Oh my... another Magnum 500 thread... (sigh)

[guy gadbois]

OK, after looking thru the 'search results' and even looking on some Ford sites, it seems that , as of late, there are no consistently good sources for quality Magnum 500 wheels. Seems like almost everyone who has tried to buy a set ends up returning AT LEAST one of them due to severe out of roundness, excessive lateral runout or poor finish. Is this still the case? Experiential anecdotes, empirical evidence or even educated opinions sought...

I like the looks of the aluminum 'Mag 500s' from American Racing - both the $500 ones and the $200 units - the Scott Drakes and especially the ones like what @Dave6T4 has [golden automotive or something similar], but Im not too sure about redline tyres on an aluminum wheel... just not convinced of the aesthetic compatibility. And I really want some redlines for me ol Plymouth.

 

[R413]

Do they make aluminum mag 500's in 15"?
I thought they were all 17"

 

[guy gadbois]

Do they make aluminum mag 500's in 15"?
I thought they were all 17"

yes - all three make 15x7s.

 

[Sam69sat]

The aluminum ones don't look bad but chrome magnum 500's look way better in my opinion. You could order some from summitracing and mount them to your hub to see if they run true. If not have them send replacments until they get it right.

 

[fine69]

I got my magnum 500s from summit racing in 2020. I would almost call them perfect but one wheel has a “burr” or some kind of tiny imperfection in the chrome. It wouldn’t have made sense to return it (especially from Canada) considering how imperfect my car is.
As for the aluminum wheels, they are….. aluminum and very obviously so.

 

[guy gadbois]

It seems almost everything Ive read in the past 5 years or so is a problem; before that there were a couple of manufacturers, one good and one not so much[wheel vintigues]. Apparently Coker bout the 'good one' and stopped production... I remember a thread where @Jerry Hall stated something akin to "Well, I finally got a good set of wheels..."leading me to believe even he was having trouble getting decent ones.
Call me lazy - in fact you can call me most anything as long as you dont forget to call me for supper- but I just dont want the headache of shipping stuff back and forth, plus if the quality control is so poor, who knows whats bad on the wheel that isnt obvious [?]
Were I to use blackwalls or White letters, the aluminum units would be a no brainer, given all the apparent issues with the repo steel wheels, but Im just not too sure about redlines on the aluminum...

 

[WileE]

My question is: where are these wheels manufactured ? If it's the suspected country, well not surprising.

 

[guy gadbois]

Well, naturally, they're manufactured in red china or one of their satellites. And, that is also, naturally, the source of the problem. The expensive aluminum one from American racing is made here. Thats the only one in this 'style' that I can find that isnt redchinese.
Without getting TOO political - which is extremely difficult because all questions are political to some extent [usually quite a bit] , the problem with the manufacturing of this product is not solely that our manufacturing base and raw material sourcing has been offshored by malicious actors in places of 'power' and Americans [Europeans too] just sit and suck up cheap crap at w**m**t without a thought and bleat about how they saved 13 cents today and it was so convenient... whoops, I'll not get started.
Anyway, one of the bigger issues on this product is the chrome plating. Once again, the government makes it nigh on impossible for anyone of any size/volume to do any chrome plating, much less high quality. Several of you here have experienced problems with chrome quality on all sorts of things Im sure.
I am fortunate to have a couple of friends - no, I really do have friends...- who own or are involved with some very high end cars. One has had a Hot Rod magazine Top 10, Truckin magazine Truck of the Year and the ISCA rented his 34 for a year to send to Europe. The other does restorations on unique and exotic cars; one of his Aston Martins won its class at Pebble Beach. So these guys know quality. Long story short is that the street rod friend was directed to a chrome place deep in the hills of...lets just say a 'southeastern state'. After jumping thru some hurdles to just get to talk to the guy and knowing the 'secret handshake' , he was instructed on how to contact, where to ship to and how to send cash... The last piece i saw from this fellow was the front bumper for a 'Bullet Bird' Thunderbird that a client of Jeff's was spending 3 or 4 times the car's worth on for a ground up; the bill for the chrome on that admittedly large and somewhat complex piece was an eye watering $5500... and that was over 5 years ago. But man, the chrome! Your eyes tell you not to touch because its wet... and several inches deep. Absolutely amazing.

How weird is the country now; People make liquor and grow weed in the open and chrome shops hide in wooded hollers, use dropboxes and you can only find them and use them if you know the right people and use the right phrases...