quite thin (only 3/16" thick in spots), and as time goes on, mag
> gets harder and more brittle. Its best if such wheels are annealed in an
> oven every decade or two to remove this brittleness. Good luck- J DeRyke
>
>
>
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-- 

Michael L. Shortt
Savannah, Georgia
www.michaelshortt.com
michael at michaelshortt.com
912-232-9390

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Mad Dawg Antenucci 
Team Pantera Racing 
  The 1st & still the only vintage race team in open road racing 
www.teampanteraracing.com