Miata List Archive

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Mail From: healthy777 (Joe Wilson)

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A few pictures to explain my questions:

1) 14 in. wheels are stained...tried to clean, used denatured alcohol,
carefully with lacquer thinner...to no avail. Can they be painted with a
paint that is resistant to chipping so that they look new? Must say that
smaller tires are quite a bit more economical than 16's. Have included pics
of 16 in aftermarket wheels 16 x 7 that I could put on with 195/45/16
tires...priced various tires out for them...ouch..almost $200 each. Old 14
in. rims have two new front tires. Either fix old wheels, sell as is, apply
to larger tires for aftermarket rims. Must say that larger rims look
beefier or could I say a tad more masculine that the little original ones.

2) Rust on the underside...strange....car has 34K orig miles...did Carfax
report, verified 2nd owner's records which concurred with the Carfax report.
Car always in California....perhaps parked over moist area. Seems like
just superficial rust....Can I scrape it down with a wire brush and treat
with a rust inhibitor or rustolium paint?

3) Got under car to remove tie downs. Found that at the lower rear of the
front wheel wells, there is a cavity that is open to take in copious amounts
of water off the wheels as they turn....Seemed to be a missing skirt at
first....Was the same on the other side. The metal is exposed, sharp and
unprotected by any plastic....How could this design flaw have been
permitted?? How to rectify? Splashguards? Different skirt?

4) Valve tapping noise? Did't have it all week at all. Now, all of a
sudden :0

Any insight really appreciated, Joe

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This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: liberte (Christopher Adams)

Joe,

The list won't accept attachments. If you have a web page where you can
post your pictures, place them there and provide a link.

1) Have you tried bug & tar remover on the wheel stains? Sometimes this
works great. I'm sure you will get other suggestions. When/if you get
the stains out apply a coat of wax to the wheels. This will make them
easier to clean in the future.

Also, if these are the stock 14" wheels then they are quite light. A
light wheel/tire package is big plus on the Miata. You would have to
spend $$$ to get this light a wheel in a larger size.

2) If it is surface rust, clean it and use the Rustolium. If this is
the undercarriage, you could also spray some rubberized undercarriage
over the Rustolium when it has dried.

3) I will leave this to others, since I'm not sure what you're
referring to; it's been a while since I've owned my '95.

4) Valve tapping is normal, although I never experienced it with my
'95. The first gen. Miatas (M1) use hydraulic lifters in the valve
train. These pump up with oil. Sometimes some of them are a little slow
to do so. Many have found success in eliminating or reducing this with
a slightly lighter, high quality oil, such as Mobil-1 5w30 and changing
it every 3000-mi.

Hope this helps a little,

Chris & Liberte - '99 Red Track Rat
"It is necessary to relax your muscles when you can.
Relaxing your brain is fatal." - Stirling Moss

On Saturday, February 28, 2004, at 09:58 PM, Joe Wilson wrote:

> [this was a MIME-encoded message - it has been]
> [filtered of non-plaintext attachments by ALF ]
>
>
> A few pictures to explain my questions:
>
> 1) 14 in. wheels are stained...tried to clean, used denatured alcohol,
> carefully with lacquer thinner...to no avail. Can they be painted
> with a
> paint that is resistant to chipping so that they look new? Must say
> that
> smaller tires are quite a bit more economical than 16's. Have
> included pics
> of 16 in aftermarket wheels 16 x 7 that I could put on with 195/45/16
> tires...priced various tires out for them...ouch..almost $200 each.
> Old 14
> in. rims have two new front tires. Either fix old wheels, sell as is,
> apply
> to larger tires for aftermarket rims. Must say that larger rims look
> beefier or could I say a tad more masculine that the little original
> ones.
>
> 2) Rust on the underside...strange....car has 34K orig miles...did
> Carfax
> report, verified 2nd owner's records which concurred with the Carfax
> report.
> Car always in California....perhaps parked over moist area. Seems
> like
> just superficial rust....Can I scrape it down with a wire brush and
> treat
> with a rust inhibitor or rustolium paint?
>
> 3) Got under car to remove tie downs. Found that at the lower rear of
> the
> front wheel wells, there is a cavity that is open to take in copious
> amounts
> of water off the wheels as they turn....Seemed to be a missing skirt at
> first....Was the same on the other side. The metal is exposed, sharp
> and
> unprotected by any plastic....How could this design flaw have been
> permitted?? How to rectify? Splashguards? Different skirt?
>
> 4) Valve tapping noise? Did't have it all week at all. Now, all of a
> sudden :0
>
> Any insight really appreciated, Joe
>
> _________________________________________________________________