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American Racing Silverstones

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angelfj said:
Hey John - How ya doing man? Ready for Christmas?

tell me because I know that you know the answer. why is magnesium so sensitive to water. Does it have to do with the electrical (galvanic) properties? Alum doesn't seem to mind water too much.

Frank
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I'm still kickin'!

Frank, you are really asking a lot of my poor old brain, but I think you're right. If I recall correctly, magnesium is lower than aluminum on the nobility chart. This means that it will give up its electrons easier and corrode easier. It's either that way or the other way around.

I seem to recall also that it's not the water itself but the impurities in the water that work as an electrolyte to carry the electrons away from the corroding metal. Stuff like runway de-ice or road salt. I had students put materials in distilled water and there was no reaction.
 
There was a church parish where they decided to replace the old copper roof at considerable expense. The new one looked great. But about five years later all the copper sheets started to slip off the roof and almost decapitated passers-by. It seems the roofers had used iron nails and the corrosion ate the heads off the nails or the holes got enlarged around the nails. One or the other. Like JR, I don't remember which gets eaten away by what. But it can become serious and it can be financially expensive.
 
ISTR that the reason Magnesium does worse than aluminum has mostly to do with the characteristics of the oxide. They both form an oxide layer on the surface almost immediately when exposed to air, but aluminum oxide is far tougher and more stable than magnesium oxide. Rubies are aluminum oxide; magnesium oxide is Mylanta
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Don, copper is above steel in the galvanic series, so most likely it corroded the stems of the nails, just under the heads. Any competant tradesman should know to use copper nails ...
 
TR3driver said:
...

Don, copper is above steel in the galvanic series, so most likely it corroded the stems of the nails, just under the heads. Any competant tradesman should know to use copper nails ...
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That's why all of the copper water lines in my basement are secured with copper straps and nails. They look just as good today as when they were installed fifty-eight years ago!
 
Angelfi, looking at the spoke castings it appears very different at the lugnut.There are no casting/part numbers on the aluminium ones. Kind of like the ones from the blue tr6. The web design appears the same on the insides.I have seen aluminium ones with lh and rh threaded nokof and ones just rh. I sold my car just over a year ago. i think i have a pic of the inside of the spare 5th wheel. My first aluuminium set came from Atlanta in 1976. They were not threaded and had the original ARE center caps with the single screw in the middle. My good friend Kevin in NJ has a set in aluminium with all rh spinners on his tr5. He also has a set of aluminium gt6 silverstones and his brother has a set of magnesium gt6 silverstones. I will see if i can find that pic.
 
Don Elliott said:
Like JR, I don't remember which gets eaten away by what.
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It just came to me, Don.

Dr. Chiu, Chem 101, had a very good friend named LEO.

Lose Electrons Oxidize.

Still some brain cells left, remarkably.
 
RE: my wheels.
The rims were polished by machine, and weekly by hand by me.

Also, I forgot to mention that I had a machine shop install "lug nut hole" bushings.
The existing lug nut holes looked out of round, so these bushings established the center to center dimensions between lug nut holes, and the correct lug nut hole dimensions, so then the wheel is bolted up, it is correctly centered.
 
Randall: I don't suppose that my ARS wheels will be producing rubies soon? If they would I'd love to retire. Presently my 401k is worth 2/3 of what it was 1 year ago. :eeek:
 
Unfortunately, the oxide layer is microscopic; and microscopic rubies are worth even less than your (and my) 401k. Something about supply and demand ...
 
bob67bgt said:
Angelfi, looking at the spoke castings it appears very different at the lugnut.There are no casting/part numbers on the aluminium ones. Kind of like the ones from the blue tr6. The web design appears the same on the insides.I have seen aluminium ones with lh and rh threaded nokof and ones just rh. I sold my car just over a year ago. i think i have a pic of the inside of the spare 5th wheel. My first aluuminium set came from Atlanta in 1976. They were not threaded and had the original ARE center caps with the single screw in the middle. My good friend Kevin in NJ has a set in aluminium with all rh spinners on his tr5. He also has a set of aluminium gt6 silverstones and his brother has a set of magnesium gt6 silverstones. I will see if i can find that pic.
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Bob: thanks - that's very interesting I didn't know that the alum wheels were different!
 
My great grandfather in North Wales built (or was part of the engineering group) that put in the narrow gauge railway that went from Crickieth up to the slate mines. That's right, they called them mines. About 1850, the workers would take the train to work (about 15 miles) up into the mountainous area where the rock was all slate. The would chip out the slate off the bare rock face in all sorts of weather and the trains would transport it down to the village. From there, the slate was shipped all over the world.

I don't know where slate falls on the electrovalent chart. Maybe JR or Darrell can provide some input.

BTW, I took that train ride in 1996. The train has been restored and it's a lovely ride up into the "slate mines". It meant a lot to me.

Now you know the rest of the story.
 
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